December 3, 2008
A feast for the eyes on Wabash Avenue: "Lost" Louis Sullivan storefront facade re-emerging
from Blair Kamin's blog

Amid the gloom of recession and a slate-gray Chicago sky, there's a bright light shining on South Wabash Avenue. I don't mean the historic street light you see in the picture below. I mean some dazzling decoration by one of Chicago's late, great architectural luminaries--Louis Sullivan.

As I reported on this blog back in October, Chicago architects T. Gunny Harboe and Douglas Gilbert discovered a one-story, Sullivan-designed storefront facade while restoring the buildings at 18, 22 and 28 S. Wabash Ave for developer Joseph Freed. For years, the facade at 22 S. Wabash had been buried behind an outer wall that hid it from view.

Now, after being stripped of layers of paint and given a new sheen, the brown cast-iron facade is being put back in place and its nature-inspired geometric ornament looks stunning.

The decoration, with pairs of diamonds set inside a circle, is like that on the adjoining Sullivan facade at 18 S. Wabash, but their colors differ. The one at 18 S. Wabash (in detail photo), also cast-iron, is cream-colored, suggesting a light-colored, cut stone. The brown of 22 S. Wabash suggests bronze, much like the famous cast-iron ornament at the entrance to Sullivan's former Carson Pirie Scott & Co. store around the block. The two facades are like siblings--clearly related, but each with its own individual identity. That would be perfect for retail tenants who want to stand out.

Harboe said yesterday that the 18 S. Wabash facade would be complete in about two weeks while 22 S. Wabash won't wrap up until January. But don't wait until then--even in progress, the artistry of Sullivan is well worth seeing.


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