i'm pleased that i had the foresight to carefully remove this "gardenesque" capital before demolition

i've decided to add more posts pertaining to "gardenesque" ornament, perhaps inspired by what i've discovered in the chicago athletic association building (a topic i've written about before) and more recently, my revisitation of the ornamental terra cotta elements i managed to salvage from the michael reese "main" hospital building during its demolition.

there is a very dense and highly informative book devoted to the "sullivanesque", which i recommend for your reference library, but very little has been written about "gardenesque." in fact, i believe hugh garden coined the term himself at some point.

garden worked for the chicago-based architectural firm of schmidt, garden and martin. although known primarily for their commercial and industrial designs, the firm also designed several residential buildings, more than 300 hospitals and a small number of public structures.

hugh gorden garden joined the firm (established in 1887 by schmidt) in 1895 as chief of design. by 1906, the schmidt-garden partnership was formalized under the name of richard e. schmidt, garden & martin. the third partner was edgar d. martin, who later joined the firm of pond & pond.

a native of toronto, canada, garden had moved to chicago in the late-1880's, apprenticing with several architectural firms, including flanders & zimmerman, henry ives cobb, and shepley, rutan & coolidge. he then became a freelance renderer, which brought him jobs with howard van doren shaw, louis sullivan, and frank lloyd wright.

garden brought the imagination, inventiveness, and sensitivity of a creative designer and versatile draftsman. garden helped evolve the firm's progressive approach to design, much in the way that his contemporaries, sullivan and wright, had done.

after carefully studying garden's ornament adorning a number of the firm's commissions, one can effortlessly see a rather unique and visually appealing combination of design elements or motifs used by frank lloyd wright and louis sullivan.

thus, this hybridism or coalescing of wright and sullivan expressed through garden in the form of terra cotta, plaster work, cast iron and so on, merits further study; especially because "gardenesque" ornament is rather distinct from the diluted or generic "sullivanesque" that was recreated or reinterpreted on a large scale by unknown designers under the employ of the midland terra cotta company to the point that it became "stock" terra cotta, readily available to adorn any and all buildings of the 1920's.

the elaborate cast plaster pilaster capital - salvaged from the lobby of michael reese "old main" hospital - is another artifact or specimen to be added to the ever-growing collection of fragments i've acquired through salvages over the years.

the three-part plaster capital (there were four in total) has been painted numerous times to the point where much of the intricate floral ornament detail is lost.

perhaps the most distinctive feature of this large painted white cast plaster capital is the deeply recessed triangular-shaped center section, which borrows heavily from wright's remarkable visions of geometric abstraction.

these two design elements, with centrally located geometric form, flanked by abundant leafage is truly remarkable and a distinct signature of the "gardenesque."

having the actual three-dimensional artifact to carefully study and document is much more gratifying then the two-dimensional photograph, that may or may not capture the much-needed detail and of course, the actual materials used in fabricating this artifact.

it saddens me greatly, that i could not rescue the others for distribution to museums, etc. by the time i arrived, long after i removed this capital, the lobby was still intact, but on the verge of collapsing into itself from the weight of the debris piled high about it.

i will further explore the "gardenesque" in future posts.