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latest photographic images of adler and sullivan's garrick theater shortly before its demolition in 1961

once again, i've revisited richard nickel's archive on adler and sullivan's 1892 schiller building, demolished in 1961. the "salvaging the garrick" book is slowly coming together as i continue to gather archival material, digitize photographic images, and acquire any and all ornament salvaged during its demolition. 

a selection of the latest images i digitized over the past two weeks is presented below. the group of photos - scanned from 35mm contact sheets - capturing the picketers (and their hand-made signs) protesting garrick's demolition are especially interesting.

richard nickel images of adler and sullivan's garrick theater taking in 1960-61 shortly before and during its demolition.
i included an older image of garrick's 13th floor banquet floor - taken in the early 20th century during a chicago board of education meeting (the ceiling stencils were painted over at this point) - to compare with nickel's images of the banquet hall as it looked in 1961. 

 


i don't recall seeing an interior view of the top floor skylight, nor the basement corridor with carpenter shop door with sullivan-designed hardware executed by the chicago hardware company. finally, the image of the lobby wall-mount tenant directory perfectly captures the building's impending demolition.

images courtesy of ryerson and burnham archives.

i found this image (one of two) while sorting through some of richard nickel's earliest photographs of the schiller building (garrick theater) at ryerson and burnham last week. 
i had never seen the 14th-floor ornament (intact) from this angle. it reminded me of another image nickel took of this ornament during the building's demolition in 1961. the locations are likely different, but angles are quite similar - before and during demolition.

a section of this frieze was recently rebuilt at city museum in st. louis (the terra cotta cornice pictured behind it was salvaged from adler and sullivan's stock exchange during its demolition in 1972).
images courtesy of ryerson and burnham library, art institute of chicago. salvaged terra cotta leaf courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

1960 garrick theater protest. images possibly photographed by richard nickel. scanned from contact sheets with 35mm. not the greatest quality (e.g., signs are hard to decipher), but i can always seek out negatives down the road. 

courtesy of ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago.

the final group of images include adler and sullivan's front elevation, which was later copied and made into an incised aluminum plaque mounted in the parking garage that replaced the garrick, and early photographs of taken of the building's exterior including when it was briefly renamed the dearborn theater (1898-1903). 

courtesy of ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago.

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