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bldg. 51 acquires fritz albert-designed reebie building egyptian revival terra cotta ornament

an exciting acquisition joining a number of egyptian revival artifacts in the urban remains/ bldg. 51 collection is a brightly colored exterior polychromatic glazed terra cotta window surround cornice segment removed nearly 40 years ago from the historically-important chicago art deco gem known as the reebie storage warehouse, located at 2325 n. clark street, in lincoln park. as one of the most impressive commercial buildings in this architectural style (art moderne), the twisted-shaped cornice panel is an incredibly rare find culled during exterior renovations performed on the warehouse during the 1970's.

since that time, when several fragments were collected onsite by someone with great foresight, brought them back to their home in indiana where they were used as garden "art" until earlier this year, when the collection of ornament was removed and made available for sale to the public. the building was designated a historic building in 1979 and a chicago landmark in 1999. the company itself was founded in 1880 by william reebie, who was later joined by his brother john. it still operates out of the same building, with a sphinx in their logo.

this glazed, polychrome terra cotta is semi-circular in shape, a piece of twisting banding that features allover crazing, and an unusual visually striking coloration in a pastel palette of green, pink, blue, and yellow accentuating the egyptian design motifs. it was originally situated as one ovf several top floor window surrounds and/or banding.

the "fireproof" reebie warehouse was first built in 1922, less than a year after the discovery of tutankhamen's tomb. in the wake of this and several other archaeological discoveries, there arose a strong wave of interest in egyptology. though egyptian inspired architecture had arrived to america in the early 19th century, it wasn't until the 1920's that public fascination permeated arts and crafts fields as well as architecture, with buildings and decorative objects utilizing symbolism of the ancient civilization. art deco was greatly influenced by this current too, and in particular, over 100 theaters were built and decorated in the egyptian revival style.

the reebie storage and moving building is unique in having incorporated explicit egyptian elements that were not only picturesque but attempting historical accuracy (it is thus dubbed academic-style egyptian revival). based on two ancient temples, dendera and edfu, the reebie building included ornamentation on the exterior, with columns that replicated a composite of those two structures.

symbolism on the interior lobby and facade alluded to egyptian themes, as well as to the building's use. twin statues of ramses II on either side of the  entryway stand in for the reebie brothers, william and john; beneath these, their names are spelled out in hieroglyphics equivalent to the phonetic spellings. above the statues are a high-relief scarab and two faces representing the goddess hathor. papyrus plants decorate the base and capitals of the columns. all the ornamental drawings for the reebie warehouse were reviewed for accuracy by both the field museum and art institute prior to their implementation.

the exterior glazed terra cotta ornament was crafted by sculptor/designer fritz albert, in collaboration with architect george kingsley. albert was supervisor and chief sculptor for the northwestern terra cotta company, and during his career would oversee the modeling of terra cotta for the wrigley, civic opera, merchandise mart, and the carbide and carbon buildings.  george kingsley designed a number of storage buildings in chicago in various revival styles, though reebie is by far the most prominent.



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