several historically important chicago building artifacts added to bldg. 51 museum early on in 2017

a little over a month into the new year, the bldg. 51 museum has been busy acquiring and cataloging several historically important architectural fragments from chicago's past - salvaged from buildings demolished long ago. perhaps the most important acquisition is a rare cast aluminum elevator grille recovered from the non-extant isabella building, designed by architects william le baron jenney & william bryce mundie in 1892. the lightweight 19th century cast aluminum grille is one of only two salvaged from the isabella, where only one original elevator cab remained intact and functional (used by the building's custodian) until the time it was handed the death sentence. worse yet, the during the demolition, the wrecking company severed the elevator's cables, sending the cab crashing to the basement where the majority of the fragile aluminum panels broke into several pieces. it's remarkable that two grilles survived largely unscathed.

what makes this seemingly simple grille so remarkably important, is the fact that its fabricated out of aluminum, which during during the late 19th century was an incredibly costly material that proved difficult to cast. interestingly, around the same time two other chicago buildings were outfitted with aluminum ornament, with the first being the monadnock building (burnham & root, 1891), the venetian building (holabird & roche, 1892), and then the isabella, where this panel was rescued from. thankfully, the monadnock is still standing, with most of its original aluminum ornament intact. the venetian and isabella were both demolished (1959 and 2004, respectively) , with no known ornament rescued from the former. the surviving panels from the isabella building, along with the monadnock's lobby ornament, represent the first use of aluminum as architectural ornament. chicago-based winslow brothers cast the aluminum ornament, along with any and all bronze and ironwork used in these buildings. i will explore the use of ornamental aluminum in a future post when do a thorough photographic survey of the monadnock's lobby and its aluminum staircase.

c. 1892 cast aluminum elevator cab or car grille. salvaged from the non-extant isabella buildng. william le baron jenney & william bryce mundie, architects. fabricator, winslow brothers, chicago, ills.

original angled 1892 ornamental electro-copper plated cast iron isabella staircase baluster panel. william le baron jenney & william bryce mundie, architects. the gothic style double-sided panel was executed by the winslow brothers, chicago, ills.

original full-bodied ornamental cast iron spread-winged eagle purportedly removed from the 1898-1905 chicago federal building prior to its demolition in 1965. the beaux arts-style government building was designed by architect henry ives cobb.

the lexington hotel, built for the chicago world's fair of 1893, was completed in 1892. clinton j. warren was its architect. the non-extant hotel was outfitted with thousands of cast bronze monogrammed doorknobs mounted on the guest room doors. the ornamental doorknobs contain the hotel's initials in fanciful, overlapping lettering surrounded by a beaded border. the doorknobs were likely fabricated by the p. & f. corbin company, new britain, ct.

richly colored polychromatic glazed terra cotta interior chicago state street subway station column panel, featuring a sun-ray motif in alternating colors, along with a water wave border at the bottom of the end cap. date of fabrication not known. unidentified fabricator.

1894-95 exterior intricately designed exterior chicago stock exchange terra cotta panel designed by louis h. sullivan. the building's terra cotta facade was executed by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills louis h. sullivan & dankmar adler, architects. the building was demolished in 1972.