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a rare glimpse at the upper floors of adler & sullivan's s.a. maxwell loft building as photographed by richard nickel

i finally made time to digitize these richard nickel images of adler & sullivan’s jewelers building (1881-2) upper floors. unfortunately, the original sullivan-designed interior solid oak wood staircase railing was ripped out in 1960, but thankfully it was rescued by charles gregerson (and possibly nickel), where it was stored for a time in weese’s office (see images). 

the salvaged oak wood newel and railing with turned spindles are the only surviving examples of wood ornament used in an early adler and sullivan loft building. amazingly, the original varnished finish with aged “alligator” texture remains largely intact. 

the upper floors of the building still retain the simple sullivan-designed steel cut cast plaster ceiling medallions are nearly identical, albeit smaller, to the escutcheons used in the ann halsted house completed in 1884. the plaster ceiling medallions likely executed by sculptor james legge. cannot recall offhand what other original elements are left in the building. 


images courtesy of the richard nickel archive, ryerson and burnham archives, art institute of chicago and eric j. nordstrom. ornament courtesy of tim samuelson collection.

further reading:

LOUIS H. SULLIVAN'S S.A. MAXWELL COMMERCIAL LOFT BUILDING OHIO SANDSTONE FRIEZE PANELS

FORGOTTEN ORNAMENT FROM ADLER & SULLIVAN'S S.A. COMMERCIAL LOFT BUILDING JOINS BLDG. 51 MUSEUM COLLECTION

 

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