three historically important chicago building artifacts join bldg. 51 museum collection

less than 24 hours after securing three historically important 19th and early 20th century chicago building artifacts, i've researched, photographed, and cataloged them for future exhibit in the bldg. 51 museum. images and brief descriptions below.

the early 20th century glazed terra cotta rearing lions were sculpted by kristian schneider for the american terra cotta company. they are virtually identical to the lions schneider sculpted for louis h. sullivan's famers and merchants union bank (1919) in columbus, wis.

the strongly geometric buff-colored slip glaze spandrel panel (one of four) was designed by l.h. sullivan for adler and sulivan's st. nicholas hotel (1893) in st. louis. the terra cotta ornament - salvaged during demolition in 1973 - was executed by the northwestern terra cotta company.

perhaps the most important piece (to me anyway), is the exceptionally rare cast aluminum newel post salvaged from william le baron jenney's isabella building (1894) during its demolition in 1994. the aluminum ornament was executed by the winslow brothers, chicago, ills.

towards the end of the 19th century the building industry began experimenting with aluminum as a decorative ornament, which had only become available through large scale production at beginning in the early 1890's. the first building to incorporate aluminum as a decorative building material in chicago was the monadnock building (1891), followed by the venetian building (1891-1892), and the isabella building (1894).