documenting seldom seen upper floors of adler and sullivan's 1881 s.a. maxwell building

i was given a small window of time to document the upper floors (3-5) of adler and sullivan's s.a. maxwell loft building (commonly known as the jewelers' building) by the current owners last week. 

during that time i focused solely on finding any and all existing sullivan-designed details that managed survive countless alterations since its completion in 1881 (the first major alteration was in 1910). 
with the exception of a few oversized steel-cut plaster ceiling medallions and plaster-covered columns with incised rings and flared capitals, the interior spaces were mostly stripped down to brick walls.

two oak wood paneled bathroom enclosures with bullseye blocks and scattered sections of original baseboard located at the back of the building near the walk-in vaults and freight elevators remain mostly intact, but i suspect it's "stock" sourced from a chicago-based millwork company.

the original open cage single cab elevator (removed or covered over) and sullivan-designed oak wood staircase were pulled from the building in the 1950's, but thankfully richard nickel documented both in situ before later returning to salvage parts of the staircase as it was being ripped out.

i've included images that nickel took when he documented the upper floors during that time, along with images of the salvaged millwork now housed in a private collection. nickel images courtesy of the ryerson and burnham library, art institute of chicago.

additional images of jewelers' building upper floors taken on november 8, 2018:

further reading:

A RARE GLIMPSE AT THE UPPER FLOORS OF ADLER & SULLIVAN'S JEWELERS BUILDING AS PHOTOGRAPHED BY RICHARD NICKEL

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