bldg. 51 museum acquires rare and historically important world book encyclopedia garrick theater "star and pod" shadow box

when adler and sullivan's schiller building (1892) - later known as the garrick theater - was undergoing demolition in 1961 (a multitude of preservation groups and notable figures around the world vigorously protested and fought to save it from destruction months prior), a small number of forward-thinking organizations generously provided financial assistance towards saving the building's interior and exterior ornament, spear-headed by richard nickel, who would ultimately be responsible for carefully extracting the ornament - with help from john vinci and david norris - and later, oversee the distribution of it to various museums, universities, and other non-profit institutions or organizations around the world.

one the of the financial backers that contributed 10,000 dollars to what later became known as the "garrick ornament removal funds," was field enterprises educational corporation, publishers of world book encyclopedia, who retained the services of chicago-based architect dennis stevens, who was charged with selecting the ornament and overseeing its restoration in preparation for presentation to numerous universities.

the ornament chosen was known at the time as the "star-and-pod," a term nickel coined when providing a description to the highly visible panels used in the auditorium's multiple proscenium vaults. the panels were then painted gold (later analysis determined the original color scheme consisted of shades of green) and mounted in black-painted oak wood shadow boxes with a centrally located description below, flanked by two photographic images taken by richard nickel and aaron siskind. a small brushed steel rectangular-shaped plaque with lightly incised black lettering located at the very bottom edge of the shadow box identified the assemblage as a donation by world book encyclopedia.

the one recently acquired by the bldg. 51 museum, was given to carl tamminen, who at the time was an executive of the world book organization, where it was proudly displayed in his family's home for several decades until he passed on and gave it to son david. only one hundred of these historically important artifact display boxes, which represents one of the earliest visual examples of american historic preservation in its infancy, were made - with the great majority given to institutions.

images and ornament courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive and museum. all rights reserved. 2023.