The Art Institute of Chicago - Architectural Artifacts

From the founding of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1879 architectural artifacts have played an important educational role in the museum.

The first artifacts acquired were full scale plaster casts of the great monuments of Europe.
After WWII, the collection of fragments from Chicago buildings began to grow as urban renewal claimed hundreds of important commercial and residential structures.

Frank Lloyd Wright - corner terracotta and stone lantern from the Imperial Hotel, 1915,Tokyo, Japan (demolished 1968)

Louis Sullivan - terracotta decorative panel from the Eli B. Felsenthal Store, Chicago, 1905 (demolished 1982)

Adler and Sullivan - Elevator Bank from the Chicago Stock Exchange, 1893 (demolished 1972)

 

The Chicago Stock Exchange

 Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan produced 180 projects during their 14yr association that began in 1881. The 13 story skyscraper created to house the Chicago Stock Exchange(1893-94) was a marvel of engineering and architectural detail. The Trading Room itself was one of the most important interior spaces that Sullivan designed with complex geometric stencils, ornate gilt capitals and art glass skylights.

A recreation of the now demolished Trading Room is housed on the ground floor of the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

Adler & Sullivan, original architects; American, 1883-1896
Vinci & Kenny, reconstruction architects; American, 1970-1977
Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room: Reconstruction at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1893–94 (original built)
1972 (original demolished)
1976–77 (reconstructed)