Baluster from the Carson, Pirie, Scott Company, Chicago

Winslow Brothers Company|Louis Henry Sullivan

1899–1904 · Cast iron · The American Wing

In 1898, Sullivan received a commission from Schlesinger and Mayer for a large department store (the building was purchased by Carson Pirie Scott and Company in 1904). It was Sullivan’s most important independent commission. The store was built in two units. The first, small section, built in 1898–99, was nine stories high but only about sixty feet wide; the second section, built in 1903–4, was much larger overall. The facades of both sections bear identical decorative elements and fenestration. During this period, Sullivan employed the same sinuous ornamental elements as he had previously, but he organized them within a more rectilinear geometric framework.

Artist

Winslow Brothers Company|Louis Henry Sullivan

Date

1899–1904

Medium

Cast iron

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1973