1899-1904

Staircase Baluster

The late-nineteenth-century department store was an expression of the cultural ambitions of its owners and their target markets. In 1899 Chicago’s Schlesinger and Mayer Store commissioned Louis Sullivan to design a building (still standing) the size of a full city block. While the upper levels are austere, the base is wrapped in a remarkable cast-iron decorative band that swirls around the corner entrance tower. The exterior detail extended into every element of the interior, including the staircase and the ornamental balusters, which were removed from the store in 1972. The Museum acquired six of the balusters including this example; here the underlying geometry that Sullivan learned from Frank Furness was overtaken by curvilinear designs in the contemporary Art Nouveau style.