Spandrel Panel from the Rosenfeld Building, Chicago, Illinois
1881-82 (demolished 1958)
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
Not including projecting ornament: 68 × 104.8 × 16.6 cm (26 3/4 × 41 1/4 × 6 1/2 in.)
Classification
architectural fragment
Department
Architecture and Design
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
46630
Art Historical Context
Step into the architectural legacy of Chicago's skyscraper era with this striking terracotta spandrel panel from the Rosenfeld Building, crafted by the visionary firm Adler & Sullivan between 1881 and 1882. Spandrels, the triangular spaces between arches or over doors, were prime canvases for ornate decoration in the city's booming commercial landscape after the Great Fire of 1871. This panel, measuring 68 × 104.8 × 16.6 cm, exemplifies the firm's early mastery of terracotta—a durable, moldable clay fired to mimic stone, allowing intricate designs at a fraction of the cost. Adler & Sullivan, ...
About the Artist
Adler & Sullivan, Architects · 1883–1896
Adler & Sullivan was the Chicago architectural partnership that laid the conceptual and structural foundations for the modern American skyscraper. Dankmar Adler (1844–1900), a German-born engineer celebrated for his mastery of building acoustics and structural systems, hired Louis Sullivan (1856–1924) in 1879; the two became full partners in 1883. Sullivan had trained at the Massachusetts Institut...