French door from Brinsmaid House
Designed by Arthur Heun American
Manufactured by Giannini and Hilgart Glass Company
This set of French doors (see Inst.1974.19.3a) was originally installed in the Sedgwick S. Brinsmaid House, one of the earliest examples of Prairie-school architecture in Iowa. The horizontally oriented building, with its stucco and wood surface, pierced details, and abundance of geometric leaded glass, relates closely to works by Frank Lloyd Wright. Heun, a contemporary of Wright, began his architectural career in Chicago and was an important member of the Chicago Architectural Club, where he exhibited a design for this house in 1902. Sash windows, chandeliers, and lanterns were designed en suite with the doors; the distinctive element is the chevron pattern, its angles echoing the broadly projecting gables of the house.
