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Staircase from Chicago Stock Exchange Building, Chicago

Dankmar Adler American
1893
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 701
During the building boom following the famous fire of 1871, the Chicago School architects, led by Louis Sullivan, invented a new building type: the skyscraper. One of the masterpieces of the form was the Chicago Stock Exchange building completed in 1894. The staircase installed in the Charles Engelhard Court (gallery 701) was removed from the Stock Exchange when it was demolished in 1972. The copper-plated ironwork exemplifies Sullivan’s mature ornamental style—a combination of two-dimensional geometric shapes and naturalistic plantlike forms. Sullivan used similar motifs throughout the building, executing them in a variety of media, from stenciled canvas to molded plaster and terracotta.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Staircase from Chicago Stock Exchange Building, Chicago
  • Maker: Louis Henry Sullivan (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1856–1924 Chicago, Illinois)
  • Maker: Dankmar Adler (American, 1844–1900)
  • Date: 1893
  • Geography: Made in Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Cast iron, electroplate copper finish, mahogany railing
  • Dimensions: 144 x 92 x 156 in. (365.8 x 233.7 x 396.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. James Biddle Gift, 1972
  • Object Number: 1972.50.1
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

More Artwork
Baluster from the Carson, Pirie, Scott Company, Chicago, Louis Henry Sullivan American, Cast iron, American
Baluster from the Carson, Pirie, Scott Company, Chicago
Fabricated by Louis Henry Sullivan
Manufacturer Winslow Brothers Company
1899–1904
Elevator panel from the Manhattan Building, Chicago, Illinois, William LeBaron Jenney, Cast iron, American
Elevator panel from the Manhattan Building, Chicago, Illinois
Designer Designed by William LeBaron Jenney
Manufacturer Manufactured by Winslow Brothers Company
William B. Mundie
ca. 1889–91
Staircase from Chicago Stock Exchange Building, Chicago, Louis Henry Sullivan American, Cast iron, electroplate copper finish, mahogany railing, American
Staircase from Chicago Stock Exchange Building, Chicago
Louis Henry Sullivan
Dankmar Adler
1893
3-part Garden landscape window for Linden Hall, Agnes F. Northrop American, Leaded Favrile glass
3-part Garden landscape window for Linden Hall
Designer Agnes F. Northrop
Manufacturer Tiffany Studios
1912
Elevator grille from the Chicago Stock Exchange Building, Louis Henry Sullivan American, Wrought iron and brass, American
Elevator grille from the Chicago Stock Exchange Building
Louis Henry Sullivan
Dankmar Adler
ca. 1893

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