Garrick Theatre
64 W. Randolph Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
64 W. Randolph Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
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Showing 51 - 75 of 78 comments
I am in total agreement with you on that point.
I try to be careful about using phrases like, “it was a crime to demolish this theatre” because the world has certainly changed. But…
It was a crime to demolish this theatre.
In the October edition of “Chicago” mag on page 113 their is an artical entitled “Vital Signs” and their are some great pictures of The Garrick and some other downtown theatres.
Some more busts from the facade are on a wall in front of a home on Geneva Terrace near Fullerton Avenue.
Just thought I would add that we have lost another great Sullivan building. The Pligrim Baptist Church burned down on January 6th. It was originally a synagogue and was designed at the same time as the Garrick Theater. It is famous as the birthplace of modern gospel music.
“Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men.” A Richard Nickel quote that is, sadly, still true in 2005!
Brian: He has now become a personal hero of mine after only 15 minutes of searching through sites about him! I found a link that took me to Amazon and there I viewed “They All Fall Down” which should be required reading for any CT member! Another good book by the granddaughter of Harry M. Turner, Cass Warner is Hollywood Be Thy Name if anyone is interested in reading about the famous Warner Brothers of theatre and movie fame!
View link
Through Google I found this interesting site!
Yes, that’s him. I’d suggest doing a google search on “Richard Nickel”. His work often appears in books on Sullivan’s architecture, Chicago architecture, and there is also a great book about Nickel titled “They All Fall Down”. He’s a personal hero of mine.
I just brought up the b/w photo and think I found Mr. Nickel’s face. Is he wearing a hat? Where on the internet might I find his Louis Sullivan documentation?
Brian: Thanks for this sad follow-up information.
The demolition photo is perhaps the most famous photo of the Schiller; it was taken by photographer and preservationist Richard Nickel, who devoted his life to documenting Louis Sullivan’s buildings. He later lost his life in this effort when the trading floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange collapsed on him. In the protestors photo above, he is the gentleman whose face is partially obscured by holding up the “Do we dare squander Chicago’s architectual heritage?” sign.
It is a true crime that Chicago lost this Adler and Sullivan theatre in the turbulent 60’s! The above site with demolition photos is very disturbing to look at, but interesting to see.
http://www.thislife.org/dvd/ Here is a pair of photos of the Garrick, one during demolition.
Here is one from 1919
Since Patsy mentioned Frank Lloyd Wright in an earlier comment, I thought I would mention that Wright was Sullivan’s chief draftsman at the time this building was being built. Also after Wright started his own pratice, his first office was in the Schiller building.
The ‘Here’s’ link is working again. http://www.chicagotelevision.com/wbkbgarrick2.jpg shows a sketch of the Marquee from the early 50s, when the Garrick was serving as Television studios for shows like Garfield Goose. This is the marquee which obscured the busts in the above photographs.
That’s okay as I still enjoyed reading your Garrick comments.
If you are ever in Buffalo NY the Guaranty Building is a Sullivan structure that is well worth seeing with its intricate ornate facade It has large oval windows on the top floor so the offices have quite an ‘oval’ view of the city and Lake Erie.
Bryan: Tried bringing up “another view of the Garrick when clicking n "Here’s”, but not having any luck. So sad about the photographer who was killed trying to salvage architectural fragments. I’ll keep trying to bring up the Garrick site.
The fact that this theatre was built by architect Louis Sullivan and the firm, Adler and Sullivan makes this a very special theatre thought they all are in their own right, but the name Sullivan is as prominent as the well-known name, Frank Lloyd Wright. I was looking through the list of architects and found the Sullivan name and one theatre connected with that prominent name. To read that the City of Chicago closed and demolished it is a real Chicago ‘crime’! It was interesting to read that Rapp & Rapp came onto the scene during the 30’s to remodel the theatre in the art deco style. And then to read that the theatre was replaced with a parking garage only to be torn down in the late 90’s was unbelievable! I found it most interesting to read the when the Garrick was to be demolished “there was one of the earliest organized public outcries in Chicago to save an historic building, but to no avail”….so very sad! If you want to see a beautiful building that Sullivan left his mark on and one that is still standing travel to Buffalo NY and visit the Guaranty Building.
FOR RESEARCHERS: Much information and photos of the GARRICK/SCHILLER can be obtained at the Archive of the Theatre Historical Society of America just outside of Chicago in Elmhurst above the YORK THEATRE ( www.HistoricTheatres.org ). Use the “Archives” link on their site to learn hours and details to make an appointment. If they cannot identify the figures once on the facade of the SCHILLER, then take a photo of them to the “Goethe House” of the Federal Republic of Germany housed in the upper floor of the Central Library building, 813 W. Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee (off the rotunda stairs or elevator, not in the library itself) and they will probably be quite able to identify some of their famous nationals. Their phone: (414) 276-7435.
Thanks by the way for the Schiller and Goethe remarks. That’ll give me a place to start.
Anyone know where I could research this? I work at Second City, and no one here knows.
Does anyone know the names of the four Germans on the facade that is now at Second City?