Elevator Door, Chicago Stock Exchange
1 of 3
Object Label
In his 1924 book A System of Architectural Ornament, Louis Sullivan compared the metamorphosis of a seed into a plant to the development of his basic design motifs into a full-scale architectural structure. This elevator door, in which repeated small shapes merge into larger forms to produce an intricate, energy-filled overall pattern, illustrates this idea.
The design seems far less elaborate than the dense vegetal design seen in the balustrade panels by Sullivan nearby. Perhaps the difference is due to the intervention of Sullivan’s most famous disciple, Frank Lloyd Wright, who often simplified the designs of his mentor.
Caption
Louis Henry Sullivan American, 1856–1924. Elevator Door, Chicago Stock Exchange, 1893. Wrought iron, cast bronze, copper, 84 1/2 x 41 x 1 in., 125 lb. (214.6 x 104.1 x 2.5 cm, 56.7kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. H. A. Metzger, by exchange, 2012.10. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, CUR.2012.10_documentation_Chicago_Stock_exchange_1963_HABS_photograph.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Manufacturer
Designer
Title
Elevator Door, Chicago Stock Exchange
Date
1893
Medium
Wrought iron, cast bronze, copper
Classification
Dimensions
84 1/2 x 41 x 1 in., 125 lb. (214.6 x 104.1 x 2.5 cm, 56.7kg)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. H. A. Metzger, by exchange
Accession Number
2012.10
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
I'm looking at the Sullivan elevator doors. Can you tell me about them?
The architect Louis Sullivan is often called “the father of skyscrapers”. He worked primarily in Chicago, which experienced a building boom following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. These elevator doors came from the Chicago Stock Exchange, which was a thirteen-story steel-framed building designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, completed in 1894. The building used the latest elevator technology and Sullivan applied a geometric, mechanical aesthetic to the iron elevator doors. Sadly, the building was demolished in 1972 but some of the more decorative components were preserved and are now in museum collections.Does the seed-to-plant design of this elevator door from the Chicago Stock Exchange tie into the agricultural commodities trading history of Chicago, like the Ceres statue on top of the Chicago Board of Trade?
Similar! The interior of the stock exchange was designed after the flora and fauna of the surrounding prairie landscape. Chicago was home to the Prairie School, a late 19th to early 20th century architectural style with a focus on the American midwest including its landscape and abundant agriculture.Tell me more.
This is a fragment from the Chicago Stock Exchange, an important and influential building designed by the firm of Adler and Sullivan. The building was one of the masterpieces of Chicago's architectural landscape. Sadly, the building was demolished in 1972 and fragments from the building are in museum collections around the world.
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at