On Saturday, an exquisite giantess with a face two stories high peers out sadly from behind the thread-like bars of her newly unveiled prison of beauty . . .
And on Sunday, sweating, straining bodies, in an unending rainbow stream of day-glo color ritual run past the dead red fish, concrete cobs, and sacrifice house of the succulent flesh . . .
. . . while off to the side, on IBM Plaza, the youngest runner paces the race he creates out of his own imagination . . .
Ulta is this building, correct?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/rbarchives/sullivan/morgen1.html
If so, it's an overall improvement, but I think that the ornament at the top might be the last bit of Louis Sullivan work on the building, and if so, I'm sorry to see it covered. Even if that wasn't Sullivan, it provided a tantalizing hint of what was lost in the original narrowing and refacing.
I wish they would've restored the building, if possible.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's anything left to restore there. I'm pretty sure the building used to be considerably wider, too. But it's a little distressing that the upper floors are evidently not used for anything. It's less ugly now.
ReplyDeletehttp://img515.imageshack.us/img515/9046/beehivele8.jpg
ReplyDeleteThis is what the ulta building looked like after Sullivan's renovation. As you can see, his work was mostly in the storefront and cornice; there would be little to restore and it is missing its southernmost two bays. I wish they had not covered up what remained, though.
Also a link to Lynn's earlier post is helpful in discussing the ornament: http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/louis-sullivan-under-construction.html
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