Re:Covering The Past

By Tim Loftus

The endeavor of architectural preservation includes many things related to the building itself.  Items pertaining to the building, the construction of, the furnishings in, related artwork and fixtures are also included in the package.  Whether it be historic photos, magazine articles or drawings, they all constitute the history of the building.   My story tells the tale of the recovery of drawings for the 1903 Henry Ives Cobb designed Federal Court House and Post Office located at Jackson, Dearborn, Clark & Adams streets in Chicago, Illinois (demolished in 1969 and replaced with Mies van der Rohe designed buildings).  And the 1903 Louis Sullivan designed Schlesinger & Mayer Store (now Carson Pirie Scott) located at State and Madison in Chicago, Illinois.

 Federal Court House and Post Office                                           Schlesinger & Mayer Store

The story starts in the spring of 1999 in the Village of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a town founded in 1833, twenty three miles west of downtown Chicago, along the same railroad that runs through Oak Park. Glen Ellyn is home to buildings designed by E.E. Roberts, Charles White, Harry Robinson (while under the employ of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1913), Harold Zook, Paul Schwieker and the Warren Spahr houses of John Van Bergen.

As any recycling conscious modern town goes, the regular allotment of garbage is limited to one can and all the recyclables you want on a weekly basis. Over and above that you pay an additional “user fee” for each additional can of waste. This policy tends to make historical warehouses out of a residents’ basement, attic and garage. In reply to the cries of its’ residents over this policy, Glen Ellyn enacted a program that permits its residents to discard of an unlimited amount of non-toxic “stuff” at no additional cost, during the last week in April (currently on a bi-yearly basis). This program also generates a plethora of yard and estate sales on the Friday and Saturday before, and a recyclers paradise on the Sunday before the Monday garbage pick-up, as all the leftovers can be disposed of for free at that time.

Now myself being a true believer in the notion that there are many valuable treasures to be discovered in the least likely places, I always have my eyes open for these treasures. My elderly neighbor who was selling his house and planning on moving into a retirement community held his estate sale, like throngs of others, on this chosen weekend in 1999. As usual, the knick-knacks, pictures, tools, dishes furniture, etc. went like hotcakes and all the leftovers were piled high at the curb for pickup the following Monday. On the side of the pile of leftover “stuff” was a box containing some rolls of drawings, an HVAC ductwork calculator, and an Illinois Professional Engineer’s framed license. Being an engineer myself, I was immediately drawn to this box of treasures. In the box there was a thin roll of sepias for a residence in Damascus, Syria by the firm of Dart & Hackl.

I hurriedly gathered the box and its contents and rushed the three doors away to my house and deposited the box safely in my garage. I then rushed right back to begin excavating through the entire six foot high by eight foot wide pile, looking for any other treasures of this stature. Unfortunately the rest of my dig did not yield anything of value.

Upon returning home I cleaned off the dining room table and unfurled the roll and began the investigation into the contents of this find. My first thoughts were that I had found some lost original Louis Sullivan drawings. But under closer scrutiny I saw that they were primarily electrical drawings and some mechanical drawings of the Schlesinger & Mayer Building and mechanical, plumbing, heating and electrical drawings for the Federal Court House and Post Office Building designed by Henry Ives Cobb.

The common denominator of the drawings was the name of the engineering firm responsible for the designs contained on the drawings. The firm of Pierce, Richardson & Neiler of Chicago designed the building systems for the Schlesinger & Mayer and the Federal Court House buildings, both designed in the 1903 timeframe.

The firm was founded in 1893 as Pierce & Richardson, Consulting Engineers. Both were graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1894 Samuel Neiler joined the firm after he met Richard Pierce while working on the Columbian Exposition that was held in Chicago in 1893. The firm was successful at designing mechanical and electrical building systems throughout the Midwest.

The exact dates are not known at this time but the firm eventually became Neiler, Richardson & Bladen. It was at this time that my former neighbor went to work at the firm as a young engineer under the tutelage of Sam Neiler. He eventually became a principal at the firm and after the deaths of Neiler, Richardson & Bladen he inherited the firm.. After a subsequent partnership dissolved he went on to work for Loebl, Schlossman, Hackl & Dart. He also credited himself with working on the first Prudential Building in Chicago, designed by Naess & Murphy and also working on the design of the mechanical systems at O’Hare Airport from 1958 thru 1962.

With the demise of Neiler, Richardson & Bladen these drawings were kept in his possession for all these years. By a shear stroke of luck a person like me happened to come along and was at the proverbial right place at the right time.

Samples of the Schlesinger & Mayer Drawings

 Samples of the Federal Court House and Post Office Drawings  

I understand the importance of these documents and their place in completing the history of these two buildings. That is why I share my information freely on my website, www.PrairieStyles.com, a website devoted to exploring the works of the Prairie School of Architecture. Prairie Styles is a hobby that that I have been working on for over five years now. It is through research on John Van Bergen that I have come to know Marty Hackl. If you would like to find out more about Richardson, Pierce & Neiler, click on this link to their page on Prairie Styles, http://www.prairiestyles.com/pierce.htm . If you have any questions or some historical information or documentation that you would like to add to the Prairie Styles site, please email at timloftus@prairiestyles.com .

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Copyright © 2003 Martin Hackl