June 10, 2012

Architectural detail...

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Nice.

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"In 1914 the Purdue State Bank, the smallest and least expensive of architect Louis Sullivan's 'Jewel Boxes' was completed in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States."

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"The building cost $14,600, although Sullivan's fee was only about 10% of that; barely covering his own costs."

Cheap... but that doesn't justify treating it this way:


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The curse of the ATM:

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24 comments:

chickelit said...

Is Althouse on a "mentors of Frank Lloyd Wright" tour, or is it just Sullivan?

Ann Althouse said...

"Is Althouse on a "mentors of Frank Lloyd Wright" tour, or is it just Sullivan?"

Althouse readers should notice our tendency to go to West Lafayette.

Ron said...

Job hunting at Purdue?

"From Badger to Boilermaker: The Althouse Story"

Robert J. said...

> Althouse readers should notice our tendency to go to West Lafayette

Aha, so it's a "French generals of the Revolutionary War" tour then?

Petunia said...

Have you seen the jewel box bank in Sun Prairie? Doesn't have any ATMs stuffed into its facade so far as I know.

chickelit said...

I actually hadn't noticed the frequency of trips to West Lafayette. But isn't Simon in West Lafayette? You guys should look him up.

I only put the Sullivan remark up because I noticed you blogged about another building of his a while ago.

Michael McNeil said...

All those beautiful brick buildings in the East — in California (earthquake country) we call them “deathtraps.”

edutcher said...

The East Coast seems to have a little more regard for its treasures than most places west of the Alleghenies.

One wonders why.

Lava said...

Great building, beautiful facade messed up by some "facilities manager" at a back office somewhere. What a shame...Sullivan did such wonderful buildings...also look at Elmslie and Purcell, Sullivan alums who also did wonderful work in their own right. Sadder still is that small buildings were also well-designed...

gerry said...

I guess they could have demolished it and put in a stand-alone ATM machine.

My wife and I delivered a rescued St. Bernard dog to a couple from Chicago in Lafayette (we met them halfway from Cincinnati), and then we visited the Purdue Wolf Park nearby.

Have you ever seen humans and wolves play frisbee? Note: the human-friendly wolves cannot be released into the wild for health reasons. There are wild wolves there, and they are kept apart from the "tame" ones.

David said...

It's a reunion. Except no one else is invited.

rcommal said...

Ever since Althouse hooked up with Meade, they've trekked to West Lafayette together. Nice place; I have relatives there, too.

Chickelit: Wrong town for Simon. Almost a couple of hours away, I think, if you actually follow speed limits.

wyo sis said...

It always bemuses me when metal things are attached to buildings with screws that rust. What's the point of that?

Lyle said...

Wish there was more architecture like this these days. Today's architecture at least has some character usually, but the fine detail isn't usually there.

MadisonMan said...

you blogged about another building of his a while ago.

That's because it's in Madison.

Lava said...

Don't know if the topic was the Bradley House (one of the absolute best houses in Madison, or anywhere. Stopped me dead in my tracks first time I saw it). An interesting aside, Geo. Elmslie was the lead architect on the project.

chickelit said...

That's because it's in Madison.

It was a commercial structure--not a house. Is there a smallish commercial structure of his in Madison?


@rcommal: Thanks! You're correct. My mistake. All those Hoosier towns and name sound alike to me.

Craig Howard said...

I don't find this objectionable at all. Sure, I suppose they could've come up with a more early 20th century looking ATM, but it's a good compromise between [as has been mentioned above] tearing the thing down and maintaining a bank in a very small and probably relatively unprofitable town.

Even FLLW's prairie houses now have microwaves in the "laboratory."

Bob R said...

Pure idiocy. Some idiot at Chase so obsessed with "brand" that they can't adapt the sign or the color around the ATM to the setting. And then the penny pinching of leaving the ugly grey conduit visible.

Ralph L said...

The East Coast seems to have a little more regard for its treasures than most places west of the Alleghenies
Because we've already destroyed so many of them.

Lava said...

@chickelit...there is a beautiful small bank of his in downtown Columbus, WI about 30 miles NE of Madison. I'm not aware of a commercial bldg. of his in the city itself.

chickelit said...

And then the penny pinching of leaving the ugly grey conduit visible.

The conduit. I had a similar complaint back link

Rusty said...

edutcher said...
The East Coast seems to have a little more regard for its treasures than most places west of the Alleghenies.

One wonders why.



Take an architectural tour of Chicago and suburbs you'll be surprised. Sullivan did some of his best work in Chicago.

vet66 said...

They couldn't use stainless steel screws to anchor the sign to the bricks? Rust represents the attitudes many of us have towards bureaucrats in general.