c. 1899 stair baluster from from louis sullivan's schlesinger + mayer department store, now known as carson pirie scott. cast iron with traces of copper plating. thirty-nine inches in height , ten inches in width. available from michael fitzsimmons for sixty-five hundred dollars.in commemoration of sullivan's sesquicentennial, fair oaks workshop is manufacturing reproductions from several of sullivan's buildings. the artifact is copper-plated cast aluminum, finished with an antique patina. they are available for about four hundred dollars.
it would be magnificent to own an artifact from a famous building, and it would be a centerpiece to be sure. but its tragic when you realize that the buildings of the modern movement and beyond are devoid of such artistic elements. there is nothing from the works of mies or johnson that you could hang on your wall as a centerpiece. the concept of architectural salvage will fade over the next thirty years as the craftmanship evident in the built environment is exhausted.
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