124. Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building

Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building
Chicago, Illinios, U.S. Louis Sullivan (architect). 1899-1903 C.E. Iron, steel, glass, and terra cotta

With its elaborate decorative program and attention paid to the functional requirements of retail architecture, Sullivan's design was a remarkably successful display for the department store's products, even if it diverged from the wholly vertical effect of his earlier skyscrapers.

Architect: Louis Sullivan

Date: 1899 and 1903-04

Location: Chicago

Medium: Steel frame, terra-cotta exterior, cast-iron entryway

Movement: Art Nouveau

Form/Content:

• Steel-frame skyscraper
• Tripartite
• decorative, open, easily-accessible ground level and first floor
• infinite number of stories for offices
• all should look the same because they serve the same function
• distinct attic story and cornice line
• to cap/mark off vertical endpoint and set it apart from other buildings in the cityscape
• tweaks the tripartite form to serve a different purpose
• highlights the horizontal ground floor space rather than the usual vertical trajectory of the middle section
• gives ground floor larger windows to emphasize the shopping space
• welcoming, aesthetically pleasing, decorative
• Art Nouveau decorative program
• cast-iron ornamentation covers the corner entryway and ground level exterior
• floral, elaborate, intricate
• industrial material reflects organic forms (characteristic of art nouveau)

Function:

• Department store
• rather than emphasizing the upward, vertical lines to accentuate the height of the skyscraper (as would usually be done), Sullivan highlights the ground-floor level entryway to draw shoppers into the store
• Decorative program also served to distinguish the building from the others around it, as well as attract shoppers

Context:

• Divergence from traditional vertical effect of the ideal skyscraper (even his own earlier skyscrapers) in chicago (birthplace of the skyscraper)
• form follows function
• Art Nouveau
• industrial materials (Chicago boasts: steel manufacturing, train hub) reflect organic forms (aesthetic floral intricacies)