Gage Group Buildings
- Architect
- Louis Sullivan
- Style
- Chicago School
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collections
- adler & sullivanthe chicago school
The Gage Group Buildings are three commercial blocks at 18, 24, and 30 South Michigan Avenue, built between 1890 and 1899 by Holabird & Roche for three millinery firms — Gage, Keith, and Ascher. The building at 18 South Michigan, originally the Gage Brothers and Company Building, carries an ornamental facade designed by Louis Sullivan, making the row a side-by-side comparison of two Chicago School hands on the same street.
the building
Sullivan's facade at 18 South Michigan. While Holabird & Roche handled the two neighboring buildings in a straightforward manner, Sullivan designed the ornamental front at 18 South Michigan (addressed 130 S. Michigan before Chicago's 1909 street renumbering), giving it his more expressive, foliate style of ornament.
the style
The Gage buildings demonstrate two approaches within the Chicago School, the movement that produced modern commercial architecture: Holabird & Roche's plain, structurally direct facades at 24 and 30 South Michigan, against Sullivan's ornamental flourishes next door at number 18.
More on Chicago Schoolthe architect
Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) was an American architect, born in Boston.
More on Louis Sullivansignificance
18 South Michigan Avenue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1985, and designated a Chicago Landmark on September 11, 1996; it is also a contributing property to the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.
more by Louis Sullivan
nearby
- Civic Opera Building
- 300 West Adams Street Office Building
- First Leiter Building
- 181 West Madison Street
- Willis Tower
- Illinois Bell Building