Design & Desire in the Twentieth Century

Holabird & Roche/Alfred S. Alschuler, Maurice L. Rothschild & Co. Building (1906/1910/1931), Chicago, IL . Photo credit: designslinger.com
Source: http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn281/SallyGreene2008/02SallyGreenAlbum/UZY20000000084.jpg

Design and Desire is happy to report that one of our favorite bloggers, Designslinger, is back in action in Chicago, IL after a brief hiatus due to health reasons. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post on Holabird & Roche’s  Maurice L. Rothschild and Company Building:

“When Maurice L. Rothschild opened his clothing store in 1906, the building, designed by architects Holabird & Roche, was much smaller than the structure we see today. The original, 8-story building went from end to end of the property line along the Jackson Street side of the lot (the shaded, fire-escaped facade) but extended only two window bays beyond its angled corner along State Street (the sun-filled side of the picture). In 1910, after 4 years of booming business, Rothschild had the architects extend the State Street facade another 3 bays, and added another floor, growing upward from eight stories to nine. Then in 1929, architect Alfred Alschuler drew-up plans for the final State Street bay, and by 1931, added another three floors to top-off the previous nine. Whew.”

Read the entire post. »

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Our friends at designslinger.com tell an interesting story concerning the Consumers Building (1913) in Chicago, IL by the architectural firm of Jenney, Mundie & Jensen. According to designslinger, the building “passed through several owners before being acquired by the Federal government, whose Federal Center complex sits right behind the Consumer. The government now maintains the building, but with a large redevelopment program in the works, the fate of Jenney, Mundie & Jensen’s 95 year old project is in question.” Read more.

Consumers Building (1913) Jenney, Mundie & Jensen, architects /Image & Artwork: designslinger
Source: http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn281/SallyGreene2008/02SallyGreenAlbum/UZY20000000035-9.jpg

I had planned to write an article on Frank Lloyd Wright that would tie in with the exhibit, “Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century,” opening this month at the Milwaukee Art Museum, but my friends at Designslinger already have created a great post on Wright’s Harry S. Adams House (1913), Oak Park, Illinois, that I’d like to share instead.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Adams House (1913). Image: designslinger
Source: http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn281/SallyGreene2008/UZY20000000048-11.jpg

Eva Zeisel. (Circa 2001)
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Eva_Zeisel.jpg

Ceramicist Eva Zeisel was undoubtedly one of the most influential designers of the Twentieth Century. Her designs earned her major acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, and her fantastic biography reads like novel or a Hollywood movie script. Eva entered the Royal Academy in Budapest to study painting at age 17, but at her mother’s suggestion left in 1924 to become an apprentice in the pottery industry. After achieving early success, she worked several years in Germany, then traveled to Russia where she worked to  modernize the ceramic industry. Eventually she was appointed Artistic Director of China and Glass Industry. Despite her professional success, Eva was accused of plotting to kill Stalin and imprisoned for 16 months.(1) Immediately after her release, She was put on a train to Austria, and later escaped that country” on the last train out on the day of the Anschluss” (2). In 1938 Eva married Hans Zeisel in England; Hans had waited seven years for her. That year the couple arrived in New York with less than $100 between them (2).

In post-war United States Eva’s career really took off. Her iconic designs were manufactured by Hall China, Red Wing China, Castleton China, Noritake, Nikkon Toki, and Phillip Rosenthal (1) to name a few.

Eva Zeisel celebrated her hundredth birthday in 2006. Several retrospective exhibitions were held to celebrate her career.

For more resources on Dr. Zeisel’s life and work visit the Eva Zeisel Forum.
To see Eva’s work visit Eva Zeisel Originals.

Watch an interview from 2008 with Dr. Zeisel.

References

1. Who is Eva Zeisel? http://www.evazeisel.org/who_is_eva_zeisel.html
2. Eva Stricker Zeisel Chronology Jan 20, 2010. http://www.evazeisel.org/Eva%20Stricker%20Zeisel%20-%20Chronology%20January%2020,%202010.pdf

Part One: A Home for The Larkin Company

An architect cannot build without a client, for it is the client who provides him or her with the reason to build and the resources with which to undertake the project. When architect Frank Lloyd Wright first met businessman Darwin D. Martin, little did he realize that he was beginning a close relationship with the man who would not only be the most influential client of the first half of his career, but the friend who would be his most loyal supporter during his darkest hours.

Wright and Darwin D. Martin had much in common; the men were contemporaries. Martin was born in 1865, two years before Wright.  At an early age both men had experienced unhappiness and loneliness as their family life deteriorated. Martin’s mother died when he was just five years old. His father remarried and moved Martin and a brother from their home in upstate New York to the Midwest, separating them from the rest of their siblings. Wright’s family moved frequently from town to town; his dominating, headstrong mother never got on well with Wright’s weaker father. Wright’s parents divorced when he was a teenager. According to Wright biographer Meryl Secrest, “This unhappy childhood led Wright’s drive to create the perfect house thinking that it would bring about the perfect marriage.” Like Wright Martin’s unsettled youth also strengthened his belief in “The Home” as the center of one’s life.


    Darwin D. Martin
    Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/DarwinMartinImage1119_230.jpg

Martin’s life was much like the poor-boy-makes-good Horatio Alger story. When he was only twelve years old Martin left Nebraska to live in New York City with his older brother. The two sold soap door-to-door for the Larkin Soap Company of Buffalo, New York. Martin’s acumen with numbers brought him to the attention of company president, John Larkin who promoted young Martin to accountant and relocated him to work in Buffalo. Here Martin found the sense of belonging that he yearned for and developed a close relationship with his mentor, Elbert Hubbard, who would leave Larkin Soap in 1893 to found the Roycroft Arts and Crafts Community in East Aurora, New York. While Hubbard’s exit jolted Martin, he seized upon this opportunity to move up in the corporate hierarchy. Martin went on to help Larkin become at that time one of the nation’s leading catalogue companies, rivaling Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. (1)

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