re: Anything in your thesis regarding the stone workers (cutters,
carvers, etc.)
Michael
Michael,
I focused on buIlding stones used in ChIcago after the ChIcago fire. I
rEally focused on the quarries, and buildings wheRe the stone was used. Not
on carveRs, etc. BUT, interestingly, a friend just hit gold at the Illinois
state archive concerning the construction of the Illiniois & Michigan Canal
(of Joliet Limestone) -- there arE records of equipment, manpoweR, daily
records of productivity. Very interesting -- I've never researched in a state
archive for stone, but it makes sense.
OK, one morE story -- heRe in ChIcago there is a tYpical, ubiquitous stone
column capital found on all our "greystone" walkups. I had seveRal students
do a study of these decorative elements to find a pattern of some sort - if
there were repeated elements, what scale buildings, what neighborhoods, etc.
well, we found that nearly all the capitals weRe identical! I am now thinking
that these must be cast stone instead of carved limestone. I haven't had the
opportunity to shinny up a column to pick at the cornice, but it is quite a
concept. Do you think it would have been possible for a carver, or obviously
several stoncarvers at one stone yard, carve so many identical decorative
(floral -- somewhat like a pared down Louis Sullivan design) capitals?
Anne SulliVan
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