Richard Nickel Died 40 Years Ago

One Chicago resident was obsessed with photographing, stopping demolition of and lastly saving pieces from buildings designed by Louis Sullivan.

Architecture photographer Richard Nickel spent years with his camera, documenting — and arguing against — the demolition of buildings in Chicago. Thirty-five years ago this month, Nickel died trying to document the demise of a building designed by Louis Sullivan, whose architecture helped define the Chicago cityscape.

In the ’60s and early ’70s, Nickel watched the demolition of so many of Sullivan’s buildings — and buildings created by other turn-of-the-century masters — that he wrote, “I look forward to the day when I never have to enter a wet, charred, smoky building again.” (NPR)

He died 40 years ago today inside one of those buildings.

Nickel was killed on April 13, 1972, while attempting to obtain more items for SIUE, when a stairwell in the Chicago Stock Exchange building collapsed on him. He is buried in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery, not very far from where Sullivan is buried. He died without completing his great collection of photographs of Sullivan’s work, but Nickel’s black-and-white photos have been displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago and elsewhere. The Richard Nickel Committee and Photographic Archive is a non-profit organization devoted to preserving the photographer’s work, and holds the copyrights for most of his pictures. (Wikipedia)

Some items previously salvaged by Nickel had been purchased by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). Some are on display in the The Louis H. Sullivan Collection in Lovejoy Library.

Nickel would be 83 if he were alive today.

– Steve Patterson

913 Locust As Narrow As It Looks

Squeezed in between two taller buildings is the structure at 913 Locust St. The building is only 23 feet 9 inches wide, the full width of the lot.

According to city records (Geo St. Louis) it was built in 1900 — after the building on the right but 13 years before the building on the left. Like many buildings downtown it got a new appearance during the 20th century. Anyone out there know more about this building?

– Steve Patterson

Charless Home To Close, Future Uncertain

A longtime St. Louis institution won’t reach its 160th anniversary:

The Charless Home, which opened in 1853 as the “Home of the Friendless,” will soon be the home of no one.

Bethesda Health Group, which bought the facility in 2006, said Monday [3/19/2012] it will close the home by June 30. Low occupancy and financial losses are the culprits, said Ken Bass, Bethesda’s senior vice president of senior living. (STLtoday.com)

If you’ve been a longtime reader here you might recall my post from June 6, 2006:

Despite the spin in the Post-Dispatch back in April the Charless Home, founded in 1853, is not “merging” with or being “acquired” by Bethesda Health Group. The folks I talked to tell me Charless’ Board is essentially paying Bethesda to take the south side landmark. The Charless Home has prime real estate at I-55 and South Broadway (map) yet the board has voted to give the real estate and millions of dollars to Bethesda in exchange for… well, nothing.

The board, comprised mainly of Clayton & Ladue socialites, is making a huge mistake. I’m told the Charless Home has nearly $17 million in the bank, hardly a distressed non-profit. A few board members voted against giving Charless to Bethesda and instead suggested they take on medicaid patients and consider constructing independent living housing on their grounds. (Full post)

Monday’s article says “ownership will revert to the non-profit Charless Foundation.” The Foundation does have active registration with the Secretary of State (view) but it’s unclear what will become of the property. The property, located in the 9th ward, is in a “preservation review” area so any proposed demolition would be reviewed by the Cultural Resources Office.

I sent an inquiry to the official board contact and received a reply indicating committees have been set up to gather information to help them asses their options.

– Steve Patterson

Remembering Wendell O. Pruitt and William L. Igoe

Pruitt & Igoe will forever be known around the world as the names on the biggest failure in modernist public housing, Pruitt-Igoe. When the Pruitt-Igoe complex was designed it was to be racially segregated. The black portion was named after Wendell O. Pruitt and the white portion after William L. Igoe. Who were these men?

Pruitt

Wendell Oliver Pruitt (June 20, 1920–April 15, 1945) was a pioneering African-American military pilot and Tuskegee Airman originally from St. Louis, Missouri. He was killed during a training exercise in 1945. After his death, his name, along with William L. Igoe’s was given to the notorious Pruitt–Igoe public housing complex in St. Louis.

Pruitt grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, as the youngest of ten children to Elijah and Melanie Pruitt and attended Sumner High School. He then furthered his education at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, becoming a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Pruitt, already a licensed pilot, enlisted in the Army Air Corps Cadet Flying Program in Tuskegee, Alabama, eventually graduating and being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on December 11, 1942.

After graduating from flight school at Tuskegee, Pruitt was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group, then stationed in Michigan. The 332nd was transferred to the Mediterranean theater in late 1943 where Pruitt flew the P-47 Thunderbolt.

In June 1944, Pruitt and his occasional wingman, 1st Lt. Gwynne Walker Peirson, landed direct hits on an enemy destroyer that sank at Trieste harbor in northern Italy. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for this action. Thereafter, the 332nd flew the P-51 Mustang as their primary fighter aircraft.

Pruitt teamed with Lee Archer to form the famed “Gruesome Twosome”, the most successful pair of Tuskegee pilots in terms of air victories. The “Gruesome Twosome” are featured in a History Channel show entitled Dogfights: Tuskegee Airmen. Pruitt flew seventy combat missions, was credited with 3 enemy kills, and reached the rank of captain. (Wikipedia)

Wow, a very impressive young man! Read more here and here. Pruitt is buried at St. Peters Cemetary in Normandy (source). His parents died in the 1960s and are also buried there.

Pruitt couldn’t have been any more different from Igoe.

Igoe

William Leo Igoe (October 19, 1879 – April 20, 1953) was a United States Representative from Missouri. He attended the public and parochial schools of St. Louis and graduated from the law school of Washington University in St. Louis in 1902. He was admitted to the bar in the same year and commenced the practice of law in St. Louis. He was member of the municipal assembly of St. Louis from 1909 until March 3, 1913, when he resigned to enter the United States Congress.

Igoe was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1913-March 3, 1921). He declined to become a candidate for renomination in 1920. He resumed the practice of law and was an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for mayor of St. Louis in 1925. He was chairman of the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners 1933-1937. He died in St. Louis on April 20, 1953 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery. (Wikipedia)

Igoe lived a long life — 73 — and had an impressive career. Clearly he was a man of privilege, maybe his accomplishments were just average  given his background?

Two men who likely never crossed paths are forever linked.

– Steve Patterson

Four Decades Since First Demolition At Pruitt-Igoe

Forty years ago today the first of Pruitt-Igoe’s 33 high rise towers was leveled by implosion. Today most of the site remains vacant and overgrown.

I first walked the site over 20 years ago, it was easier to traverse in 1991. Amazing the site can sit vacant for a longer period than the buildings did.

Here are a couple of short videos you might find interesting:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYrMUcT1jP4

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVpN6Wl7Qm0

– Steve Patterson