“A collection of monument-sized limestone Art Deco animal sculptures designed by Chicago artist Edgar Miller is being reinstalled at the former Jane Addams Homes — in the same playground courtyard they originally occupied 85 years ago.
“But an unfunny thing happened as the restored sculptures made their way back to the forum: The largest of the seven sculptures — a fanciful 20,000-pound depiction of a ram with other animals nestled against it — cracked during installation Thursday afternoon and is now being repaired.
“‘We always knew there would be a risk,’ said Lisa Yun Lee, executive director of the National Public Housing Museum, the institution that’s expected to open next year in a renovated surviving section of the old Addams public housing complex at 1322 W. Taylor St.
“Restoring the sculptures and returning them to their historic spot in the former Addams Homes Animal Court is a bit of a coup for the new museum, where they’ll likely be a popular attraction and provide fond memories for the now grown-up kids who played in and around the big stone animals.
“The Addams homes, along with the North Side’s Julia C. Lathrop Homes and Trumbull Park Homes on the Southeast Side, are Chicago’s first three public housing projects, all built in 1938.
“The federally funded New Deal era developments were all humanely designed low-rise and midrise brick buildings with gardens and open areas — a far cry from the bleak public housing towers, such as those at Cabrini-Green and Robert Taylor, that were built 20 years later.
“Holabird & Root designed Addams Homes and brought in Miller to create the animal court.
“‘Twenty years ago, people were uncertain if they could be saved,’ Bleicher said. ‘Are they really going to make it?’” (Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 2/1/25)
Read the full story at Chicago Sun-Times
- A crack spoils homecoming of Edgar Miller sculpture — for now; A fanciful 20,000-pound depiction of a ram cracked during installation at the National Public Housing Museum on Taylor Street, Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 12/21/24
- ‘Animal Court’ to be back in session as noted sculptures return to West Side after 16 years; Playground animal figures designed by artist Edgar Miller to be restored and returned to the former Jane Addams Homes, Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/9/23