“Non è la prima volta che questa stanza sopravvive alla sua stessa scomparsa. E forse non sarà l’ultima. La trading room del Chicago Stock Exchange, uno degli interni più celebri progettati da Louis Sullivan, potrebbe presto essere smontata, o peggio, dispersa, per fare spazio all’espansione dell’Art Institute of Chicago.
“Nel 1894, a Chicago, viene completato il Chicago Stock Exchange, uno degli edifici più rappresentativi del lavoro di Louis Sullivan (1856–1924), il “padre dei grattacieli” e maestro di Frank Lloyd Wright nei suoi anni giovanili. L’edificio nasce in una città che aveva già scritto la storia dell’architettura pochi anni prima con l’Home Insurance Building di William Le Baron Jenney, considerato il primo grattacielo della storia. Il Chicago Stock Exchange, progettato insieme a Dankmar Adler, fu innovativo per la sua struttura in acciaio e per la presenza di ascensori (elemento ancora relativamente nuovo per edifici di questa scala) ma era soprattutto la sua facciata a renderlo inconfondibile, riccamente decorata con elementi in terracotta.”
“This is not the first time this room has survived its own disappearance. And it may not be the last. The trading room of the Chicago Stock Exchange, one of the most celebrated interiors designed by Louis Sullivan, could soon be dismantled — or worse, dispersed — to make way for the expansion of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“In 1894, in Chicago, the Chicago Stock Exchange was completed, one of the most representative buildings of Louis Sullivan’s work (1856–1924), the “father of skyscrapers” and mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright in his early years. The building emerged in a city that had already made architectural history a few years earlier with William Le Baron Jenney’s Home Insurance Building, considered the first skyscraper in the world. Designed together with Dankmar Adler, the Chicago Stock Exchange was innovative for its steel structure and for the presence of elevators — still a relatively new feature for buildings of this scale — but it was above all its façade that made it unmistakable, richly decorated with terracotta elements.
“A demolition that never ended: The story of the building, however, was not a straightforward one. By the 1970s, it had fallen into disrepair, and the owners complained about unsustainable maintenance costs. The decision was made to demolish it and replace it with a new skyscraper. Architects, scholars, and enthusiasts mobilized to preserve this important trace of Sullivan’s work, but they were unable to prevent its demolition in 1972. They did, however, manage to symbolically preserve the entrance arch and the building’s most emblematic space: the trading room.
“This double-height interior was the beating heart of the city’s stock exchange activities. Its proportions were monumental, its decoration extraordinary: capitals, stenciled walls in fifty-two shades of gold, green, and yellow, and stained-glass windows filtering light through stylized vegetal patterns. (Aprile, Domus, 3/26/2026)
- Il capolavoro del maestro di Frank Lloyd Wright potrebbe sparire per sempre; Salvata dalla demolizione nel 1972 e ricostruita all’Art Institute of Chicago, la trading room del Chicago Stock Exchange di Louis Sullivan, uno degli interni più celebri della storia americana, è di nuovo a rischio, Nicola Aprile, Domus, 3/26/2026
- The masterpiece by Frank Lloyd Wright’s mentor could disappear for good; Saved from demolition in 1972 and reconstructed at the Art Institute of Chicago, the trading room of Louis Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange is once again at risk, Nicola Aprile, Domus, 3/26/2026