Architectural Ornament
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Architecture can express the life and vitality, values, and wit of the people who occupy buildings. Well placed ornamentation can add interest, grace, and pleasure to a building.
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| Gothic architecture provides a good example of the use of ornament. Gothic is a very functional and practical style of construction; everything served a purpose. The placement of ornament served structural purposes as well as providing a means of communication in a period when most people were illiterate. Pinnacles topped with finials, flying buttresses, key stones and boss stones in arches, all provided extra weight at critical points to balance the structure against earth and wind movement. |
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Gargoyles and grotesques, crockets and molding termination stones all helped the building to shed water. One of the major causes of the deterioration of buildings is the penetration of water (from rain and snow) into the walls. Water created the Grand Canyon; it is very persistent and powerful. Ornament, moldings and cornices were placed on buildings at critical locations, to pull the water off the building. If you compare the staining and leakage on a typical 20 year old "glass box" skyscraper to that on a well-designed 80 year old stone building, you will see the difference. Buildings should be designed to be outdoors, in the wind, rain and snow, and to be participants in the human fabric, contributing to the beauty of the community. |
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| In the early 1980's, these Corinthian capitals and columns were dumped along Chicago's lakefront to serve as landfill. Thousands of hours of careful work by highly skilled artisans was required to carve these pieces. If we lack understanding and appreciation for our past and our arts, we will lose the legacy that has been left to us.The appreciation for this work is returning. In May, 1996, two of these 45 foot tall columns (14 Meters) were erected along Chicago's downtown lakefront, forming the key element in a park commemorating cancer survivors. | |
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This limestone overdoor panel is six feet wide and four feet high. The design is based on Viennese art nouveau forms. |
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I created these 5 sets of lintels in the Eastlake style, for the restoration of a home in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. They are carved in Texas Cream limestone, selected to match the tone and texture of the Joliet limestone which was used extensively in the late 1800's.. |
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Restoration panels for the Chicago Board of Trade building. These are duplicates of the damaged originals from the Art Deco frieze above LaSalle Street in Chicago's financial district.. Five of these are 7' wide (213 cm) and one is 10'3" wide (312 cm). |
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This is the right side of an arch for a Tudor doorway, featuring carved oak leaves and acorns. The entire arch is about 6'4" (almost 2 m) wide. |
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