Smart as Chicago: Ever heard of Studebaker?

Outside and in

Once upon a time there was a car company called Studebaker. Actually it started out as a carriage company, but eventually with the turn of the twentieth-century, became a car company. In Chicago in the mid-1880s it built what is now known as the Fine Arts Building.  I was not really lookig for it, but it sat near enough to the Auditorium Building for me to stick my head in the lobby of this Chicago Landmark and walk around.  It continues to be a functional building today, and is know for its murals on the upper floors done during the refurbishment in the 1890s.

 I liked the building for its play again form. Very orthographic here, but around the elevators the barrel vaulted ceilings.

The landmark sign and the wildest kickplate ever to be seen.

Look at these beautiful planes. This large plate glass window, the size and proportion, so Chicago.

Above the door, “All passes. – ART alone endures.

Tags: Chicago Landmark, Fine Arts Building