Robert W. Roloson Rowhouse Baluster, Chicago, IL (1894) (S.026)
- Decorative Baluster from Roloson Houses
- This is an image of a complete baluster
- Roloson Rowhouses in 1930s. Gilman Lane photographer.
Original balustrade 1940. Close-up. Grant Manson photographer.
- Roloson Rowhouses as they appeared in the late 1987 (left). Bob Thall photographer.
- Roloson Rowhouses in 2000
- Nathan G. Moore balustrade (right). Comparing the Roloson on the left with the Moore on the right: A) Orb is about 75% smaller than Moore.
- B) Neck has pedestal and is much taller than Moore. C) Moore has horizontal center line.
Nathan G. Moore Residence (1895)
See Wright Study: Robert W. Roloson Rowhouses
YEAR DESCRIPTION ST# 1894 Roloson Rowhouses Baluster. By the late 1930s these houses had long been forgotten as Wright's work. They were rediscovered in 1940 when Grant Carpenter Manson "happened upon them while driving along Calumet Avenue looking for some early Adler and Sullivan buildings". According to William Storrer, Robert W. Roloson purchased four rowhouses and commissioned Wright to remodel them in 1894. This was Wright’s 26th project (Storrer 026). Manson indicates that Roloson commissioned Wright to "design the houses... on property which he wanted to improve. The idea of erecting identical row houses..." Henry-Russell Hitchcock, "In The Nature of Material" Page 108, says they were "Remodeled as apartments". This baluster is very similar to the design used in the Nathan G. Moore Residence (1895). Wright often used identical or similar forms in commissions of approximately the same date. An example is the same wall sconce used in the Little Residence, Peoria (1902) and in the Dana Residence (1902). In 1981, fire gutted the interior and the structure was neglected. Under the assumption that the building would be torn down, the building’s ornamental items were scavenged. "Robert W. Roloson Houses" was published in 1979. Grant Carpenter Manson writes extensively about the Rolson Rowhouses in “Frank Lloyd Wright to 1910", 1958. Pp 69-71. Robin Langley Sommer also wrights about it in "Frank Lloyd Wright, American Architect for the Twentieth Century" 1993, Pp 36-37. 8" in diameter. 0016.01.0606
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