Schlesinger and Mayer Store: Circular Medallion from a First Floor Elevator Grille

The Schlesinger and Mayer Store was Sullivan’s last large commercial commission. The department store, known since 1904 as Carson Pirie Scott and Company, attests to Sullivan’s design virtuosity. The facade’s unbroken cellular wall, composed of plate-glass windows in neat rows, rises above two floors of ornamental cast-iron work. Surrounding the street-level windows and encrusting the entrance pavilion at the corner are design motifs derived from geometry and natural forms. Sullivan carried these motifs into the interior, such as the richly detailed balusters, which contain stylized seed forms and interlaced ribbons on a background of geometric shapes. This first-floor elevator medallion was installed at the hand height on the original cage elevators, which were removed for fire safety reasons.