| Address | 4122 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL |
|---|---|
| Built | 1886 |
| Architect | Adler & SullivanLouis H. Sullivan; Dankmar Adler |
| Status | Designated Chicago Landmark |
| Designation Date | October 2, 1991 (Final) |
| Neighborhood | Oakland |
| Type | House |
| Landmark ID | L-89 |
Direct quotes from the Chicago Landmark Designation Report
“This large, closely knit family continued to grow with the emigration of more cousins from Germany and the addition of numerous new in-laws, and children. Eleven of the thirty-five residential designs executed by Adler and Sullivan between 1883 and 1886 were commissioned by Eliel or Adler relatives, and at least seven others were built for family friends and members of the K.A.M. congregation.”
“The property records indicate that Mathilde Eliel purchased the vacant lot at 4122 South Ellis, from Thomas Brown, Jr., a local speculator, on March 31, 1886. The city directory for 1887, compiled early that year, confirms that the building was complete, that Mathilde was living in it, and that, for the first and what would turn out to be the only period in her life, she was not living with her parents or other relatives.”
“Unlike their work on tall commercial buildings, where their respective genius in engineering and design was employed to singular effect, Adler and Sullivan created residential buildings that were generally familiar in plan and elevation, and that illustrated the extraordinary skill of the architects only in the form of the details that highlighted their interiors and exteriors.”
“Mathilde's sister Sara Eliel Nussbaum and her husband had been the longest residents in the house, having occupied it in 1895 and staying until it passed out of the family in 1907.”
“The house at 4122 South Ellis was, according to public records, built for Mathilde Eliel, Dankmar Adler's cousin on his mother's side of the family. Since Adler and Sullivan executed designs for other Adler and Eliel relations in the months preceding and following the construction of this house, it would have been unusual for one member of a closely-knit family to go to an outside source for a design at that time.”
“Nevertheless, during the 1880s small residential and commercial buildings made up the bulk of Adler and Sullivan's practice. Over half of the buildings they designed between 1883 and 1886, thirty-five of sixty-two completed commissions, were small houses or storefronts with residential apartments on upper floors.”
What other designation reports say about this building
“…through 4114 South Ellis Avenue circa 1885 The Mayer-Moore-Jones Rowhouses 4116, 4118, and 4120 South Ellis Avenue circa 1885 Mathilde Eliel House 4122 South Ellis Avenue 1886, Adler and Sullivan, architects W.B. Holton House 4124 South Ellis Avenue circa 1885 The Dunham-Titcomb Rowhouses 4126, 4128, and 4130 South…”
“Astor Street, with Frank Lloyd Wright); the Mathilde Eliel House (1886, 4122 S. Ellis Avenue); and Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Temple (1890-1891 at 3301 S. Indiana Avenue), also known as K.A.M.”
“…remaining buildings on this stretch of Ellis are brick two-story residences of the late 1880s, and most notably includes the Mathilde Eliel House, 4122 South Ellis, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in 1886 (figure 23).”
“The Mathilde Eliel House, 4122 South Ellis Avenue, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in 1886 for Adler's cousin, was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1989. (Photograph by Raymond T.”