Thursday / January 10, 2019 / 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Jack Simmerling and the Artistic Preservation of Chicago's Architectural Heritage
AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker Drive, #250, Chicago
As a young teen in the 1950s, Jack Simmerling (1935-2013) became fascinated by Chicago’s rapidly diminishing architectural landscape, especially around Prairie Avenue, and he became determined to preserve whatever he could. As an adult, Jack became a respected artist, operating the Heritage Gallery in the Beverly neighborhood, writing books about Chicago’s architectural history. His preservation efforts encompassed salvaging building elements, taking documentary photographs, sketching from life and memory, and building models of structures. Before Jack’s death, he bequeathed part of his extraordinary collection to the Glessner House Museum to be used to interpret the architectural history of the Prairie Avenue neighborhood. Our speaker, Andrew Elders, will be sharing information about items in the Glessner collection which shed light on the lost artistry of Prairie Avenue.
A brief presentation on the Chicago Summer School of the Victorian Society in America will also be part of this event.
Speaker: Andrew Elders is completing a Master of Science in Historic Preservation at SAIC. His interest in Jack Simmerling came about through an internship at Glessner House, during which Andrew cataloged the Simmerling collection of architectural fragments and artwork. Andrew is now the treasurer on the Glessner House Museum board of directors. He attended the VSA Newport Summer School in 2017 and has become enthusiastically involved with the VSA Chicago Summer School since then.
