Richard Nickel
Encyclopedia
Richard Stanley Nickel was an American
photographer and historian of Polish descent best known for his efforts to preserve and document the buildings of architect Louis Sullivan
.
Richard Nickel was born in the Chicago neighborhood of Humboldt Park
in a two-flat located at 4327 W. Haddon. He was raised by first-generation Polish-Americans with his grandfather John Nikiel, born in Poznan, Poland in 1880. Richard's father, John, a driver for the Polish Daily News, Americanized the surname to Nickel in the face of Anti-Polish sentiment. The family soon moved to 4329 W. Crystal where a young Richard attended grammar school at St. Cyril and Methodius. It was here that Richard first became fascinated by light as he stared at the saintly figures drawn in stained glass
. Nickel would tell a reporter in 1969 "That makes an impression on you that you never completely forget. It might be subconscious and, at some point, something triggers it".
The family moved to Logan Square
while Nickel was in fifth grade. At the time the neighborhood was predominately Polish, and years later Nickel described it as the "Polish neighborhood where I became happily abnormal". The family lived near Logan Boulevard, an area lined with historic mansions and wide parkways that would later become recognized as a Chicago Landmark
. More importantly was his father Stanley's acute interest in photography which Richard would take up as well.
In 1948 after leaving the Army, Nickel was given a victory medal and subsequently enrolled at the Institute of Design.
Nickel married Adrienne Dembo, a young Polish-American girl at St. Wenceslaus in Chicago
, an Art Deco
church noted for its design
on June 10, 1950. Shortly after Richard was recalled to serve in the Korean War
. After Richard's return a few years later, he was a changed man, with recurring nightmares he was still in Korea, and his mother-in law commenting that she saw him as a "casualty of war", and the marriage ultimately ended in divorce.
were being demolished. Among these were the works of Louis Sullivan
and members of the Prairie School
. By this time many of the buildings were neglected, with little public interest in their retention. Nickel encountered Sullivan's work while photographing the architect's buildings for a school project at the IIT Institute of Design
in Chicago under Aaron Siskind
. Studying and photographing Sullivan's buildings quickly became an obsession for him. Ultimately, he devoted much of his life to photographing them, hoping to produce a comprehensive photographic compendium
.
Richard Nickel came to believe that such buildings were an important part of the city's architectural and cultural heritage. Realizing that the pace of urban renewal
and development seriously threatened many of these historic buildings, Nickel campaigned and lobbied for their preservation. Celebrated buildings such as the Garrick Theater
and the Chicago Stock Exchange
were torn down despite the best efforts of Nickel and others to preserve them. However, after Nickel's death, his crusade gained momentum and was responsible for many of Sullivan's buildings eventually being spared. Of the ongoing threat to Chicago's buildings Nickel said "Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men."
In the cases where he was unable to protect a building, Nickel extensively photographed both its interior and exterior to archive the craftsmanship and attempt to preserve the buildings' character in his images. He also stripped some of the doomed buildings of their distinctive ornamentation before their destruction. Dozens of such items were sold to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
(SIUE) and are still on display.
Nickel's home at 1810 West Cortland Street in Bucktown
served as his base for photography and salvage operations. Infatuated with the building's front elevation, simple floor plan and history, Nickel referred to it as his "Polish Palazzo", a building he worked hard to restore in its own right.
Richard Nickel documented many of the architectural masters of Chicago, photographing the work of Burnham & Root, Holabird & Roche
, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
, C. F. Murphy Associates, Frank Lloyd Wright
, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
building collapsed on him. He is buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery
, not very far from where Sullivan is buried. He died without completing his great collection of photographs of Sullivan's work, but Nickel's black-and-white photos have been displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago
and elsewhere. The Richard Nickel Committee and Photographic Archive is a non-profit organization devoted to preserving the photographer's work, and holds the copyrights for most of his pictures.
The 1994 book They All Fall Down by Richard Cahan is about Nickel's lifelong effort to preserve Chicago's architectural heritage along with friend and architect John Vinci. Cahan and Michael Williams co-edited Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City, a collection of Nickel's photography.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer and historian of Polish descent best known for his efforts to preserve and document the buildings of architect Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
.
Early life
Humboldt Park
Humboldt Park may refer to:*Humboldt Park, Chicago, a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, US**Humboldt Park , a park adjacent to that neighborhood*Humboldt Park, a working title for the 2008 film Nothing Like the Holidays...
in a two-flat located at 4327 W. Haddon. He was raised by first-generation Polish-Americans with his grandfather John Nikiel, born in Poznan, Poland in 1880. Richard's father, John, a driver for the Polish Daily News, Americanized the surname to Nickel in the face of Anti-Polish sentiment. The family soon moved to 4329 W. Crystal where a young Richard attended grammar school at St. Cyril and Methodius. It was here that Richard first became fascinated by light as he stared at the saintly figures drawn in stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
. Nickel would tell a reporter in 1969 "That makes an impression on you that you never completely forget. It might be subconscious and, at some point, something triggers it".
The family moved to Logan Square
Logan Square
Logan Square is the name of:* Logan Square, Chicago – community on the north side of the city* Logan Circle or Logan Square – open-space park**Logan Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, adjacent neighborhood...
while Nickel was in fifth grade. At the time the neighborhood was predominately Polish, and years later Nickel described it as the "Polish neighborhood where I became happily abnormal". The family lived near Logan Boulevard, an area lined with historic mansions and wide parkways that would later become recognized as a Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark is a designation of the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council for historic buildings and other sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artistic, cultural,...
. More importantly was his father Stanley's acute interest in photography which Richard would take up as well.
In 1948 after leaving the Army, Nickel was given a victory medal and subsequently enrolled at the Institute of Design.
Nickel married Adrienne Dembo, a young Polish-American girl at St. Wenceslaus in Chicago
St. Wenceslaus in Chicago
St. Wenceslaus - historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago located in, Chicago, Illinois.One of the many Polish churches visible from the Kennedy Expressway, it is, along with St. Hyacinth Basilica, one of two monumental religious edifices that dominates the Avondale skyline...
, an Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
church noted for its design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
on June 10, 1950. Shortly after Richard was recalled to serve in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. After Richard's return a few years later, he was a changed man, with recurring nightmares he was still in Korea, and his mother-in law commenting that she saw him as a "casualty of war", and the marriage ultimately ended in divorce.
Photography and Historic Preservation
During the urban regeneration of the 1960s and 1970s, scores of 19th century buildings in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
were being demolished. Among these were the works of Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
and members of the Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
. By this time many of the buildings were neglected, with little public interest in their retention. Nickel encountered Sullivan's work while photographing the architect's buildings for a school project at the IIT Institute of Design
IIT Institute of Design
Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology , originally founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design.- History :...
in Chicago under Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind was an American abstract expressionist photographer. In his biography he wrote that he began his foray into photography when he received a camera for a wedding gift and began taking pictures on his honeymoon. He quickly realized the artistic potential this offered...
. Studying and photographing Sullivan's buildings quickly became an obsession for him. Ultimately, he devoted much of his life to photographing them, hoping to produce a comprehensive photographic compendium
Compendium
A compendium is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. A compendium may summarize a larger work. In most cases the body of knowledge will concern some delimited field of human interest or endeavour , while a "universal" encyclopedia can be referred to as a compendium of...
.
Richard Nickel came to believe that such buildings were an important part of the city's architectural and cultural heritage. Realizing that the pace of urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
and development seriously threatened many of these historic buildings, Nickel campaigned and lobbied for their preservation. Celebrated buildings such as the Garrick Theater
Garrick Theater (Chicago)
The Schiller Theatre Building was designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler of the firm Adler & Sullivan for the German Opera Company. At the time of its construction, it was one among the tallest buildings in Chicago...
and the Chicago Stock Exchange
Chicago Stock Exchange
The Chicago Stock Exchange is a stock exchange in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The exchange is a national securities exchange and self-regulated organization, which operates under the oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . The Chicago Stock Exchange is the third most active stock...
were torn down despite the best efforts of Nickel and others to preserve them. However, after Nickel's death, his crusade gained momentum and was responsible for many of Sullivan's buildings eventually being spared. Of the ongoing threat to Chicago's buildings Nickel said "Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men."
In the cases where he was unable to protect a building, Nickel extensively photographed both its interior and exterior to archive the craftsmanship and attempt to preserve the buildings' character in his images. He also stripped some of the doomed buildings of their distinctive ornamentation before their destruction. Dozens of such items were sold to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, commonly abbreviated SIUE, is a four-year coed public university in Edwardsville, Illinois about from St. Louis, Missouri. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and is the younger of the two largest...
(SIUE) and are still on display.
Nickel's home at 1810 West Cortland Street in Bucktown
Bucktown
Bucktown may refer to:*Brooklyn, New York, a nickname for Brooklyn, New York*Bucktown, Pennsylvania*Bucktown, a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois*Bucktown, a nickname of Dunmore, Pennsylvania...
served as his base for photography and salvage operations. Infatuated with the building's front elevation, simple floor plan and history, Nickel referred to it as his "Polish Palazzo", a building he worked hard to restore in its own right.
Richard Nickel documented many of the architectural masters of Chicago, photographing the work of Burnham & Root, Holabird & Roche
Holabird & Roche
The architectural firm of Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm's designs have changed many times — from the Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern Architecture to Sustainable Architecture.-History:...
, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
, C. F. Murphy Associates, Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Death and Legacy
Nickel was killed on April 13, 1972, while attempting to obtain more items for SIUE, when a stairwell in the Chicago Stock ExchangeChicago Stock Exchange
The Chicago Stock Exchange is a stock exchange in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The exchange is a national securities exchange and self-regulated organization, which operates under the oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . The Chicago Stock Exchange is the third most active stock...
building collapsed on him. He is buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery
Graceland Cemetery
Graceland Cemetery is a large Victorian era cemetery located in the north side community area of Uptown, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA. Established in 1860, its main entrance is at the intersection of Clark Street and Irving Park Road...
, not very far from where Sullivan is buried. He died without completing his great collection of photographs of Sullivan's work, but Nickel's black-and-white photos have been displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
and elsewhere. The Richard Nickel Committee and Photographic Archive is a non-profit organization devoted to preserving the photographer's work, and holds the copyrights for most of his pictures.
The 1994 book They All Fall Down by Richard Cahan is about Nickel's lifelong effort to preserve Chicago's architectural heritage along with friend and architect John Vinci. Cahan and Michael Williams co-edited Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City, a collection of Nickel's photography.