Indian & Pioneer Relief - Chicago, IL - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

Continued from the Inventory database: "The robed figure has his proper right arm extended toward the Native, and his proper left foot is on the side of the canoe. Standing to his proper left is a man wearing a hat and buckskin. Inscription below relief: CHICAGO.HISTORICAL.SOCIETY "

The frieze is over the door to the entrance of what is now the Excalibur Nightclub. I have to believe the "robed figure" is Father Marquette, esp. because he wears a cross, and the man in buckskin is his companion explorer Louis Joliet, both the co-discoverers (European) of the Mississippi River and the portage through Chicago to Lake Michigan.


Excerpts from the Chicago Bar Project site
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"The building housing the nightclub dates back to the late 1800s and was the original location of the Chicago History Museum. After you make your way through the once-over/carding process and fork over your $10-20 cover charge to the doormen, look up and note the stately arched doorway, framed by winged gargoyles and with "Chicago Historical Society" chiseled into it. The building currently housing Excalibur Nightclub is literally a Chicago landmark, designated on February 26, 1997. The architectural firm of Cobb & Frost designed it in the Romanesque style and erected the roughly hewn granite building in 1892. The building was designed to withstand fire as the previous structure, regrettably thought to be the only fireproof structure in the area, was instead consumed by it during the Great Conflagration of 1871. After a 40-year tenure, the Chicago Historical Society vacated the premises in 1931 when they moved into Lincoln Park. The building has had an interesting array of tenants since the Chicago Historical Society, including the Chicago office of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Institute of Design, a rock & blues recording studio, Gallery magazine (once published by F. Lee Bailey, defender of Sam Shepherd and OJ Simpson), and a brief stint as the Factory Nightclub (1969-70). The building then stood vacant for over 10 years until Peter Gatien sunk $3M to renovate the space into a nightclub called Limelight, which opened in 1985 but lasted only four years. Today it is the Excalibur Nightclub."

The photo-taking conditions are not very good because an overhang blocks sunlight and the new door is aluminum and reflective. For a better perspective on the way it looked originally, I have included a photo from the Historic American Buildings Survey accessible here
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FYI: the Smithsonian database also had another listing "Two stone lions flanking a doorway. The two lions are mirror images of one another. Both sit with one paw resting on a ball." as link
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The lions are no longer there and have been replaced with some kind of winged gargoyle type creatures.

TITLE: Indian & Pioneer Relief ARTIST(S): Cobb, Henry Ives, 1859-1931, sculptor. DATE: 1896. MEDIUM: Red granite. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS IL000456 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: over doorway Excalibur Nightclub 632 N Dearborn St Chicago, IL DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: none, although I think it would help the listing to label the European figures as Marquette and Joliet

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