S. R. Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

The stamp, issued in 1982, was part of a multiyear series commemorating American architecture and in particular honors Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (who was actually a German immigrant). It pictures S. R. Crown Hall on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology located on the south side of Chicago. Completed in 1956, Crown Hall is one of 20 campus buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe who was also largely responsible for the layout of the campus and much of the landscaping. Appropriately, it houses the school’s Department of Architecture and Institute of Design.

Mies van der Rohe’s architectural philosophy is best summed up in his slogan “less is more.” If you take “less is more” to its logical conclusion, you get “nothing is everything”, but logical conclusions aside, Crown Hall comes very close to exemplifying this ideal. Its main floor is basically a large open space enclosed by glass walls with a roof suspended from steel girders. “Rooms” are formed by moveable partitions which are only 8 feet tall so as to not obscure the openness of the space. (There is a lower floor though, with conventional classrooms, offices and other necessities like bathrooms.) In keeping with the “less is more” mantra, Mies objected to building inspectors’ demands that the steel be covered with a fireproofing material and that handrails be installed on the exterior stairs. He avoided the fireproof concrete application by having the building declared a “warehouse” but lost the handrail argument.

Aside from receiving much critical acclaim, Crown Hall was Mies’ personal favorite, coming in at number one on his list of what he considered his best designs. (The apartment buildings at 860-880 Lake Shore Dr. which are also depicted on a U. S. postage stamp only came in at number 4.) It was named a National Historic Landmark in 2001. In fact, the entire IIT campus is on the National Register of Historic Places.

And by the way, just who was S. R. Crown? Solomon R. Crown along with his brothers Henry and Irving, co-founded the Material Service Corporation in 1919 which went on to be quite successful providing building materials in the Chicago area. Unfortunately, Solomon (or Sol as he was known) succumbed to tuberculosis and died in 1921 at the age of 27. The wealthy Crown family donated a quarter of a million dollars in support of the construction of the new Architecture and Design building for IIT and had it named in Sol’s honor.

Stamp Issuing Country: United States Date of Issue: 30-September-1982 Denomination: 20 cents Color: black and brown Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/17/2015 adgorn visited it