Architectural Artifacts, Inc. 30 Years, 13 April 2017 < Auctions

Auction / 13 April 2017 Noon ct

Wright is pleased to present Architectural Artifacts, Inc. 30 Years. Founded in 1987 by Stuart Grannen, Architectural Artifacts, Inc. has become a Chicago institution offering an eclectic mix of objects from around the world and fragments of the city’s most important architecture. After years of traveling around the country buying and selling antiques, Grannen settled in Chicago as the ideal place to acquire and sell architectural artifacts. Three decades later, Grannen and his team have amassed a vast collection of objects and pedigreed architectural fragments, a selection of which will be offered at auction.

Eccentric and unmatched, Architectural Artifacts, Inc. 30 Years is a celebration of Grannen’s unique vision and tireless passion for collecting.

Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan T-plate from the Chicago Stock Exchange $30,000 – 40,000

The building's identity resides in the ornament.

Louis Sullivan

Form Function Fun
30 Years of Architectural Artifacts, Inc.

Most children collect things: rocks, string, shells, or Matchbox cars. Stuart Grannen was not like most children. Grannen’s parents were avid collectors and his eye for the curious was nurtured and encouraged with visits to museums and antique shops up and down the East Coast. By the age of ten, he was actively buying and selling stained glass windows with money he earned mowing neighbor’s lawns.

While studying Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, Stuart amassed an impressive collection of antiques that filled several rented barns in Knoxville. He traveled around the country for a few years after college, working for dealers in New Orleans and Minneapolis before landing in Chicago in the late 80s. Chicago would become his home base for the next 30 years.

Architectural Artifacts, Inc. was founded in 1987 in a modest 3,000 square-foot space on Chicago’s north side. To Grannen, Chicago just felt right, the perfect place to set up shop. The city was in the middle of a massive transformation, with the previous decades seeing the demolition of some of Chicago’s most important historic buildings and private homes. In 1961, despite Chicago preservationist Richard Nickel’s best efforts, Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan’s Schiller Theater was demolished, followed by the Stock Exchange in 1972. Unlike many of his peers, Grannen saw the bits and pieces of Chicago’s demolished buildings as incredible objects imbued with history and significance, snapshots of a time and place and worthy of saving and celebration. While most people were buying old doors or light fixtures to install in their old homes, Grannen was scouring wrecking yards for architectural ornamentation by some of Chicago’s most important architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

*The interior of the Schiller Theater photographed by Richard Nickel before it was demolished in 1961.*

Always the savvy dealer, Grannen forged relationships with many of the city’s wrecking crews and garnered access to architectural remains, sometimes, as was the case with the Stock Exchange, even years after they had been demolished. By 1992 his shop was at capacity, and Grannen purchased a 30,000 square-foot plastics molding factory just a few blocks north. Several years later, the 50,000 square-foot Boye knitting needle factory next door was for sale, and Grannen purchased it and combined both buildings into the 80,000 square-foot facility that Architectural Artifacts, Inc. is today.

This year, Architectural Artifacts, Inc. celebrates 30 years, a landmark Grannen never expected to reach. He credits the success of Architectural Artifacts, Inc. to his relentless pursuit of objects that exemplify great craftsmanship, tell a story, or that are simply, cool. There’s a saying in the antiques world that dealers don’t own any of the pieces in their collection; that objects find the dealer and the dealer is simply caring for them until they find their next home. When asked if he envisions Architectural Artifacts' 50th anniversary, Grannen is quick to answer “No”, however, considering his tireless passion and curious nature, it’s easy to see that Grannen will always be a steward for anything of incredible and timeless quality that crosses his path.

Navajo Blanket $3,000 – 5,000

Bavarian Hunting Lodge sofa $5,000 – 7,000

Early 20th Century Snake Skeleton $1,000 – 1,500

An Interview with Stuart Grannen

Architectural Artifacts, Inc. celebrates thirty years, a surprising milestone for the founder, Stuart Grannen. Opened by chance in 1987, the store has become a must-visit Chicago destination for architectural enthusiasts and collectors alike. From important remnants and remains of some of Chicago’s greatest architecture to unusual and fascinating objects from around the globe, the eclectic selection speaks to Grannen’s distinct and interesting eye.

We sat down with Stuart early in March to discuss the store, its history and its future.

How did you get your start collecting architectural artifacts?

Well, I grew up on the East Coast. Our family fun was going to all the great museums in the area, anywhere from Baltimore up to Maine and lots of little strange ones, like the Cloisters. We would do that as family, look at great old objects and I kind of liked it. My parents, I don’t know If they collected antiques, but their homes were at first very modern in the 50s and early 60s, filled with mostly Scandinavian design. Then they switched over to antiques and very high-end traditional furniture like Philadelphia high boys. I would go along on the antique hunting expeditions and I just kind of liked it.

I read that you started collecting stained glass at a young age?

Yeah, when I was about seven years old. I don’t know why, but I just liked it. I was always working, cutting grass even as a little, little kid. I wanted to do something with my money so I started buying things.

And you amassed a collection, and that’s how you got into the business?

Yeah, you know the only reason for it was that I was wholesaling all over the country and I had worked for a few architectural companies. And I really just had a big warehouse full of objects and antiques and I thought well why not just open it a couple days a week. I never wanted a store. I never had any interest in it. It just sort of happened.

And Chicago was an ideal place for that?

Yeah, there was great substance here. It’s sort of centrally located I could go to the East Coast, the South and places in the Midwest. So I just happened to be here.

Did you ever imagine reaching your 30 year anniversary?

No. No way. The first thing is that nobody who ever knew me ever expected me to live past twenty. It just wasn’t going to happen. But, I didn’t out-smart them; I just outlived them, I guess. I was pretty crazy and nobody thought I would live this long. So yeah, me and thirty years of a retail store, that’s kind of a joke. I think.

Do you envision reaching your 50 year anniversary?

No way. So I would be eighty years old? No. Absolutely not. How far into the future am I looking? You know, to me everything is all about the future. I like the future. In the future, I will always be involved with some sort of business, whether it’s real estate or antiques, or I mean, I even started a woman’s clothing company. But for Architectural Artifacts, Inc.? Fifty years? No. My body wouldn’t take it.

Have collecting styles evolved over the years?

Well, I like to think, and I think other people have proven me correct, that we have really defined some of the styles. We were one of the first with the garden antiques, thirty years ago. We were definitely the first with industrial style, thirty years ago. We did terracotta when nobody else was doing it. When I first started, it was all about taking old doors and building them into houses. That to me was just boring. I liked the stuff as objects. Not to necessarily build it in or make it utilitarian and efficient and all that. It was just a thing, you know. There it is. It’s beautiful. Enjoy it the way it is. So I think that we certainly helped evolve it from everything being built in and used architecturally, to being seen as objects of beauty.

Has my collecting style evolved? Yeah, I like to think that. Certainly my eye got better, and a little more wacky, a little more unique, pushing the boundaries a little bit. A lot of the things we have, nobody really needs them, but they just want them. So I like to think that I see things differently than most people I guess. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. And will styles evolve over the next twenty years? Certainly. I think there will always be a place for beautiful objects, whether they are architectural or mid-century.

Do you think Chicago has anything left to be discovered, salvaged or preserved?

Sure, we get offered salvaged fireplaces and light fixtures every single day. I don’t buy them anymore, but we certainly made a living off of it for many years. Chicago certainly has lots left to be preserved. Lots. When I moved here, Michigan Ave was the Magnificent Mile, now it’s a friggin strip mall. I understand that things have to change, and should change. But, Chicago years ago was known as the Queen City of American architecture, you know it’s nothing now. I’m sure there’s always something to be discovered and salvaged, there’s always something.

You travel the globe hunting for interesting objects; what is the most interesting place you have visited?

You know, I liked Buenos Aires. I shopped there for fifteen years. I was there every month.

What made it special?

It was warm, for one thing. Well it was an incredibly wealthy place, and full of European things, great Italian design. It’s just a fascinating, interesting place, great food, nice people. And I have met some really great people there that I talk to almost every day now. So I don’t know if it is the most interesting place, but I liked it a lot. I was just in Italy with my buddy from Buenos Aires last week. But I don’t know. The next place is always the most interesting.

Do you have a favorite object or most memorable find?

The most memorable find is the next one, I don’t ever look back much on the last one. It’s always the next one.

Is it about the chase?

It’s all about that. But also I have a genuine love and respect for the objects. It’s like why did they do this? Why did they go above and beyond? They could have made it with three circles, and this one has seventy circles, or whatever. You know, asking myself why they did that. The hunt is always fun.

Is there anything in particular that you hope to one day acquire?

More. Just more. More and better. You never know. There are people who just collect Hummel plates I suppose, and they are looking for a 1963 Easter edition. I don’t ever know what I am going to see. I have no clue in the world. So that’s kind of fun. I know that there are some things that I can sell right away. But that’s not what motivates me too much. It’s just finding cool things that have a chance to sell and make a profit.

Great architecture has only two natural enemies:
water and stupid men.

Richard Nickel