Raining on His Birthday Celebration: The Wirt Dexter Fire

It’s been sad days for architecture here in Chicago this week. As you may have read in the papers, on Monday afternoon, one of Louis Sullivan’s buildings, the Wirt Dexter Building, caught fire and all that’s left are a few smoldering walls. Quite a thing to happen right in the middle of the yearlong celebration of his 150th birthday. If you’re anywhere near Graceland Cemetary, go lay some flowers on his grave. The Tribune had a long feature yesterday, largely about the ill-fated attempt to save what’s left of the building by Lorraine Phillips.