Ads selling Sprayo-Flake Insulation and Byers Genuine Wrought Iron used in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wingspread and S.C. Johnson Wax in Racine, Wisconsin.
What is the saying, “I’ve gone down a rabbit hole”? That happened to me this week when I was searching for a building in the digitized Architectural Forum archives and found myself spending far too much time looking through random issues. Originally titled The Brickbuilder, the magazine covered architecture and the home-building industry from 1892 until 1974. It is a great resource for learning about historic structures, mainly residential designs. But the most fascinating part for me is the advertisements. So many of them feature Chicagoland buildings. Here are just a handful of examples from various issues published between the 1930s through the 1960s while I was deep down in my rabbit hole. If you’ve subscribed to my substack, then you’re probably an architecture geek. Whether it’s the acoustical products of Celotex or suburban Harvey’s Brasco Store Fronts, I know you’ll enjoy these ads as much as I do.
Ad for Delta Faucets with Chicago’s Marina City in the background.
Acoustical Products by Celotex with images of suburban Batavia’s Campana Company, which made Italian Balm, a popular hand lotion.
The window walls of Harry Weese’s Time-Life Building at 541 N. Fairbanks in Chicago were made by Kinney Vacuum Coatings.
Ad for Chicago’s Woodwork Corporation of America.
Ad for the modern store fronts of the Brasco Manufacturing Company, located in suburban Harvey.
Ads for Westinghouse Elevator and the Keystone Steel & Wire Company showing the general manager of the Roanoke Building and the International Minerals & Chemicals Company in suburban Skokie.
Ad for Hope’s Windows, which were used at IIT’s Arthur Keating Hall in Chicago.
Pratt & Lambert Paint and Varnish was used at the Florsheim Shoe Company.
Ads for Lumite screening and Celotex insulation, both have images of suburban homes located in Des Plaines and Libertyville.
