Luxfer Prism Collection, 1897-c.1920

The prismatic windowpane was developed to increase the amount of daylight in the interiors of the ever-larger office buildings in the late 19th century. The parallel ribs on the 4 x4 pressed-glass tiles refracted light rays far into the buildings' interiors. By the 1930s it had largely been superceded by the hollow glass block.

The Luxfer Prism Company, a Chicago-area manufacturer of prismatic windowpanes and fittings, was in business from approximately 1897 to 1920. Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed prismatic panes for the company and illustrated some company publications.

The small collection includes three examples of Luxfer Prisms; correspondence from Burnham Library staff seeking information on the founders of Chicago's Luxfer Prism Company and its incorporation date; a slide of a window incorporating Luxfer Prisms; a partial photocopy of Pocket Handbook of Electro-Glazed Luxfer Prisms (1898); photocopies of designs for Luxfer Prisms by Frank Lloyd Wright with patent numbers; and a bibliography on Luxfer Prisms compiled by Thomas A. Hines.

SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, IMAGES AND PUBLICATIONS. Arranged by document type and then chronologically; with undated item at end of each group.

SERIES II: LUXFER PRISMS.

• Names
  • Luxfer Prism Company.
  • Hines, Thomas A.
  • Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959.
• Subject
  • Window industry--Illinois--Chicago--History--Sources.
  • Prisms.

BOX.FF

n.d.

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archive (Columbia University, Avery Library).

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Luxfer Prism Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago.

Thomas A. Hines donated a Luxfer Prism, a slide, and a bibliography to the Ryerson and Burnham Archives in 1974. A. Dale Northup donated two Luxfer Prisms in 2001. The acquisition history of the remainder of portions of the collections transferred from the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries is unknown.

The collection was processed by staff of the Ryerson and Burnham Archives in 1990. This finding aid was revised and expanded by Mary Woolever, Art and Architecture Archivist, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, in 2003.

Some documents related to the Luxfer Prism Company were transferred from the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries' Pamphlet collection to the Ryerson and Burnham Archives in 1990.