• Identification00074652
  • TitleDescriptive inventory for the Alfonso Iannelli design drawings, 1928-1948
  • PublisherChicago Historical Society
  • Language
    • English.
    • English
  • RepositoryChicago History Museum Research Center 1601 North Clark Street Chicago, IL 60614-6038
  • OriginationAlfonso Iannelli Charles F. Pope Alfonso Iannelli Design Studios
  • Date
    • 1928-1948
    • 1933-1938
  • Physical Description16 linear feet, including 36 drawings (4 folders, 1 roll)
  • Location2013.0096 ATms

Credit designer. Some restrictions may apply.

Purchase (2013.0096.1-.37).

Portions of this collection are available digitally. Please contact the Rights and Reproductions Department at rightsrepro@chicagohistory.org for more information.

Alfonso Iannelli design drawings (Chicago History Museum), with a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of the specific item(s).

Graphite and color pencil, watercolor, and blueprint architectural and industrial design drawings and printed material created by Alfonso Iannelli and Iannelli Studios architects for Chicago-area commissioned projects, including the Pickwick Theatre and the Havoline Thermometer at the Century of Progress Exposition. Also included are several industrial design drawings that document products designed for manufacturing clients.

Alfonso Iannelli was born in 1888 in Andretta, Italy and immigrated to Newark, New Jersey with his mother and siblings in 1898. His general education ended at age 13, when he became an apprentice to a local jewelry maker. He received a scholarship to attend the Art Students League in New York in 1906; there, he studied sculpture with Gutzon Borglum. Subsequent short-term positions included preparing illustrations for magazines and lettering in New York, and then as illustrator for the U.S. Lithograph Company in Cincinnati. Continuing his westward progress, he arrived in Los Angeles, where he produced one of his first renowned bodies of work, approximately 100 posters for the Orpheum Theater 1912-1915.

The posters attracted the attention of John Lloyd Wright, who hired Iannelli to work on several sculpture programs for Wright’s buildings in Southern California. Wright introduced Iannelli to his father, Frank Lloyd Wright, leading to the commission to develop the extensive sculptural program of Wright’s Midway Gardens in Chicago, 1914-15. This project was the beginning of a greater involvement in architectural projects, as Iannelli also collaborated on several buildings with the Chicago architect Barry Byrne.

In 1919 Iannelli and his second wife Margaret, an accomplished sculptor and illustrator, moved to Park Ridge, Illinois and established Iannelli Studios. The Studios added industrial design services to their repertoire, serving clients such as Parker Pen Company, U.S. Gypsum, Sunbeam, and Oster Manufacturing Co. Iannelli also served as faculty for the Design Department at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923-24 and again in 1928-1930. Until his death in 1965, Iannelli continued his multi-faceted career as sculptor, illustrator, building and interior designer, and industrial designer.

Charles Francis Pope, Jr. (1900-1987), was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and attended Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago. Establishing his home and practice in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, he made the acquaintance of Alphonso Iannelli. Pope often served as the architect of record when Alfonso Iannelli’s projects required a licensed professional. Along with Bruce Goff, he also developed product and industrial designs for Iannelli's studio, particularly in the 1930s. Pope's independent projects consisted of rather traditional residences and small commercial structures.

Related material at the Chicago History Museum includes the Architectural records for buildings by Francis Barry Byrne; photocopied Iannelli correspondence 1932-1933 and undated including with Frank Lloyd Wright and John Lloyd Wright (X.1455, see gray architectural binders in Research Center); and Chicago Daily News and Hedrich-Blessing photographs of Iannelli cataloged separately.

The Elm Apartments, North elevation, 1947/05/01 drawing in Folder 1 was found in collections (FIC) and processed into this 2013 purchased collection.

  • Names
    • Iannelli, Alfonso, 1888-1965--Archives
    • Alfonso Iannelli Design Studios--Archives
    • Pickwick Theater (Park Ridge, Ill.)
    • Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934:Chicago, Ill.)--Exhibitions
  • Subject
    • Motion picture theaters--Illinois--Park Ridge--20th century
    • Thermometers--Illinois--Chicago--1930-1939
  • Geographic CoverageChicago Metropolitan Area (Ill.)--Buildings, structures, etc.--1920-1939

The collection is arranged into three series by subject.

Series 1. Architecture and Interior Design projects, 1928-1947 (folder 1)

The majority of drawings are for the Pickwick Theatre and several interior designs dating to the late 1920s.

Series 2. Havoline Thermometer Tower, Century of Progress, 1933 (folder 2, roll 1)

The Havoline Thermometer Tower, in the shape of a thermometer, is represented by elevations, plans, and structural revisions. The tower was commissioned by Erwin, Wasey & Co. for their exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition Chicago, 1933. Charles F. Pope is also credited as an architect on this project.

Series 3. Product and Graphic Design, 1935-1948 (folder 3-4)

Drawings and printed materials documenting Iannelli's industrial prodcts designed for diverse manufacturing clients such as Oster and Stewart Warner.