SULLIVAN SESQUICENTENNIAL
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Grinnell, Iowa
August 30-September 3, 2006

Wednesday, August 30

8:30am-5pm: Building is open to visitors.
Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

7pm: Documentary: “Building for Democracy: The Small Town Banks of Louis Sullivan"
Lecture: Claire Cardinal-Pett, Associate Professor, Iowa State University
Documentary: “Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan”
Site: Grinnell College Harris Center Cinema, 1114 10th Avenue

Thursday, August 31

8:30am-5pm: Building is open to visitors.
Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

11am: Lecture:  Robert Twombly, Professor, City University of New York
Site: Grinnell College Herrick Chapel, 1210 Park Street

4:30pm: Lecture: Paul Kruty, Professor, University of Illinois
Site: Grinnell College Alumni Recitation Hall,, 1226 Park Street (Room 102)

5:30pm Concert:  Regional zydeco band “We’re Late and Smell Like Beer”
Site: Grinnell Central Park Gazebo

8:00pm: Reception and Discussion
Site: Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

Friday, September 1

8:30am-5pm: Building is open to visitors.
Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

9:00am: Walking Tour:  Bill Menner, Grinnell Renaissance, leads tour of Sullivan bank and downtown Grinnell
Tour begins at Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

Saturday, September 2

10:00am - 4pm: Building is open to visitors.
Site: Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

10:00am Lecture/Presentation:  Ceramicist David Dahlquist describes his work restoring terra cotta ornament from Sullivan buildings.
Site: Grinnell Veterans Memorial Building, 834 Broad Street

2:00pm Concert:  Nationally-recognized recording artist "The Ants" 
Free admission.
Site: Grinnell Central Park Gazebo

Sunday, September 3

10:00am-4pm: Building is open to visitors.
Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

2:00pm: Celebration marking 150th anniversary of Louis Sullivan’s birth. 
Birthday cake will be served.
Site: Merchants National Bank, 833 Fourth Avenue

GRINNELL TO MARK FAMED ARCHITECT'S 150th BIRTHDAY

GRINNELL -- Grinnell College and the City of Grinnell are marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of architect Louis Sullivan with a symposium and series of special events August 30-September 3.

Sullivan, born September 3, 1856, was a groundbreaking architect in the late 19th and early 20th century and the mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright.  Among his masterpieces is the Merchants National Bank in Grinnell, which is now owned by Wells Fargo Bank and is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

The symposium on Sullivan’s career and impact on American architecture is sponsored by the Grinnell College Center for Prairie Studies, the Grinnell Tourism Group and Wells Fargo.  It will feature showings of a new documentary on Sullivan’s Midwest banks as well as the 2006 documentary “Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan”.

The keynote lecture will be delivered by Robert Twombly, Professor of History, City University of New York.  Twombly has written extensively on Sullivan, and published what is considered the definitive biography on the architect, Louis Sullivan: His Life & Work.

Other symposia lecturers are Claire Cardinal-Pett, Associate Professor of Architecture at Iowa State University; and, Paul Kruty, Professor of History and Preservation at the University of Illinois School of Architecture.  Cardinal-Pett will discuss Sullivan’s impact on American architecture, while Kruty will explore the relationship between Sullivan and the Prairie School of architecture, an example of which is architect Walter Burley Griffin’s “Ricker House” in Grinnell.

The City of Grinnell will also offer tours of the bank and the city’s historic downtown.  In addition, nationally-renowned ceramicist David Dahlquist of RDG/Dahlquist Art Studio will discuss his restoration of terra cotta ornament on Sullivan buildings

For more information, call 641-236-1626.