A modernist landmark, the Inland Steel Building is owned by New York Life Insurance Co. The company acquired the skyscraper\u2019s deed from the building\u2019s previous owners, Capital Properties, in lieu of foreclosure in 2025.<\/p>\n
Freeman\u2019s didn\u2019t respond to additional questions, including a query about why the desk was being sold.<\/p>\n
But the auction house\u2019s listing for Icehenge \u2014 as effusively-written as the text from a J. Peterman catalog \u2014 details the desk\u2019s history and inspiration.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe idea for the desk was sparked by a rogue piece of glass Gehry encountered while developing another project,\u201d the listing says. \u201cThe possibility of stacking thick glass slabs at shifting angles, allowing light, texture, and material imperfections to become the focal point, proved irresistible …. Against the restraint of the modernist lobby, the work feels intentionally provocative \u2014 Gehry at his finest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Widely-read Chicago fl\u00e2neur and architecture-watcher Lynn Becker brought attention to the auction last week on social media.<\/p>\n
The work was fabricated by John Lewis Glass Studio in Oakland, California.<\/p>\n
Gehry, an internationally-famous architect and pop culture figure, died in 2025. He\u2019s best-known around these parts as the architect who designed the Pritzker Pavilion and the silvery BP Pedestrian Pridge, both in Millennium Park.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/web-glass-desk-icehenge-2.png\")
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The kinetic-looking lobby desk and the buttoned-down postwar cool of the SOM-designed Inland Steel Building marks one of the city\u2019s most striking architectural pairings \u2014 although you have to go inside the glass-walled lobby to fully appreciate the effect because a white drapery prevents Gehry\u2019s work from being seen from the street.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s more than worth a look. The emerald glass desk matches the color of the Inland Steel\u2019s exterior glazing and squares up nicely with its visually prominent lobby mate, Radiant One, Richard Lippold\u2019s space age golden rod and wire sculpture that is original to the 1958 building.<\/p>\n
The nearly 15,000-pound station includes two slabs that make up the main desktop, plus desk supports, \u201cdecorative forms\u201d and a pair of mirrored cabinets, according to Freeman\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough conceived specifically for its site, Gehry reportedly entertained the possibility of reconfiguring the 16 elements over time, allowing the work to evolve over time and in new settings,\u201d according to the auction listing. \u201cDifferent lighting conditions, architectural surroundings, or simplified functional contexts could dramatically transform its presence while preserving the power of its composition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winning bidder is responsible for packing up all that power and hauling it away within seven days of the auction\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
The stainless steel-clad Inland Steel Building, which looks as contemporary today as it did 70 years ago, is one of the most important skyscrapers of the postwar era.<\/p>\n
SOM architects Bruce Graham and Walter Netsch gave the Inland Steel open floor plans by designing it with columns located on the structure\u2019s perimeter and then putting elevators, the plumbing stack and other mechanical needs in a tower wedded to the structure\u2019s eastern side.<\/p>\n
The building and its lobby \u2014 including the Lippold sculpture \u2014 have been under city landmark protection since 1998. The designation allowed the stand-alone Gehry desk to be added and doesn\u2019t prohibit its removal.<\/p>\n
Chicago Architecture Center CEO Eleanor Esser Gorski said she worked on the Inland Steel landmark designation when she was a Chicago Department of Planning and Development official.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were sure to protect the [Lippold] that was in there,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then this [desk] came up … after the building was landmarked; there were questions. \u2018Is this appropriate?\u2019 But in the end, it is a movable piece of furniture, which is why it was allowed to be installed in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gorski said she hopes a museum ends up with Icehenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it needs to be displayed in a way that echoes how Gehry wanted it to be displayed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Becker, who is critical of the design changes happening lately at the Art Institute of Chicago, said the art museum should buy Icehenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a reception desk to bring back some life and sense of fun to the pompous empty wasteland they\u2019ve made the Michigan Avenue entrance lobby,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 7-ton glass security desk designed by the late renowned architect Frank Gehry for the Inland Steel Building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,192951,229,88],"class_list":["post-749723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-chicago-loop","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}