From the collection of:
The Filson Historical Society || VAM Home

The glass tiles around the fireplace in the dining room of the Ferguson Mansion (home of the Filson Historical Society) depict a flowering vine growing over a brick wall. Edwin Hite Ferguson commissioned the Louisville architectural firm of Cobb and Dodd—the same firm responsible for designing the Seelbach Hotel and the new capitol building in Frankfort—to design his home in 1901. Construction of the mansion took four years and cost $100,000, approximately 10 times the cost of the neighboring Victorian homes.

Ferguson was careful to equip each room with a fireplace, despite the fact that his home was the first residence in Louisville to have central heating. At the time of construction, the performance of central heating was uncertain, and repairs could result in long, cold delays. The fireplaces offered a means to heat the house if the furnace failed, as well as an elaborate decoration.

About the Artist

The son of a sculptor, Orlando Giannini was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1861. He left school in 1876 to practice modeling and carving. Shortly thereafter, he began a professional career at the John Muelier Stone Yard in Cincinnati. At about the same time, he and his brother Arthur and eight other men formed a club called the XcentriX, holding annual meetings every year until at least 1885 to give other members a summary of their lives in the past year.

Between 1876 and 1880, Giannini worked as a stonecutter for several firms in the Cincinnati area. He then left Ohio for Boston in search of work, but returned to Cincinnati two years later to go to work for the Rookwood Pottery Company. It turned out to be another short-lived job, and Giannini spent the next several years moving from job to job. In February of 1885, he moved to Chicago to become a foreman and designer at the Adams and Westlake Company, a brass and bronze foundry that supplied metal workings primarily for the railroad industry.

Through his associations with others in his field, Giannini became acquainted with architect Frank Lloyd Wright. On his first visit to Wright’s house in Oak Park, Illinois, Giannini offered to paint a mural on the large semicircular wall of the second-story playroom. He immediately began to sketch the outline of a mural based on “The Fisherman and the Genie,” a tale from the Arabian Nights. Wright had him paint two more murals, both depicting American Plains Indians. In 1895, Giannini painted his last mural for Wright in his commission for the Chauncey L. Williams house in River Forest, Illinois.

In 1899, Giannini formed an art glass firm with Fritz Hilgart, and they created designs for numerous Prairie School and Chicago architectural firms. In fact, Giannini is credited with introducing Wright to his former employer at Westlake and Adams, Ward Willits, for whom Wright designed his seminal Prairie house in Highland Park, Illinois in 1902. Giannini also provided many fireplace tile mosaics for houses designed by noted architect George W. Maher.

In addition, Giannini and Hilgart produced Teco glass lampshades for Gates Pottery, the creator of Teco pottery. By 1907, Giannini had left the partnership and moved to La Jolla, California, where he continued working until his death in 1928. The glass design firm of Giannini and Hilgart still exists in Chicago.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Do you consider this fireplace to be art? Why or why not? What artistic qualities does the work have? How were the elements of art and principles of design used? Have you seen other fireplaces that were highly decorative? What other aspects of a house can involve artistic choices?

Activities: Research different house architectural styles and create a classroom display. You may want to focus on one aspect, such as fireplaces and mantels.

Paint a series of tiles to create a design for a tray or tabletop.

Links

The Prairie Styles web site includes information about Giannini and his work.
[www.prairiestyles.com/giannini.htm]

Take a virtual tour of the Ferguson Mansion at the Filson Historical Society web site.
[www.filsonhistorical.org/tourintro.html]