Van Allen

Van Allen Building (Petersen-Harned-Von Maur, Inc.), 200 5th Avenue South; 1913- 1915; Louis Sullivan, Architect, of Chicago; Daniel Haring, Contractor. The Van Allen Building consists of four floors plus basement and attic. The exterior has brick spandrels and piers over the structural steel skeletal frame. Terra cotta is used for horizontal accent banding and for three vertical applied mullion medallions on the front façade. Marble facing is used around the glass show windows on the first floor. In 1976, Phil Feddersen, Architect, of Clinton, established a rehabilitation program for the building. The deteriorated Luxor Prism windows above the first-floor show windows were replaced by solar bronze sheet glass. The entry doors of aluminum, which replaced the original wood doors, were in turn replaced by glass and mahogany doors. The building is an excellent and important work if Architect Louis Sullivan. The building design is dignified, with emphasis on the modern expression of the steel skeletal frame. At the same time, some terra cotta ornamentation is applied in Sullivan's unique style of Floral inspiration design.