Richard Nickel
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Richard Nickel (1928-1972) was an American photographer and historian best known for his efforts to preserve and document the buildings of architect Louis Sullivan.
During the urban regeneration efforts of the 1960s and 1970s, many 19th century buildings in Chicago were demolished. Among these were the works of Louis Sullivan and members of the Prairie School. By this time many of the buildings were neglected and unloved, and there was little public interest in their retention. Richard Nickel was a rare individual who believed such buildings were an important part of the city's architectural and cultural heritage. Nickel first encountered Sullivan's work while photographing the architect's buildings for a school project at the Institute of Design in Chicago. Studying and photographing Sullivan's buildings quickly became an obsession for him. Ultimately, he devoted much of his life to photographing them, hoping to produce a comprehensive photographic compendium.
Realising that the pace of renewal and development seriously threatened many of these historic buildings, Nickel campaigned and lobbied for their preservation. Sullivan buildings such as the Garrick Theater and Chicago Stock Exchange were torn down despite the best efforts of Nickel and others to preserve them. However, after Nickel's death, his crusade gained momentum and was responsible for many of Sullivan's buildings being spared. Of the ongoing threat to Chicago's buildings Nickel said "Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men."
In the cases where he was unable to protect a building, Nickel extensively photographed both its interior and exterior to archive the craftsmanship and attempt to preserve the buildings' character in his images. He also stripped some of the doomed buildings of their distinctive ornamentation before their destruction.
Nickel was killed on April 13 1972 when a stairwell in the Chicago Stock Exchange building collapsed on him. He is buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery, not very far from where Sullivan is buried. He died without completing his great collection of photographs of Sullivan's work, but Nickel's black and white photos have been displayed at Art Institute of Chicago and elsewhere. The Richard Nickel Committee and Photographic Archive is a non-profit organization devoted preserving the photographer's work, and holds the copyrights for most of his pictures.
The 1994 book "They All Fall Down," by Richard Cahan, is about Nickel's lifelong effort to preserve Chicago's architectural heritage along with friend and architect John Vinci.
