Cast iron balcony railing from the Mecca Flats Apartments in Chicago, Illinois

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A portion off a cast iron balcony railing from the Mecca Flats Apartments in Chicago, Illinois. The railing was designed by Franklin Pierce Burnham. The railing is made up of six (6) stanchions and five (5) balusters. Most of the stanchions have decorative brackets, wedges and rail hooks. Several of the pieces are missing elements that have broken off. The balusters have a spiraling floral and vine design and have two bracket holes on either side. One of the balusters has a pronounced curve while the others are flat. The tops of the baluster pieces are curved upward on the left and right sides and have a decorative element at center. The bottoms are straight. 2015.207a: A white cast iron stanchion. The stanchion has a missing rail hook and bottom wedge. 2015.207b: A black cast iron baluster. The baluster’s left side is curved outward. 2015.207c: A black cast iron stanchion with no missing elements. 2015.

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