Elevator Grille

Although the Prairie School style was distinctly American, it did have some European sources. The flat, highly stylized depiction of nature seen in this grille, for instance, is indebted to the English design reform movement of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, in particular the well-known designs of Owen Jones and Christopher Dresser (see illustration below left). The strong curvilinear quality of the central part of the design betrays an incipient knowledge of the French Art Nouveau style.