Tall Clock

This handsome tall-case clock was designed by the firm of George Grant Elmslie and William Gray Purcell for the Henry Babson House in Riverside, Illinois. Although Louis Sullivan designed the house in 1907, a large part of the scheme—including the built-in and freestanding furniture—was actually executed by Elmslie, who was then working for Sullivan. In 1912 Elmslie and his firm made additions to the house, including eight pieces of furniture. This elegant clock, whose works and nine chimes were imported from Germany, dates from this later commission. Its hands were executed by Chicago metalsmith Robert Riddle Jarvie according to Elmslie’s design. In his concern over creating an organic, harmonious relationship between the interior of a house and its exterior, the Scottish-born Elmslie found a staunch ally in designer George Niedecken, president of Niedecken-Walbridge, a firm based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which made the clock’s mahogany case.