Art: Save the Heritage

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While issuing a rallying call to save such fine old monuments, ARCHITECTURAL FORUM found several heartening examples of recent rescues. In Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright's flat-planed, prairie-style 1909 Robie house was saved when Manhattan Real Estate Promoter William Zeckendorf, alerted by protesting Chicago architects, bought it for $125,000. Zeckendorf will use it as a field office until his nearby slum-clearance project is completed, then will turn it over to the National Trust. In Owatonna, Minn. (pop. 13,200), Louis Sullivan's jewel-case bank, now the Security Bank & Trust Co., was saved when Bank President Clifford Sommer yielded to entreaties from University of Minnesota faculty members. Sullivan's small masterpiece was kept intact while the bank was renovated and expanded around it. Dedicated last week, the new bank attracted architects from all around the U.S., drew nearly 9,000 visitors in the first two days, stood as an inspiring example of a masterpiece given new life.

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