A Monumental Studio
“Skylight, high-ceilings, a crane to move stuff around. If you were going to design a
sculpture studio, you couldn’t do any better.”
- Richard Hunt
Cathedral-like Space
In 1971, Hunt embarked on a transformative journey when he acquired a decommissioned electrical substation from the Chicago Railways Company, nestled on West Lill Avenue in Lincoln Park.
The vast, 40-foot high interior is adorned with towering windows and a skylight that flood the space with generous streams of natural light. The building boasts an imposing overhead bridge crane—making it an ideal sanctuary for creating and maneuvering large-scale sculptures. This expansive environment allowed Hunt to dramatically scale up his welded masterpieces and served as an iconic space for the artist.
He would go on to work in this unique studio for the rest of his career and live in a lofted bedroom space periodically, modeled after Brâncuși's live-work studio he had observed in Paris in 1957.
Richard Hunt's studio at West Lill Avenue, Chicago.
1909 photograph of Chicago Railways Company substation at West Lill Avenue, Chicago
A Piece of Chicago History
The West Lill Avenue building, a historical gem originally constructed in 1909, served as a crucial electrical substation for the Chicago Railways Company. At the time of its opening, it powered an extensive network of streetcars that moved Chicagoans across the city through a system of high-voltage transformers.
The streetcar system covered more than 500 miles, with 3,700 streetcars ferrying people around the city. The private operators of the system were eventually folded into the public Chicago Transit Authority, which ran the last streetcars through 1958.
Powering that network required electrical substations, or transformer buildings, where a high-voltage electrical current was transformed into smaller doses of current to power the wires for the streetcars.
Inside, the facility was designed for maximum efficiency, housing three massive 2000-kw converters, which were mounted on wall foundations that extended lengthwise of the station and formed a passageway through which the underside of the machines were easily reached.
West Lill Avenue building drawings from "Large New Substations of the Chicago Railways Company," Electric Railway Journal, Vol. XXXIII. No. 1, January 2, 1909
Bridge Crane
Despite being stripped of most original copper and salvageable materials when the substation was closed, the massive bridge crane remained, becoming a signature feature of Hunt's studio.
The overhead bridge crane was essential for moving large sculptures and allowed Hunt to significantly increase the scale of his welded works beginning in the 1970s.
Bridge Crane Infrastructure & Components
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Runway Beams (Girders): The primary support structures for the crane's runway are 24-inch, 80-lb I-beams. These beams rest on brackets riveted to the building's roof-supporting posts and are further secured to the main columns using 3/8-inch steel plates.
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Crane Rails: The parallel tracks that the crane drives along weigh 50 lbs per foot. They are bolted directly onto the I-beams, creating a runway that allows the crane to travel the entire length of the substation.
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Bridge Span: The main traveling bridge that stretches across the parallel tracks has a total span of 45 feet.
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Hoist and Motors: The lifting hook mechanism is powered by three electric motors and is built to handle heavy duty work, featuring a lifting capacity of 25 tons.
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Clearance: The track and hoist system is positioned high enough to provide 20 feet, 6 inches of vertical clearance between the building’s floor and the crane's hook when fully raised.
In the decades that followed, Hunt's ability to create large-scale commissions was supported by this expansive and flexible studio space, along with assistants to help him move and erect monumental works with the bridge crane. From his mass of collected metal sheets, parts, and scrap, Hunt was positioned to be at the ready, night or day, to fulfill his improvisational and monumental creations.
Overhead Bridge Crane beams in the Lill Ave. studio.
Overhead Bridge Crane in operation by Hunt's studio assistant.
West Lill Avenue, Chicago
Residential Camouflauge
The entire building is constructed with a steel internal frame structure, faced on the interior with enameled brick arranged in large panels enclosing groups of windows. The green enameled brick forms the border of each panel enclosing the center of white brick surrounding the window frames. The windows crucially open outward, providing essential ventilation for the facility's heat-generating rotary converters when it served as an electrical substation.
The building has an ornamental exterior to fit into its residential neighborhood. The exterior facade is finished with an ornamental brick pattern, with white cut stone and a light-colored terra-cotta cornice.
The entrance features architectural trim and doorway framing executed in standard limestone, typical of early 20th-century Chicago utility and industrial brick-and-stone construction.
Notably, Richard Hunt never posted an exterior sign indicating the building was his studio, maintaining a level of privacy in the quiet Chicago neighborhood.
An Artistic Hub
In addition to the ample workspace, Hunt set up a foundry within this new studio, evoking memories of his formative experiences in Florence during the late 1950s, where he first delved into the intricate art of casting. This facility opened doors for him to explore new series of cast works in both bronze and aluminum, further expanding his artistic repertoire. For much of the next fifty years, Hunt called this vibrant space home, both living and creating amidst its storied walls. Over the decades, the studio evolved into a thriving cultural hub, as the artist passionately hosted an array of live music performances, art exhibitions, and dynamic dance events throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, driven by his heartfelt dedication to fostering the broader arts.
Thomas Jefferson “T.J.” Anderson conducting a rehearsal for a performance at Hunt’s West Lill Avenue studio, Chicago, 1978.
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Studio and Laboratory
"Situated in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, the building is a repository of Hunt’s vast trove of pieces and parts of metal objects—some scrap, some not, and many seemingly in the process of being formed into artworks. Inside, small metal works destined for indoor settings sit comfortably near parts that will be used to model larger, outdoor sculptures. It is a metal shop as much as it is a studio and a laboratory that aligns with the Fordist self-sufficiency of Hunt’s studio practice."
- Courtney J. Martin, Richard Hunt, 2022
Richard Hunt with studio assistants in his West Lill Avenue studio, Chicago, ca. 1980.