By Marci Laehr Tenuta
Journal Times | Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE - A piece of SC Johnson and the city's history was most likely stolen and then nearly sold during an online auction Tuesday.
A red Frank Lloyd Wright chair, apparently from the SC Johnson headquarters at 1525 Howe St., showed up for sale on eBay Tuesday, prompting company security to contact Racine police.
"An employee saw it on eBay," said SC Johnson spokeswoman Kelly M. Semrau. The auction site lists it as a "Frank Lloyd Wright chair from Johnson Wax," and shows a photo of the unique office chair.
"The chairs that look like that were only made for our building," Semrau said, noting that the most probable conclusion is that the chair was stolen.
She said that much of the office furniture designed for the building by the renowned architect is still in use today.
Police spokesman Sgt. Bernie Kupper said it is unlikely the chair on eBay is a replica, and none of the Wright furniture was given away. He said the furniture is a part of the SC Johnson building.
Kupper said facility personnel are currently going through inventory in an attempt to see if one of their chairs is missing.
In order to stop the auction, which began at 10 a.m. Tuesday, SC Johnson contacted police. Officers called eBay security and requested the auction be stopped because the chair was part of a theft investigation.
When the auction ended, four bids had already been placed. The last was for $10,000.
Racine police tracked the chair to the Wright Auction House in Chicago, which was going to sell it online. The owner told investigators that a Milwaukee antiques dealer had brought the chair to him. He was cooperative with police, said Kupper.
The chair is part of the collection of office furniture H.F. Johnson Jr. had Wright design for the SC Johnson administration building.
For many years, every employee in the building sat on the Wright chairs and the late Sam Johnson sat on one for 40 years, according to a story he was interviewed for in 1994.
The metal chairs have simple circular pads on the seat and back. The back support pivots up and down and casters on the four legs allow the chairs to roll across the office.
The 1994 newspaper story says the chairs were thought to be the most innovative office furniture in history until ergonomic designs surpassed them. Some still believe it's the most beautiful office furniture ever made. Art collectors covet the furniture.
According to The Journal Times archives, a famous story about the SC Johnson office chairs reveals that originally the design called for three legs instead of four, but employees kept falling off the unsteady furniture.
H.F. Johnson Jr. sent for Wright concerning the problem, and when Wright arrived he sat in the chair, and fell out of it.
Apparently, Wright got up off the floor, sat back down in the chair more carefully, then told Johnson his employees would get used to it.
Wright later admitted his mistake and redesigned the chairs with four legs.
"This is a very important part of our culture and history," Semrau said. "We are pursuing this aggressively."
As of Wednesday, the Frank Lloyd Wright chair was still at the Chicago auction house, Kupper said.
The theft investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made yet.