A New Title Explores the Iconic Interiors of Chicago’s Johnson Publishing Company Headquarters
For 820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon, Barbara Karant goes inside the abandoned building to capture shots of intact offices and the test kitchen with “psychedelic patterns”
When it debuted on South Michigan Avenue in 1972, the home of Johnson Publishing Company (publishers of Ebony and Jet magazines) stood in striking contrast to the late 19th- and early 20th-century buildings lining the boulevard. The International Style edifice, clad in travertine and glass, was designed by John Moutoussamy, a student of Mies van der Rohe. It was the first downtown Chicago high-rise owned by a Black man and designed by a Black architect. Placed throughout were works from the company’s notable collection of Black artists. It was also the first commercial interior created by designers Arthur Elrod and William Raiser, who gave each of the 11 floors its own distinct personality. E. James West nailed the description: “A riotous mix of colors, textures, and patterns.”
Johnson Publishing sold the building to Columbia College in 2010 and vacated the premises in 2012. The artist Theaster Gates became the “caretaker” of over 15,000 objects that had been within, including the entire Johnson Publishing library and “roughly 6,000 square feet of office ephemera,” according to his website, “the majority of it from the 1950s, 60s, and ‘70s.”
The building sat empty for years—a skeleton with glimpses of a glamor that once was. Enter Barbara Karant, an architectural and interiors photographer. Growing up in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, she was well aware of Johnson Publishing, Ebony, and Jet. She also taught photography at Columbia College, and after jumping through a series of hoops, got permission to do a walk-through. “I came out of there with the inability to construct a sentence,” she recalls. “I was so blown away, I knew I wanted to do something.”
She didn’t imagine it would turn into a project that would take over a decade to realize, resulting in the publication of 820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon (MW Editions, available October 13). It features over 200 pages of Karant’s fascinating photos of the abandoned building as well as historical shots of the offices intact, including the legendary test kitchen, an unforgettable blur of “psychedelic patterns.” Interspersed within the volume are essays by predominantly Black curators, historians, and scholars, as well as short texts from former employees who worked in the building.
Karant photographed the building from 2013 to 2015, and again in 2018 after it had been sold to developers (at that point the exterior had been landmarked). She’d spend six to eight hours a day, by herself, roaming the 110,000-square-foot building and capturing shots of what she describes as a “time capsule”: floor after floor of carpets, wall coverings, prints, and colors that had survived for decades. “I just found the fact that it was empty was not in any way, shape, or form a handicap for me because there was so much visual excitement,” she says.
Shooting there came with its own challenges—including weather. The building had no air conditioning and was heated just enough to keep the pipes from freezing. She would photograph for six months, then stay away for six months. “Every time I went back in, I saw something I had missed.” Now that it’s finished, she hopes the images will “resonate, educate, and inspire younger audiences.” She also admits that if the building hadn’t been developed, “I’d probably still be there shooting. I loved it so much.”
