May 20: Auction of original columns from Ceylon Building

Remnants from an original 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition building come up for auction on May 20, offering a rare opportunity to own a piece of the Fair. Clars Auction Gallery (5644 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, California) will auction a set of hand-carved pillars that were part of the original Ceylon Building on the fairgrounds.

Their auction 598 “Art, Furniture, Jewelry, Asian” on Sunday, May 20, starts at 11:30 AM CDT and includes four lots (6404, 6405, 6505, and 6406) of 11-by-1-foot pillars from the Ceylon Tea Building, each “hand carved by a native of Ceylon on the shores of Lake Michigan, the carvings inspired by the ancient ruins of temples Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.” Item descriptions specify the provenance of the pillars from 1893 to the current owner, Gary Knox Bennett (possibly Garry Knox Bennett, a noted woodworker and furniture maker from California?)

After the close of the World’s Fair, real estate mogul Frank R. Chandler (brother-in-law of department store magnate Harry Selfridge) purchased the Ceylon Building for $2800 and had it disassembled, moved by rail to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and reassembled with additions as “Ceylon Court” on the bluffs of the eastern lake shore. Chicago Banker John J. Mitchell purchased the home in 1901. After his death, the building was owned by Fred L. Maytag (of dishwasher fame), and destroyed in 1958. Furnishing from the home hit the auction block in 1948, and some relics survive in the Geneva Lake Museum collection.

Clars Auction Gallery reports that the sets of Columbian Exposition pillars they are selling then came into the possession of the Florsheim family.

If you have 11-foot ceilings, several thousand dollars, and a desire to own an original piece of the 1893 World’s Fair, be sure to raise your bidder paddle on May 20.