A reception desk almost never ends up in the record books. Yet the one designed by Frank Gehry for the lobby of a Chicago skyscraper has just rewritten auction history for its design objects, reaching a price that left the market speechless.
Known as Icehenge, the seven-ton, sixteen-piece glass installation was sold by Freeman’s in Chicago for $243,200 — more than ten times the maximum estimate of $20,000. A result that sets a new auction record for Frank Gehry in the design objects category, surpassing the previous record held by one of his famous Fish Lamps, sold by Phillips New York in 2021 for $239,400.
Key Points
- Icehenge reached $243,200 from Freeman’s in Chicago, more than ten times the maximum estimate of $20,000.
- The work is a seven-ton glass desk composed of sixteen pieces, designed by Gehry for the lobby of the Inland Steel Building.
- The result beats Gehry’s previous record for design objects: the Fish Lamp sold for $239,400 in 2021.
- Gehry’s absolute auction record remains the Winton Guest House, sold in 2015 for $905,000.
- The new owner is considering a temporary loan of the work to a museum or institution.
An Unexpected Record for an Uncommon Object
That a reception desk could shatter estimates in this way was not a given, not even for those well-versed in the author design market. Roger Ward, vice president for design at Freeman’s, commented on the result with evident satisfaction: «Even knowing it could be a difficult object to place due to its size and weight, buyers from very different backgrounds and geographical origins came out in force». Ward also specified that the new owner intends to preserve the public accessibility of the work, considering a temporary loan to a museum or suitable institution.
The most striking fact is not so much the final price itself, but the vast distance from the estimate. Exceeding the maximum expected by more than ten times signals an interest that Freeman’s experts evidently did not anticipate at this intensity. It’s the kind of result that turns a design auction into a market event.
Comparison with Gehry’s Previous Records
With Icehenge, Gehry further climbs the ranks of his own auction quotations. The Fish Lamp sold by Phillips New York in 2021 for $239,400 was until now his most valuable design object on the secondary market. Now that record belongs to the glass desk.
The architect’s absolute record remains another work: the 1987 Winton Guest House, sold through Wright in 2015 for $905,000, according to the Artnet Price Database. Icehenge thus ranks as the second overall result in Gehry’s auction career, but first for properly said design objects.
What Makes Icehenge a Unique Work
The idea was born almost by chance. Gehry was working on another project when he stumbled upon a fragment of raw glass: that suggestion became the starting point for an installation unlike any other piece of furniture ever made.
Icehenge is composed of hand-cut glass blocks, scattered with bubbles and internal distortions. Two large slabs serve as work surfaces, while a series of vertical shapes and columns surround them. The glass was tinted green to echo the building’s windows. By stacking the blocks at varying angles, Gehry achieves dramatic light refractions that highlight the material’s imperfections — a visual poetics opposed to any conventional idea of office elegance.
Gehry himself, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune in 2013, described it with a joke: «It looks like an explosion in a glass factory, in a way. If there really were an explosion in a glass factory — aside from the fact that everyone would be killed — it would be visually quite exciting».
The Connection with the Inland Steel Building
The work was not born in a vacuum: it is deeply connected to one of the iconic buildings of American modernist architecture. The Inland Steel Building, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the fifties, had already fascinated Gehry for its stainless steel facade — an influence found in the Guggenheim Bilbao of 1997.
In 2005 Gehry acquired a stake in the nineteen-story skyscraper to oversee its restoration, only to sell it years later. Icehenge was born in that context, as the centerpiece of the renovated lobby. Installed next to the geometric sculpture Radiant 1 by Richard Lippold from 1956, the desk offered a dense and tactile counterpoint to the linear abstraction of the bronze. The realization was entrusted to the John Lewis Glass Studio.
Why This Result Matters for the Design Market
The Icehenge case is not just an auction chronicle curiosity. It tells something broader about how collectors’ interest in design objects signed by great architects is changing.
For decades, the secondary design market has occupied a subordinate position compared to painting and sculpture. But results like this — a functional object, designed for a specific context, that decuples the estimate — suggest that the boundaries between art, architecture, and design are becoming increasingly irrelevant to buyers. The fact that buyers «from very different backgrounds» competed for Icehenge indicates a demand that goes beyond the circle of specialists.
There is also a symbolic dimension: the new owner considering a museum loan transforms a private purchase into an almost institutional gesture. The work, born to be public in the lobby of a skyscraper, could become public again — this time in a museum.
FAQ
What is Icehenge and who designed it?
Icehenge is a seven-ton glass reception desk, composed of sixteen pieces, designed by architect Frank Gehry for the lobby of the Inland Steel Building in Chicago.
How much was Icehenge sold for at auction?
Icehenge was sold for $243,200 by Freeman’s in Chicago, exceeding the maximum estimate of $20,000 by more than ten times.
What makes the design of Icehenge distinctive?
The work is composed of raw glass blocks stacked at varying angles, tinted green to reflect the building’s windows. The overlapping blocks create spectacular light refractions, enhancing the internal imperfections of the material.
What are the future plans for the public accessibility of Icehenge?
The new owner has expressed an intention to maintain public access to the work and is considering a temporary loan to a museum or suitable institution.
Content created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and human editorial review.
As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist and Econique.
She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
