Suess Ornamental Glass Company, Chicago

Suess Ornamental Glass Company, thumbnail page. Here you will find a large selection of table lamps and chandeliers made by The Suess Ornamental Glass Company of Chicago during the early part of the 20th Century. The company was built upon a foundation established by Max Suess, specializing in ornamental designs etched in glass. Several patents of Max's were granted for machines and techniques in the manufacture of his products.

In the early 1900s son Walter was believed to have been instrumental in expanding their product offering to include stained glass lamps. Their period of lamp making lasted only a few years, made all the more difficult by a serious fire in May of 1908 which spread to their Throop Street workshops, culminating in the death of Walter and several other employees. Recent research has identified a relative of Max's, John Baptist Suess, was named in the original incorporation papers of the company. Additional reasearch has revealed that John Baptist was to expand the business further west to Seattle where a new operation was created under the name Suess & Smith. Suess & Smith is covered in some detail elsewhere in this website.