The 7-ton glass desk designed by the late architect Frank Gehry might end up in a museum — at least in the short term — the auction house that oversaw the item's sale said Friday.Called Icehenge, the 16-piece emerald glass desk created for the lobby of the Inland Steel Building sold Wednesday fo r $243,200."The buyer is dedicated to maintaining public access to Icehenge and is considering a temporary loan to a suitable museum or institution," a representative of the Chicago office of Freeman's said. "Currently, no specific plans have been finalized."So who's the successful bidder? Freeman's wouldn't say.But Icehenge's new owners are not Gehry friends Thomas and Margot Pritzker, or their foundation, a Pritzker spokesperson told me.It was worth asking: Gehry was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989.Internationally-known architect Adrian Smith also didn't wind up with the desk. His firm, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, is located in the Inland Steel Building, 30 W. Monroe St. The Inland Steel Building at 30 W. Monroe St.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times The auction result is an interesting addendum to a small but noteworthy chapter in Chicago’s storied history of architecture and design.Working with John Lewis Glass Studio, now Christison Lewis, in Oakland, California, Gehry created the 15,000-pound desk unit specifically for the Inland Steel lobby.The work — a staffed and functioning security desk — was installed in the building in 2012.Gehry died in 2025 at age 96.Icehenge is as much sculpture as it is furniture, with the same billowing, sail-like quality found in many of Gehry's designs. But the work is also visually untamed, jagged and unpredictable."It does look like an explosion in a glass factory, kind of," the Los Angeles architect told Chicago architecture critic Blair Kamin in 2013. "If you actually had an explosion at a glass factory, apart from everyone getting killed, it would be pretty exciting visually." The 16-piece ensemble is as much a sculpture as it is a lobby security desk — maybe more so.Lee Bey/Sun-Times The piece is composed of two main desktops, plus base supports and decorative forms — all made of glass. There are also a pair of mirrored cabinets.That's a lot of heavy glass and accoutrements for the winning bidder to move. And the desk's destination better be pretty sturdy: Icehenge is heavier than the combined weight of four nicely optioned 2026 Honda Accord sedans.And in order to get the piece out of the building, the buyer will have to cover the cost of removing, then reinstalling some of the glass-paneled lobby windows of the skyscraper, a protected city landmark and globally recognized high point in modern architecture.The buyer will also need a "reputable, experienced transporter," and the piece will have to be removed "based on the timing of delivery of a replacement desk, which is expected to be delivered in mid-September," according to the auction details.The Inland Steel Building is owned by New York Life Insurance Co., which acquired the deed from Inland Steel's previous owners, Capital Properties, in 2025, in lieu of foreclosure. Related A Loop glass desk designed by Frank Gehry — all 7 tons of it — heads to auction ...read more read less