SULLIVAN, Louis Henry

Between 1880 and 1886, Sullivan designed a series of houses and commercial buildings, the exteriors of which were notable for their strange floral decoration. The Adler & Sullivan firm was not yet receiving commissions for the eight- or ten-storey ‘skyscraper’ office buildings, but in 1886 obtained the commission for the Auditorium Building, an opera house enclosed in a ten-storey block of hotel rooms and offices, the largest building yet projected in Chicago. It was a difficult job, both technically and aesthetically, and both partners carried off their departments magisterially. For the exterior design, Sullivan abstained from ornamental experiments, adopting a severe round-arched treatment, but inside the hotel and especially in the auditorium itself, he perfected his characteristic style of ornament, which was integrated with the surfaces it covered, the latter being shaped and articulated to express their function.

The building with the theatre is one of the best-known designs of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Since 1947, the Auditorium Building has been part of Roosevelt University.

Between 1880 and 1886, Sullivan designed a series of houses and commercial buildings, the exteriors of which were notable for their strange floral decoration. The Adler & Sullivan firm was not yet receiving commissions for the eight- or ten-storey ‘skyscraper’ office buildings, but in 1886 obtained the commission for the Auditorium Building, an opera house enclosed in a ten-storey block of hotel rooms and offices, the largest building yet projected in Chicago. It was a difficult job, both technically and aesthetically, and both partners carried off their departments magisterially. For the exterior design, Sullivan abstained from ornamental experiments, adopting a severe round-arched treatment, but inside the hotel and especially in the auditorium itself, he perfected his characteristic style of ornament, which was integrated with the surfaces it covered, the latter being shaped and articulated to express their function.

The building with the theatre is one of the best-known designs of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Since 1947, the Auditorium Building has been part of Roosevelt University.

After the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, Sullivan concentrated on producing a series of brilliant ‘skyscraper’ designs. Of the nineteen such designs conceived between 1890 and 1901, nine were executed. All follow the basic type of the Wainwright Building - base, colonnade, entablature - but with refinements and variations. The Schiller Building (1891-93) in Chicago was powerfully shaped, stepping back from the party walls at the ninth storey to become a free-standing tower. The Guaranty Building (1894-96) in Buffalo, NY, was the most sophisticated, with an unbroken surface of decorative terracotta and an interwoven, curving solution at the cornice. The Carson Pirie Scott Store (1898-1904) in Chicago is the most minimal, with the broad grid of its steel structure frankly exposed. It was his last large urban structure.

The Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company Building (also known as Sullivan Center) was designed by Louis Sullivan for the Schlesinger & Mayer department store. Sullivan’s steel frame allowed the store to exhibit much of its merchandise in its windows. George Grant Elmslie, Sullivan’s draftsman, designed some of the ornate detailing around the entrance. In 1904, Sullivan built an expansion, and the store was sold to Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company.

The photo shows a view from the north.

After the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, Sullivan concentrated on producing a series of brilliant ‘skyscraper’ designs. Of the nineteen such designs conceived between 1890 and 1901, nine were executed. All follow the basic type of the Wainwright Building - base, colonnade, entablature - but with refinements and variations. The Schiller Building (1891-93) in Chicago was powerfully shaped, stepping back from the party walls at the ninth storey to become a free-standing tower. The Guaranty Building (1894-96) in Buffalo, NY, was the most sophisticated, with an unbroken surface of decorative terracotta and an interwoven, curving solution at the cornice. The Carson Pirie Scott Store (1898-1904) in Chicago is the most minimal, with the broad grid of its steel structure frankly exposed. It was his last large urban structure.

The Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company Building (also known as Sullivan Center) was designed by Louis Sullivan for the Schlesinger & Mayer department store. Sullivan’s steel frame allowed the store to exhibit much of its merchandise in its windows. George Grant Elmslie, Sullivan’s draftsman, designed some of the ornate detailing around the entrance. In 1904, Sullivan built an expansion, and the store was sold to Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company.

The photo shows a view from the north.

The photo shows the northwest entrance to the Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company Building at 1 South State Street at East Madison Street. George Grant Elmslie (1871-1952), Sullivan’s draftsman, designed some of the ornate detailing around the entrance.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

At Owatonna, the mass of the structure rises above the surrounding shops and balances the mass of the court-house facing it across the square; at Columbus, an arcade down the side of the bank frames the town’s Civil War monument. Although these buildings were in remote areas, the care bestowed on them by Sullivan suggests that here he had finally found appreciative recipients for his exquisite talents.

During the 1890s, Sullivan concentrated on producing a series of brilliant ‘skyscraper’ designs. Of the nineteen such designs conceived between 1890 and 1901, nine were executed. All designs follow the basic type of the Wainwright Building - base, colonnade, entablature - but with refinements and variations. The Schiller Building (1891-93) in Chicago was powerfully shaped, stepping back from the party walls at the ninth storey to become a free-standing tower. The Guaranty Building (1894-96) in Buffalo was the most sophisticated, with an unbroken surface of decorative terra-cotta and an interwoven, curving solution at the cornice. The Carson Pirie Scott Store (1898-1904) in Chicago is the most minimal, with the broad grid of its steel structure frankly exposed.

The Guaranty Building was built between 1895 and 1896 for the Guaranty Construction Company. In 1898, it was renamed the Prudential Building due to the refinancing that Prudential Insurance Company offered. Today both names can be seen above the entrances.

The Guaranty Building is an outstanding example of Sullivan’s innovations. In the 1890s, the steel skeleton skyscraper was a new and uniquely American building type. Most early skyscrapers borrowed heavily from traditional European design and used strong horizontal lines to de-emphasize their verticality. Sullivan wanted a bold architectural style for the new building type that would express the confidence and prosperity of the United States at the end of the 19th century. He rejected traditional designs and celebrated the skyscraper’s verticality.

While similar to his 1890 Wainwright Building, which combines masonry with terra-cotta for ornament, the Guaranty Building makes ornament the focus through the use of terra-cotta to cover exterior surfaces. The piers between the windows form strong vertical lines that draw the eye upward to the dominant cornice. Despite the technological advancements that made the skyscraper possible, including high-quality structural steel and electric elevators, Sullivan strove to connect the building with the natural world. His ornamentation for the Guaranty was inspired by flowers, seedpods, and, at the top of the building, the spreading branches of a tree.

The Guaranty represents the pinnacle of Sullivan’s forward-thinking design and marks the beginning of the uniquely American style of architecture that influenced the young Frank Lloyd Wright, who worked for Adler & Sullivan from 1888 to 1893. Even after leaving the firm, Wright continued to revere Sullivan, calling him “the Master.” As Sullivan lay on his death bed, he gave Wright an extensive collection of his drawings. The drawings, along with other Wright memorabilia, now reside at the Avery Library at Columbia University.

After the Great Depression, the building deteriorated. A restoration project was completed in 1982.

During the period when Sullivan designed banks (the “jewel boxes”) in small towns in the Midwest, he also designed the Van Allen Building (1912-14), Clinton, Iowa, and two large houses, the Babson House (1907; destroyed), Riverside, Illinois, and the Bradley House (1909), Madison, Wisconsin.

The Bradley House was one of Sullivan’s last residential commissions and a prime example of Prairie School design. Prairie School was a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style with roots in Chicago. The style, popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, Sullivan’s student, was most common in the Midwest, but its influence was felt around the globe.

The Prairie School style integrates with the surrounding landscape. Horizontal lines of the design are meant to join with the native prairie. Flat or hip roofs have broad eaves, windows are assembled in horizontal bands, construction and craftsmanship are solid, and decorative elements are restrained.

Sullivan designed the Bradley House in collaboration with George Grant Elmslie (1871-1952), who joined the architectural partnership of Adler & Sullivan in 1888. Following the dismissal of Frank Lloyd Wright from the firm, and especially once the partnership dissolved, Elmslie’s role under Louis Sullivan increased. The Bradley House was designed at a time when Sullivan’s architectural practice was starting to fail. Once considered the foremost designer of skyscrapers, Sullivan now struggled to secure commissions and often sparred with clients. All drawings of the Bradley House were sketched by Elmslie; many of the architectural details are consistent with the style he would develop later in his career with William Gray Purcell.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

At Owatonna, the mass of the structure rises above the surrounding shops and balances the mass of the court-house facing it across the square; at Columbus, an arcade down the side of the bank frames the town’s Civil War monument. Although these buildings were in remote areas, the care bestowed on them by Sullivan suggests that here he had finally found appreciative recipients for his exquisite talents.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

The Home Building Association Bank, also known as “Old Home,” has a smaller footprint than most of Sullivan’s other Midwestern banks, but it does have a full second floor and basement. Its corner location gives the two-story, concrete-and-steel frame building two primary fa�ades. Unlike Sullivan’s other banks of this period, Old Home is not clad in tinted pressed brick; instead, the exterior elevations are terra-cotta blocks in a soft gray color. A decorative band at the top of each individual block creates a subtle horizontal banding pattern over the walls, forming the backdrop for the highly ornamented terra-cotta pieces in block and relief form that distinguish the building from those around it.

Like the Sullivan’s other banks, the decoration and ornamentation of Old Home has strong geometric characteristics while also appearing natural and organic; heraldic lions are part of the ornamental program. The two elevations feature tile mosaics, opalescent glass transoms, and banded, leaded-glass casement windows.

The building was much abused in the last century, mainly prior to 1973; it needs restoration.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

At Owatonna, the mass of the structure rises above the surrounding shops and balances the mass of the court-house facing it across the square; at Columbus, an arcade down the side of the bank frames the town’s Civil War monument. Although these buildings were in remote areas, the care bestowed on them by Sullivan suggests that here he had finally found appreciative recipients for his exquisite talents.

During the last period of his activities, Sullivan was beset by financial difficulties; he became destitute and dependent on the charity of friends. His only executed design after the Merchants’ Union Bank in Columbus was the front of the Krause Music Store in Chicago.

The building was commissioned in 1921 by William P. Krause to serve the dual purpose of a residence and a music shop. Sullivan designed a beautiful green terracotta fa�ade with ornamentation richly detailed in geometric forms of nature. With its curvilinear plant forms and intricate framing of the picture window, the fa�ade is an outgrowth of Sullivan’s belief in organic architecture.

The building was completed in 1922, and the store opened to sell pianos and sheet music. After the Great Depression, Krause’s widow sold the building to a funeral parlour. During the next 60 years, the building functioned as a funeral home. By the turn of the new century, a gift shop called The Museum of Decorative Arts occupied the space. In 2005, the historic Sullivan fa�ade was painstakingly restored.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

Like the Owatonna bank, the Grinell bank has a relatively austere form, relieved by imaginative, intricate ornament. The fa�ade is embellished with a spectacular decorative frame for the circular window above the entrance.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

Like the Owatonna bank, the Grinell bank has a relatively austere form, relieved by imaginative, intricate ornament. The fa�ade is embellished with a spectacular decorative frame for the circular window above the entrance.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

At Owatonna, the mass of the structure rises above the surrounding shops and balances the mass of the court-house facing it across the square; at Columbus, an arcade down the side of the bank frames the town’s Civil War monument. Although these buildings were in remote areas, the care bestowed on them by Sullivan suggests that here he had finally found appreciative recipients for his exquisite talents.

The picture shows a detail of the ornamentation on the fa�ade.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

At Owatonna, the mass of the structure rises above the surrounding shops and balances the mass of the court-house facing it across the square; at Columbus, an arcade down the side of the bank frames the town’s Civil War monument. Although these buildings were in remote areas, the care bestowed on them by Sullivan suggests that here he had finally found appreciative recipients for his exquisite talents.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

At Owatonna, the mass of the structure rises above the surrounding shops and balances the mass of the court-house facing it across the square; at Columbus, an arcade down the side of the bank frames the town’s Civil War monument. Although these buildings were in remote areas, the care bestowed on them by Sullivan suggests that here he had finally found appreciative recipients for his exquisite talents.

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

At Cedar Rapids, the bricks for the exterior of the building were produced in 15 different shades, producing, as Sullivan remarked, “the effect of an antique Oriental rug.”

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

Completed in 1914, the Purdue State Bank is the smallest and least expensive of Sullivan’s “Jewel Boxes,” a series of Midwestern banks designed in the modern style at the end of his career. Built on a tiny, trapezoidal lot between two streets, the structure is less ornamental than most of the architect’s other work; it includes only a few terra cotta panels. During the 1950s, a stone portion was added to the back of the building, and the original doorway was converted into a window and then an ATM.

The photo shows the southern side and the former main entrance to the Purdue State Bank (now a Chase bank).

The last phase in Sullivan’s career was largely devoted to designing banks in small towns in the Midwest. Midwestern agriculture thrived in the early 20th century, leading to a revolution in rural banking and the proliferation of small institutions sympathetic to local needs.

Sullivan’s first commission in this field was the magnificent National Farmers’ Bank (1907-08) in Owatonna, Minnesota. It was followed by the People’s Savings Bank (1911), Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Merchants’ Bank (1914), Grinnell, Iowa; the Home Building Association Bank (1914), Newark, Ohio; the Purdue State Bank (1914), West Lafayette, Indiana; the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917-18), Sidney, Ohio; and finally the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank (1919) in Columbus, Wisconsin.

These buildings posed no problems in the expression of structure, as they were all low, load-bearing brick constructions; they did, however, raise important questions of institutional expression. Sullivan’s solution was to make them monumental, as befitted banks, but ‘modern’ and unrelated to historical precedent in order to communicate their transformed character. They are the final and most richly impressive demonstrations of his ornamental skill, with their rich use of polychromy in brick and terracotta. Furthermore, the design of each was sensitively adapted to its setting, usually at the end of the main street facing the town square (as at Owatonna, Grinnell, Newark, Sidney, and Columbus).

Completed in 1914, the Purdue State Bank is the smallest and least expensive of Sullivan’s “Jewel Boxes,” a series of Midwestern banks designed in the modern style at the end of his career. Built on a tiny, trapezoidal lot between two streets, the structure is less ornamental than most of the architect’s other work; it includes only a few terra cotta panels. During the 1950s, a stone portion was added to the back of the building, and the original doorway was converted into a window and then an ATM.

The photo shows the former main entrance to the Purdue State Bank (now a Chase bank).

Adler and Sullivan had evolved the configuration of the Auditorium Building in a series of theatre designs, notably in the Chicago Opera Festival Theatre (1885; destroyed) and the Pueblo Opera House in Colorado (1888-90; destroyed). Later they carried it to perfection in the Schiller Theatre (1891-93; destroyed), Chicago, regrettably the last of the firm’s theatre commissions.

The Schiller Theatre Building was designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler of the firm Adler & Sullivan for the German Opera Company. At the time of its construction, it was one of the tallest buildings in Chicago. Its centrepiece was a 1300-seat theatre, considered by architectural historians to be one of the greatest collaborations between Adler and Sullivan.

Opened in 1891, the Schiller Theatre was projected to be used for German-language operas and cultural events. In the late 1890s, it ceased its German performances and exhibited touring stage shows. In the 1930s, the building was converted into a movie theatre. It became a television studio in 1950 and returned to screening movies in 1957. After a long decline that began in the 1930s, the building (since 1903 named Garrick Theater) was razed early in 1961 and replaced with a parking structure. Hundreds of artefacts and ornaments from the building were salvaged.

The photo of 1900 shows the Schiller Building at 64 West Randolph Street, Chicago.

Chicago has been the major center for American architecture since the late 19th century. One of the city’s most important early architects was Louis Sullivan, who, with his partner, Dankmar Adler, designed the Chicago Stock Exchange, built in 1893-94. When the Stock Exchange was demolished in 1972, sections of Sullivan’s elaborate stenciled decorations, molded plaster capitals, and art glass were preserved from the Trading Room, the magnificent centerpiece of this 13-story structure. Using these fragments, the Art Institute was able to reconstruct the Trading Room in its new wing in 1976-77.

During the period when Sullivan designed banks (the “jewel boxes”) in small towns in the Midwest, he also designed the Van Allen Building (1912-14), Clinton, Iowa, and two large houses, the Babson House (1907; destroyed), Riverside, Illinois, and the Bradley House (1909), Madison, Wisconsin.

The Van Allen Building, also known as Van Allen and Company Department Store, is a four-story building commissioned by John Delbert Van Allen (1850-1928). Constructed as a department store, it now has upper floor apartments with ground-floor commercial space.

The exterior has brick spandrels and piers over the structural steel skeletal frame. Terra-cotta is used for horizontal accent banding and for three slender, vertically applied mullion medallions on the fa�ade running through three storeys, from ornate corbels at the second-floor level to huge outbursts of vivid green terra-cotta foliage in the attic.

There is a very slight cornice. Black marble facing is used around the glass show windows on the first floor. The walls are made of long thin bricks in a burnt grey colour with a tinge of purple. Above the ground floor, all the windows are framed by a light grey terra-cotta.

As with Sullivan’s late Midwestern banks, the Van Allen Building indicates the vigour and inventiveness of the architect during his late years. The play of the rich projecting terra-cotta ornament (particularly the three flowerlike cartouches above the fourth-floor windows) against the plain horizontal brick surfaces of the building was a design theme that he utilized in a good number of his late buildings.

The Wainwright Building (also known as the Wainwright State Office Building) is a 10-story, 41 m high office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It is considered to be one of the first aesthetically fully expressed early skyscrapers. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, built between 1890 and 1891, and named for a local brewer, building contractor, and financier Ellis Wainwright.

Aesthetically, the Wainwright Building exemplifies Sullivan’s theories about the tall building, which included a tripartite (three-part) composition (base-shaft-attic) based on the structure of the classical column and his desire to emphasize the height of the building.

Despite the classical column concept, the building’s design was deliberately modern, featuring none of the neoclassical style that Sullivan held in contempt.

The Wainwright Building in St. Louis is Sullivan’s first steel-framed ‘skyscraper’. Here he used the licence of N�o-Grec (Neoclassical Revival style) proportioning to treat the whole fa�ade as a single order of attenuated piers with the bottom storeys forming a solid sandstone plinth and the top (service) storey an entablature. In an essay in 1896, Sullivan explained this articulation as the expression of interior function. The base contains the public commercial spaces, the entablature the mechanical plant and water tanks, and the intervening grill of piers and windows a honeycomb of offices ‘all look[ing] alike because they all are alike’.

The ornamentation for the building includes a wide frieze below the deep cornice, which expresses the formalized, yet naturalistic celery-leaf foliage typical of Sullivan, decorated spandrels between the windows on the different floors, and an elaborate door surround at the main entrance. The frieze is pierced by unobtrusive bull’s-eye windows that light the top-story floor, originally containing water tanks and elevator machinery. The building includes embellishments of terracotta, a building material gaining popularity at the time of construction.

The Wainwright Building (also known as the Wainwright State Office Building) is a 10-story, 41 m high office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It is considered to be one of the first aesthetically fully expressed early skyscrapers. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, built between 1890 and 1891, and named for a local brewer, building contractor, and financier Ellis Wainwright.

The photo is a closeup on the north corner of the Wainwright Building, showing the cornice with the bull’s-eye windows.

The building is considered the first skyscraper to forgo the normal ornamentation used on skyscrapers at the time.

In the autumn of 1890, the plans for the World’s Columbian Exposition were formulated by Daniel Burnham. Five firms from the East Coast were invited to provide detailed plans of the pavilions; five Chicago practices, including Adler & Sullivan, were invited in addition shortly thereafter. The designs were completed and published by April 1891.

The buildings designed by the original five firms were clustered around the breath-taking Court of Honor and produced a harmonious ensemble of collonaded classical fa�ades, all painted a soothing ivory white. Just behind these, Sullivan erected his Transportation Building, a boxy composition in his new ahistorical style, relying on passages of his ornament and stencils for its articulation, painted crimson and gold with touches of green and blue. The boldness of the building, and the striking contrast it gave to the historicism of the Court of Honor, provided an exciting decorative display. Sullivan later described the objective of the design as ‘an architectural exhibit’: the building was an abstract demonstration of the elaboration of colour and form and was ‘a natural, not historical, exhibit’.

The Transportation Building attracted a great deal of attention and was awarded the gold, silver, and bronze medals by the Union Centrale des Arts D�coratifs, Paris, but after it was demolished, the public remembered the Court of Honor more vividly.

The shown picture is from the Official Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition.

The World’s Columbian Exposition (the official shortened name for the World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair) was a world’s fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World in 1492.

The centrepiece of the fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing the voyage Columbus took to the New World. The layout was, in large part, designed by Daniel Burnham and his colleagues. Many prominent architects designed its 14 “great buildings”, which followed Beaux-Arts principles of design, namely neoclassical architecture principles based on symmetry, balance, and splendour. Sullivan’s polychrome proto-Modern Transportation Building was an outstanding exception to the prevailing style, as he tried to develop an organic American form.

The colour plate shows the Golden Arch at Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building. It is taken from “The World’s Fair in Water Colours” by Charles S. Graham.