ATDTDA (2): "the skyscrapers of Chicago" (37.35)

[David Morris]

Sullivan is an American architectural master.  He designed the first
"modern" skyscraper, his true claim for fame.  Instead of applying
neoclassical, gothic, or other historical motifs to his skyscrapers,
he developed a philosophy that the decoration for his architecture
should be integral to its construction and modern times.  His
skyscrapers have a sleek minimal (for his time) feel to them.  Frank
Lloyd Wright worked for Sullivan in his early practice, and was a big
influence.

>From the Wikipedia site:  "Sullivan's massive Transportation Building
and huge arched "Golden Door" stood out as the only forward-looking
design in a sea of Beaux-Arts historical copies, and the only
gorgeously multicolored facade in the White City. Sullivan and fair
director Daniel Burnham were vocal about their displeasure with each
other. Sullivan was later (1922) to claim that the fair set the course
of American architecture back "for half a century from its date, if
not longer." (Autobiography of an Idea, p. 325) His was the only
building to receive extensive recognition outside America, receiving
three medals from the Union Centrale des Arts Decoratifs the following
year.

and:  "He and former understudy Frank Lloyd Wright reconciled in time
for Wright to help fund Sullivan's funeral after he died, poor and
alone, in a Chicago hotel room. A modest headstone marks his final
resting spot in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood."

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/sullivan/guaranty.jpg

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/sullivan/guaranty7.jpg

http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Wainwright_Building.html/cid_1052157003_wainwright01.html

http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Schles_Meyer_Store.html/cid_aj1855_b.html

On 2/6/07, Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
> He fled in among the skyscrapers of Chicago, leaving a note at work suggesting he'd be back shortly (p. 37).
>
> Louis Sullivan
>
> Born in Boston, studied briefly at MIT. Moved to Chicago in 1873 and began working in the studio of William Lebaron Jenney. Later joined the office of Dankmar Adler, a German engineer, and they developed the established the firm of Adler & Sullivan in 1881. Together these two men and their firm became integral to defining the Chicago School. Sullivan designed the Transportation building for the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. After 1900, Sullivan lost much of his popularity.
>
> http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/sullivan.html