There are many different architects from the turn of the century that did many great things. I chose the ones that stuck out to me and that had influenced my life by their marvelous creations. It is so neat to be able to wright about something that you have either been to or heard great deal about. Architecture fascinates me and thinking of someone being able to create a building such as the Biltmore Estate or the Robie House just blows my mind. I also love learning about people’s favorite style’s of architecture and what their “signature mark” was, if they had one. The architects that I chose are Louis Henri Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, William LeBaron Jenney, and
Richard Morris Hunt.
When researching famous architects from the turn of the century, I happened upon a man named Louis Henri Sullivan. Sullivan was born on September 3, 1856 in Boston, Massachusetts, according to Louis Henri Sullivan and became known as the “father of the skyscraper” during his wonderful life. He earned this title by helping redesign the skyscraper by using his well known principle “form follows function”, How Stuff Works: Sullivan and Wright told me. As I continued reading on this detailed website, I soon learned that the majority of Sullivan’s work is located in Chicago, Illinois. This does not include his all time most famous creation; the 10-story WainWright Building which is located in St. Louis, Missouri and was built in 1890. Sullivan believed that extremely tall buildings would be best if they were build in 3 parts, Scholastic Article: Louis Sullivan noted. I then discovered on Scholastic that the base of the building consisted of grand openings of glass that provided light for shopping and various activities. The middle section held lots of office floors while the top level held storage areas for the equipment that ran the building and kept it going. After finding this detailed information on Scholastic Article: Louis Sullivan, I then continued my searching back to How Stuff Works: Sullivan and Wright. Another one of his most famous designs included the 16-story Guaranty Building, located in Buffalo, New York, built in 1894. I learned that Sullivan loved to use geometric shapes as well as organic elements in his creations. That is the reason why he and Frank Lloyd Wright became such good friends and coworkers, in my opinion. Frank Lloyd Wright worked under Louis Henri Sullivan for 6 years, which led to Wright becoming one of the most well-known architects across the United States. Louis Henri Sullivan died on April 14, 1924 in the beautiful city of Chicago, Illinois. His legacy and status in the architecture world continued on after his death and he is still talked about to this day.
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Photo taken by me of the Robie House
built by Frank Lloyd Wright |
I had heard a lot about Frank Lloyd Wright growing up from my mother and in school. His designs fascinated me so when it was time to do a project with him in it, I just couldn’t pass it up! Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867 In Richland Center, Wisconsin Frank Lloyd Wright: Overview said,
and is known as “the most famous architect of the modern era, if not all of history” according to How Stuff Works: Sullivan and Wright . Wright loved organic architecture which consisted of “using both structure and materials to integrate designs with nature an the surrounding environment”, How Stuff Works: Sullivan and Wright included. Wright’s favorite style of architecture design was Praire which “emphasized horizontal lines to blend with the landscape”, an example of a structure designed by this would be the Robie House, How Stuff Works: Sullivan and Wright explained. After reading this I thought the name “Robie House” sounded vaguely familiar. I then thought back to my interim trips with Randolph and remembered that on my freshman trip to Chicago, we not only saw this famous Robie House, but we toured it as well. I then immediately dug through all of my pictures and found one that I took of this unique home. But, my memory, not being as strong as I would like it to be, was not good enough to get my information from on this house. So, I continued my searches and found the wonderful website, Frank Lloyd Wright: Robie House that gave detailed information on Wright’s famous creation. The Robie House was built in 1910 for Frederick C. Robie and is a prime example of Wright’s “Praire Style”. Every room in the house is connected in some sort of way, which creates a more open, airy feeling about the house. Something that really stuck out to me about this house was the windows. If I remember anything at all about the Robie House, and Frank Lloyd Wright: Robie House helped spark my memory, it is the amount of colorful windows composed of different geometric shapes located inside this great structure. Continuing my research on this helpful site, I discovered that the Robie House “would be the last of Wright’s true Prairie Houses”. According to Frank Lloyd Wright: Overview , Frank Lloyd Wright passed away on April 9, 1959 at 91 years old.
Next in line on my list of architects from the turn of the century to research was William LeBaron Jenney. He was born on September 25, 1832 in Massachussetts and became known as the man who designed the Home Insurance Company Building in Chicago. The building of this large structure only took from 1884 to 1885 and was some what considered to be “the world’s first tall building supported by an internal frame.. of ion and steel rather than by load-bearing walls and the first to incorporate steel as a structural material” according to Britannica: Wiliam LeBaron Jenney. Jenney studied architecture in the grand city of Paris, France from 1859 to 1861 which is where he got his talent from. Daniel Burnham, born on September 4, 1846 in Henderson, New York, worked together alongside the Chicago Architecture Firm with Jenney and together they created some masterpeices, according to Jstor: Daniel Burnham. William also designed the Leiter Building located in Chicago in 1879. The front of this building held a very complex, glass curtain wall. Reading that on Britannica: Wiliam LeBaron Jenney, it reminded me of the Robie House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the vast windows held there. Another one of the many creations done by William LeBaron Jenney in Chicago includes the Manhattan Building. The construction of this building was started in 1889 and finished just a year later in 1890. The Manhattan Building was known as the first 16-story building in the whole entire world, Britannica: Wiliam LeBaron Jenney stated. How neat is that! I would love to have the title as the person who created the first 16-story building in the world! The Fair Stone, was included on the list of buildings designed by Jenney, was remodeled as the Loop Store of Montgomery Ward. And lastly on my list of structures Jenney created is The Second Leiter Building that later became the Sears, Roebuck and Co’s loop store. William LeBaron Jenney, in my opinion, seems like he would have been a very complex and intelligent guy. The amount of structures that he completed in only a few short years just blows my mind. William LeBaron Jenney died on June 15, 1907 in Los Angeles, California. He left a great mark on not only the United States, but the whole world.
Last, but certainly not least, Richard Morris Hunt is, to me, the greatest architect from the turn of the century. Born in Vermont on October 31, 1827, Hunt’s favorite styles of architecture included “chateau style, Romanesque Revival and Tudor Revival” according to NC Architects: North Carolina State University- Richard Morris Hunt . Now here is my most favorite part about him, he, alongside Frederick Law Olmstead, designed the famous Biltmore Estate for George Washing Vanderbilt himself. This magnificent mansion is located just outside the unique city of Asheville, North Carolina. The time it took to build this castle, if you will, was from 1889 to 1895, you do the math. In my opinion, that isn't such a long time to construct such a detailed, massive home. The mansion, including it’s vast gardens, soon reached a whooping 125,000 acres! You might be wondering as to why I got so excited when I happened upon this… The reason being that my family and I traveled to Asheville, North Carolina for an entire week over this past summer. Although we weren’t big fans of the city, we went CRAZY over the spectacular Biltmore Estate and it easily was the best part of our trip. We, being the tourists that we are, took the Servants Quarter’s tour and got to go all throughout the gigantic house and learned about secret places where the servants went. After this tour, we then toured all of the main rooms and by about room 25, we were exhausted! A room that really still sticks out in my mind was the indoor pool. Basically you walk in the door and you’re in a pool! Cool, huh? After the long tours of the home, we grabbed some lunch and my dad and brother got to go shoot sporting clays on the enormous property while my mom, sister and I did some shopping. The visit to the Biltmore kept getting better and better when we were driving down the road from picking my dad and brother up and we saw a momma bear and two baby bears in a tree together! That was something I will always remember and cherish. Richard Morris Hunt died on July 31, 1895 leaving behind his wonderful creation for the whole world to enjoy.
Beginning this project, I was so excited that I was able to wright about something that I actually knew a little bit about. I loved researching these wonderful architects and loved learning more about the places that I had visited. Louis Henri Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, William LeBaron Jenney, and Richard Morris Hunt are all equally great architects and legacy’s for the structures that they created. I envy every single one of them for their hard work and determination to make a mark on the world.
Sources
This website was very helpful to me by introducing me to the great architect, Louis Sullivan. It gave me detailed information on the style of architecture he preferred and told me about one of the many buildings that he designed. It also gave me good information on Frank Lloyd Wright and his style of architecture as well.
This awesome website gave me a lot of awesome facts about Louis Henri Sullivan such as; where the majority of the buildings he designed were located, the Guaranty Building and his relationship with Frank Lloyd Wright. This website also gave me info on Frank Lloyd Wright's work and a little bit about "organic architecture" that Wright loved to use in his designs.
This website, which was all based on Frank Lloyd Wright, gave me a good amount of information about Wright's life, and his love of using nature in his designs.
Britannica: Wiliam LeBaron Jenney pink cards William LeBaron Jenney (include info from Daniel Burnham green card)
This extremely helpful website was perfect for my project and gave me all the information I needed on William LeBaron Jenney. It told about his life, and several buildings that he designed.
Jstor: Daniel Burnham green cards Daniel Burnham (combine with paragraph about William LeBaron Jenney)
This website was not as helpful but still gave me some key points on Daniel Burnham and his relationship with William LeBaron Jenney.
Frank Lloyd Wright: Robie House white notecard (combine with other FLW info)
This website gave me a lot of good, clear information on Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. It explained when it was built, the style Wright used to design it, and gave detailed information on some of the rooms in the unique house,
Louis Henri Sullivan white notecard
I used this website to get some basic facts about when and where Sullivan was born as well as when and where he died.
