LOUIS HENRY SULLIVAN

 Born on Sep.3rd, 1856, Louis was best known for his innovative Chicago
skyscrapers.
 His most elegant & engaging buildings were series of modest bank buildings he
designed for several small communities in mid west.
 His banks such as Merchant’s National Bank, 1914 are masterful compositions of
form & ornamentation, compelling examples of spirit of design.
 He also wrote a book, Kindergarten Chats in 1918.
 The 2nd of 2 sons, Louis lived with his parents who were dancers.
 In 1862, his grandparents got a farm in South Massachusetts from where his love
for nature developed.
 He & his father explored Boston on foot from where he learnt to appreciate urban
life & architecture.
 Due to his parents’ occupation he travelled a lot.
 This array of experiences & exposure made him an exceptionally independent
boy.
 In 1872,he applied for admission in Building & architecture program at MIT, the
only Architectural school at that time.
 He was accepted as 5 yr old special student without high school diploma after
passing rigorous battery of tests.
 But he found MIT program to be too traditional & too little concerned with social
& architectural theory. So he left it after his first year.
 He went to Chicago where he worked under architect William Jenney, where he
decided to return to school for theoretical ground.
 But he found it disappointing & returned to Chicago.
 He worked for Dankman Adler who was so impressed with his drawing talents
and ornamentation that he made him his junior partner in 1881 and full partner in
New Firm of Adler & Sullivan organized on May 1, 1883.
 They built nearly 180 buildings including residences, offices, stores, theatres,
music halls, auditoriums, warehouses, stables, mausoleums, rail road stations and
libraries.
 Both of them complemented each other perfectly. Adler had understood his
limitation in designing, so he turned over to Sullivan for decoration.
 Adler took care of mechanical & structure, whereas Sullivan handled the art,
together they worked out the program.
 Their mutual talents were 1st recognized at theatre & concert hall genre.
 Sullivan was called MASTER SPIRIT DIRECTING & SHAPING THE
CREATION.
 Even more impressive to his coordinated array of colors was his handling of
incandescent lights.
 Their theatres did away with flaming chandeliers in favour of electric light
fixtures.

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  Sullivan’s lighting & ornamentation along with Adler’s acoustics & uninterrupted
site lines, earned a well-deserved reputation.
 In their commercial structures & factories they used isolated footings instead of
continuous foundations which widened the span between masonry clad columns.
 In his facades, he used thin columns slightly forwarded of the main building mass.
 Their motto LET THERE BE LIGHT, assured them to abounding orders from
clients.
 Their private dwellings were also marked by ORIGINALITY & COMMON
SENSE.
 In his Richardson’s Marshall Field Wholesale store in Chicago, he articulated the
limestone & granite exterior in rhythmic manner befitting both cultural &
commercial nature of his interior function.
 His most important projects are: Auditorium Building, Chicago Carson Building,
Chicago, Babson House, Riverside(USA), Bradley House,
Madison(USA),National Farmers Bank(USA), St.Paul’s church,
Lowa(USA),Merchants National Bank(USA),People’s Savings & loan
Association Bank(USA), Farmers & Merchants’ Union Bank(USA).
 He gave the statement: FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.
 Two meanings are associated with this statement: i)Form of the building should
not be reconciled & imposed by an architect. Rather form should evolve in a
logical manner by solving problems of function, material, site etc. ii) Most
importantly, Architecture should not be static over a period of time but should
change gradually to adapt changes in lifestyle.

 SCHLESINGER & MEYER DEPARTMENTAL STORE
 Now called Caron, Pirie, Scott & Co.
 It was constructed in two phases 1899 and 1903 to 1904.
 Originally a 9-storey structure, a 12-storey section added in 1903-04 & further
additions done 1960 by D.H.Burnham.
 D.H.Burnham added the southern most 5 bays along state.
 Building originally crowned by rich overhanging cornice.
 The horizontal line rather than vertical is dominating.
 The building has white terracotta facing to the building the steel frame, truthfully
follows its structure.
 The tripartite division is present with:
1. Ground Floor Windows encrusted with cast iron frames
2. Mid-section
3. Terminating attic and cornices slab

 1st, 3rd bay and 9 storey phase of this departmental store was erected in 1899 and
2nd bay 12th storey increment of the corner of Madison and straight between
1903-04.
 Finally each storey bay measured 22ft x 20ft.
 Windows were such placed that horizontal bands come in between window level.

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  Lower two floors and upper facade had horizontal articulation.
 More ornamentation was done on bottom than on top by Sullivan & George
Elmslie.
 First example of Sullivan’s decorative work that suggested European Art
Nouveau Style.

 WAINWRIGHT BUILDING
 It is an early skyscraper and was a commercial office tower.
 Was built in 1890-1891 in S. Louis, Missouri.
 10 storey steel framed building and cladding in masonry was employed.
 The second storey base has red sandstone set on 2 feet high string courses of red
masonry granite.
 Middle section consists of red brick plaster with decorated terracotta spandrels.
 The top is rendered with terracotta stone to match spandrels and plasters below.
 It has tall narrow metal columns faced with masonry.
 Capping have been done by deep ornamented frieze and pierced by circular
windows lighting the top floor.
 It has bold rectangular form and vertical and horizontal members to balance
composition.
 It has plasters outside and metal columns inside.
 It has flowered design top.
 Vertical members of the frame are emphasized externally as brick piers.
 Recessed panels between floors are also decorated.

 GUARANTY BUFFALO BUILDING
 Built in year 1894-1896 in Buffalo, New York.
 It has plinth like base and series of identical floors above.
 It is similar in general character to Wainwright Building.
 There are windows and panels set within recessed strips between the piers.
 The building is crowned with cornice on top.
 Entrances has been made prominent by arches and the arches are also given on
top.
 It was named Prudential building 2 years after it was completed.
 It has thirteen stories and at that time was the tallest building in New York.
 It was one of the first steel supported, curtain walled building.
 Reddish brown terracotta adorns the piers, spandrels, arches and columns which
gives the building splendid look.
 In it, Sullivan seems to have followed the principle division of classical column
with a base, shaft and capital.
 The 1st two floors contain public spaces and they constitute the base and the
office area.
 The swirling lines and the opalescent glass reveal Sullivan’s interest in Art
Nouveau.

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  Elaborate cornice and oculus windows were provided on the street sides.
 Narrow piers give an upward thrust to the building.
 Sullivan created the archetype of the modern skyscrapers which look like column
holding up or scraping the sky.

 AUDITORIUM BUILDING
 The Peck group first approached Richardson to design the Auditorium, but he died
& they approached Sullivan.
 Original design was a 9 storey building with high pitched roof, turrets & pyramid-
shaped tower with cupola on top-a completely fractious mass that failed in
proportions & rhythm.
 Thus The Peck requested them to take inspiration from Richardson's’ designs.
 Consultant chosen for this project was Sullivan’s old teacher in M.I.T., Mr.
William Ware.
 Sullivan admired Richardson’s clean work, but had a soft corner for
ornamentation
 Finally built in 1886-89.
 Combined an opera house with hotel & office accommodation & resembles its
elevation with Richardson's Marshall Field Wholesale Warehouse in Chicago.
 It features wide three elliptical arches.
 Arches were not structural but decorative elements.
 Main problem occurred in rising tower seven stories above rest of the building.
 To ensure settlement of foundation of tower & rest of building at same rate Adler
added load to base of tower during construction.

 Ten storey structure

 Load bearing walls in exterior & interior
 Tower rises nearly 30 ft higher than main building
 Interiors are of higher order, many from Byzantine in character & many designed
by the famous draftsman F.L.W.
 The light run down these arches illuminating the entire room softly and
completely.
 Immense stained glass skylight was placed at rear of hall.
 Theatre had moving panels & balconies that closed off, without hampering its
acoustic quality-one of the marvelous aspect of this Auditorium.

 HOW SULLIVAN INFLUENCED WRIGHT?
 Adler & Sullivan’s partnership was seminal to Wright’s career.
 He greatly revered Louis whom he called his Leiber Meister(Beloved Master).
 It was he who introduced Wright to engg. techniques that were so dramatically
changing architecture in the late 19th century.
 He 1stly helped him in the Auditorium Building.

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  His most distinguishing trademark was erotically florid vegetative surface
decoration.
 One sees the echo’s of this ornamental influence in Wright’s William H. Winslow
House in River Forest, Illinois.
 Sullivan’s buildings were of a piece with the other intellectual influences that
were shaping Wright’s aesthetic sensibility
 In the realm of ideas, Sullivan’s dearest wish was to fulfill the romantic vision of
the architect as universal artist, heroic individual & profit of democracy while
also embodying the no less romantic role of the artist as cultural critic.
 Wright said, “Sullivan was first & foremost a model of the artist striving for
original style, refusing to compromise with the reigning orthodoxies of his day.”
 Both of them contributed to the new urban landscape of late 19th century
America.
 Wright remained with Adler & Sullivan for nearly 6 years (1888-1893).
 In 1889, he built his own home in Oak Park thro’ an advance in salary with help
of Sullivan.
 Sullivan was engaged on major architectural projects in & around Chicago &
unprofitable designs of smaller houses were largely undertaken by the juniors in
the office.
 Wright had now become the chief assistant and was made responsible the firm’s
domestic building.
 As his personal reputation increased he undertook commissions on his own
account- what he described as ‘bootlegging’.
 When Sullivan discovered what Wright was doing he understandably felt badly
betrayed by someone he fully trusted.
 He left in 1893 after which he set his own practice & begun his astonishing
progress to fame

 HIS IMPACT
 Sullivan wanted to give a heroic image to the architect.
 He desired to create architecture exclusively for his motherland, America.
 Ornamentation & decoration had become his distinguishing trademarks.
 He adopted full freedom in designs, that too logical & not static designs.
 He always pushed for an architecture that truly represented people in present, not
one that copied past.
 He was known for his Chicago skyscrapers.

 During most of the second half of the 19th century an interesting dispute, which
came to be known as ‘the Battle of Styles ‘provided architects and critics with a
platform for dissension which was eventually to have a healthy impact on
subsequent architectural thinking.
 The argument centered on what could or should be considered a correct style for
the developing industrial society.

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  The argument further extended to whether the medieval Christian was to continue
to be the style for the future.
 Actually it was regarded as the bedrock of the Western conscience or the
Classical tradition which traced its origin through the Renaissance to the Great
civilizations of Greece and Rome and formed the greatest part of the Western
architecture.
 Along with the stylistic struggle, the increasing industrialization resulted from the
technological advances, engaged the architects.
 Due to its impact, new building materials like iron and steel emerged which
engineers and architects were quick to exploit.
 As such, ‘the White Box’ style too emerged, in which rectangular forms, curtain
walls in glass & concrete appeared.
 This finally led to the emergence of the Art Nouveau movement, in which the
various architects tried to materialize their fantasies.
 The great arched doorway in Romanesque style and other decorative elements
represented an essentially American aspect fin de siècle style of Art Nouveau
movement.

 He used mechnomorphic & biomorphic inventions to satisfy architectural needs.

 Sullivan was the main contributor of Art Nouveau style in America which was
slightly different from its European version.
 His strong decorative sense, derived at least from Ruskin’s deep sense of
ornamentation, led to a rich form of decoration in a variety of materials from iron
to terracotta, which proliferated over his buildings and became a highly visible
feature of his architecture.

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