LOUIS SULLIVAN AT THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

Louis H. Sullivan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 3, 1856. His formal education was erratic, but its scope and variety laid the foundation for Sullivan's monumental presence on the American urban landscape. In 1872, at the age of sixteen, Sullivan enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study architecture. Withdrawing after two semesters, Sullivan briefly became an apprentice in the office of Philadelphia architect Frank Furness before following his family to Chicago in November 1873. With architects in demand after the devastating 1871 Chicago fire, Sullivan quickly found work with William LeBaron Jenney, considered the father of the modern skyscraper. By the summer of 1874, Sullivan, following the lead of other young architects of the time, enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris to study European art and architecture.

In 1879, Sullivan entered the Chicago office of architect and engineer Dankmar Adler, becoming his full partner in 1883. Together, Adler and Sullivan designed nearly two hundred residential, commercial, religious, and mixed-use buildings, primarily in the Midwest. Adler and Sullivan were highly regarded not only for their robustly modern and iconoclastic architecture—which illustrated Sullivan's dictum "form follows function"—but for Sullivan's complex and organic ornament. Their best-known buildings include the Auditorium Building in Chicago (1886-1890); the Wainwright building in Saint Louis, Missouri (1886-1890); the Schiller Building (1891) and the Stock Exchange (1893-1894) buildings, both in Chicago; and the Guaranty building in Buffalo, New York (1894-1895). It was also during this time that Sullivan became the leibermeister of Frank Lloyd Wright, who worked for Adler and Sullivan from 1888 to 1893.

Following the dissolution of Adler and Sullivan's formal partnership in 1895, Sullivan's life was increasingly troubled and turbulent. After completing a final addition to Chicago's Schlesinger and Mayer Store, now Carson Pirie Scott, in 1904, his commissions became sparse and modest in budget. During the last decades of his life, Sullivan's most important architectural work was a series of small but exquisitely detailed banks in rural communities throughout the Midwest. He devoted much of his remaining time to writing about architecture and philosophy, producing such works as The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered (1896), Kindergarten Chats (1902), and The Autobiography of an Idea (1924). Toward the end of his life, Sullivan was commissioned by the Burnham Library of The Art Institute of Chicago to produce a large portfolio of his intricate and delicate drawings, which was published as A System of Architectural Ornament, According With A Philosophy Of Man's Powers, 1924 in 1924. Sullivan died in Chicago on April 14, 1924. In 1944, the American Institute of Architects posthumously awarded its Gold Medal to Sullivan.

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SULLIVAN COLLECTIONS:

Sullivaniana collection, 1780-1972 (bulk 1870-1930). 7 linear feet.
The Sullivaniana collection is largely the gift of George Elmslie, one of Sullivan's last colleagues and the executor of his estate. This grouping forms the largest extant collection of Sullivan documents (excluding architectural and design drawings). Among Sullivan's contributions to the development of modern American architecture was the new aesthetic for the visual organization of tall buildings: a strong base at grade level, top floors capped with an eye-arresting cornice, and the general office floors in the central shaft repeatable ad infinitum. Sullivan was one of the most prolific architect/critics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and numerous draft manuscripts and typescripts of his writings are held in this collection. Also included are sketches, personal and business correspondence, personal and project photographs, and memorabilia.
Complete Finding Aid

Sullivan/Van Allen Building collection, 1910-1918. .5 linear feet.
In 1910 John D. Van Allen commissioned Louis Sullivan to design a new department store for his family business in Clinton, Iowa. By this date Sullivan had few commissions and thus spent considerable time attending to his immediate projects. In frequent letters to his client (occasionally daily), Sullivan wrote of his design, guiding and persuading the client toward Sullivan's desired end. In addition to more than one hundred letters, the collection includes financial documents and rare construction photographs.
Complete Finding Aid

RELATED COLLECTIONS:

Dankmar Adler papers, 1844-1941. .2 linear foot.
Architect and engineer Dankmar Adler entered into partnership with Louis Sullivan in 1879, with Adler providing the engineering and planning expertise that complemented Sullivan's talent for form, material, and ornament. Before the dissolution of their partnership in 1895, Adler and Sullivan had designed more than one hundred buildings and made significant innovations in steel-frame construction.
Complete Finding Aid

Burnham Library-University of Illinois Project to Microfilm Architectural Documentation Daybooks collection, 1950-1952. .25 linear foot.
These daybooks carefully document interviews with architects, draftsman, and building owners—including Sullivan associate George Grant Elmslie, at age eighty— conducted during this project, which sought to microfilm extant architectural drawings by Chicago architects or of Chicago buildings. Many Sullivan projects are mentioned in these interviews, including: Auditorium Building, Chicago, IL; Farmers' and Merchants' Union Bank, Columbus, WI; Garrick Theater; Mason City, IA residence; Methodist-Episcopal Church, Cedar Rapids, IA; National Farmers' Bank; Peoples' Savings and Loan Association, Sidney, OH; Schlesinger and Mayer Store (aka Carson, Pirie, Scott); Union Trust Building, St. Louis, MO; and Wainwright Tomb drawings, St. Louis, MO. Also discussed is Sullivan's relationship with Frank Lloyd Wright.
Complete Finding Aid

Barbara Crane collection, 1972-1979. 2 linear feet.
From 1972 to 1979, Crane was commissioned by the Chicago Commission on Historical and Architectural Landmarks (currently known as the Commission on Chicago Landmarks) to photograph Chicago buildings being evaluated for possible landmark designation. Crane photographed numerous Chicago neighborhoods, capturing many pre-war commercial buildings and residences before the current trend of teardowns and extensive remodelings, including various works of Louis Sullivan and the Adler and Sullivan firm.
Complete Finding Aid

The Historic Architecture and Landscape Image collection, c.1865-1973 (bulk 1890-1930).
Consisting of approximately 11,000 images that document the architecture, landscape and urban planning of sites across the United States—with a particular emphasis on Chicago and its suburbs—and, to a lesser extent, internationally, The Historic Architecture and Landscape Image collection, or HALIC, contains nearly 400 mounted photographic prints and lantern slides of Sullivan buildings dating from the late 1800s to the 1950s.
Complete Finding Aid

Ralph Marlowe Line collection, 1944-1960. .5 linear foot.
An avid scholar of architect Louis Sullivan, Line was an associate professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. Line's writings and photographs about Sullivan were most notably published in the 1956 reprint of Sullivan's literary masterwork, The Autobiography of an Idea. This collection includes Line's photographs of buildings and ornament designed by Louis Sullivan. Most of the images are of projects in the Midwest, although there are representative images from across the United States.
Complete Finding Aid

Prairie School Press archives, 1961-1981. 16.5 linear feet.
In 1961 Wilbert and Marilyn Hasbrouck established the Prairie School Press in Chicago to publish important but out-of-print architecture sources on or by the Prairie School architects. They issued facsimile editions of numerous titles, including Louis Sullivan's A System of Architectural Ornament According with a Philosophy of Man's Powers, and The House Beautiful, illustrated by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Hasbroucks' journal, The Prairie School Review, published from 1964 to 1981, was the earliest scholarly journal to feature illustrated articles on various Prairie School projects, reviews of current publications, and preservation news. The collection includes manuscripts, photographs, and other materials relating to several Sullivan buildings.
Complete Finding Aid

John D. Randall papers, 1884-1993. 1 linear foot.
Champion of Dankmar Adler and Louis H. Sullivan's Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York, and the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri, John D. Randall was a prominent Chicago architect, author, and preservationist. A graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and a student of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Randall led campaigns to save important works of Louis Sullivan's architecture in Chicago and throughout the United States. In the 1990s, Randall was also the author of a revised and expanded edition of his father Frank D. Randall's comprehensive History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago. This collection is comprised of Randall's writings, correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous publications.
Complete Finding Aid

For further information about consulting the Ryerson & Burnham Archives' holdings, please refer to its access information.

Department of Architecture and Design
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Louis Sullivan collection.
Holdings consist of architectural and non-architectural drawings—including design sketches, design drawings, and working drawings— and architectural fragments. These materials originate from numerous sources including Louis H. Sullivan, D. Adler and Co., Adler and Sullivan, various successor firms as well as from associates and followers of Sullivan.
Complete Finding Aid (PDF, 200K)

A System of Architectural Ornament plates.
Twenty pencil on Strathmore plates (dated 1922) from Sullivan's A System of Architectural Ornament, According With A Philosophy Of Man's Powers, 1924.
System of Architectural Ornament Finding Aid (PDF, 68K)

For further information about consulting the Department of Architecture and Design's holdings of materials by Louis H. Sullivan, please contact the Department at (312) 443-3518.

Exhibitions

Louis Sullivan's "Idea"
In conjunction with the Louis Sullivan at 150 celebration, the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries presented Louis Sullivan's "Idea", an exhibition of materials from the collections of the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Archives, and private collectors. The exhibit, which ran from July 14 to September 12, 2006 was guest curated by Tim Samuelson, Cultural Historian for the City of Chicago.
About the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries

A System of Architectural Ornament exhibition
The Department of Architecture and Design will be mounting an exhibition of original pencil plates from Sullivan's 1924 Art Institute commissioned A System of Architectural Ornament, According With A Philosophy Of Man's Powers. This exhibit is scheduled to open in Gallery 24 in January of 2007.
Department of Architecture and Design Home

Additional Resources

"Louis Sullivan at 150"
Louis Sullivan played a critical role in establishing Chicago as a hotbed of innovative American architecture. Over the course of just two decades he designed some of the city's most recognized and influential buildings, pioneering new ways of thinking about formal relationships, aspiring to what he called "the poetry of architecture." His innovation and leadership inspired his most famous student, Frank Lloyd Wright, to later call him the "lieber-meister" ("beloved master").

The Chicago History Museum is leading a citywide celebration of Louis Sullivan beginning on the 150th anniversary of his birth, September 3, 2006, and culminating with an international symposium at the Museum on October 13, 14, and 15, 2006. A dynamic group of partners are collaborating on a comprehensive, six-week schedule of public programming leading up to the symposium. This programming will consist of nearly two dozen events, including tours, lectures, film screenings, and classes.
"Louis Sullivan at 150" Homepage

Louis Sullivan Buildings Extant in Chicago.
A list of extant Sullivan buildings within the City of Chicago, as of July 2006. This list contains basic building information (i.e. name, address, architect(s), alterations) as well as map links and both historical and current photos (when available). Includes buildings substantially altered or partially demolished. Compiled by the staff of the Ryerson and Burnham Archives.
Link to List of Extant Sullivan Buildings in Chicago

Art Institute Publications.
Louis Sullivan in The Art Institute of Chicago: the illustrated catalogue of collections / edited by Sarah C. Mollman; with foreword by John Zukowsky. New York : Garland Pub., 1989.
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Send questions or comments regarding this information to
Ryerson & Burnham Archives: rbarchives@artic.edu
Ryerson & Burnham Libraries, (312) 443-7292

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