Early modern architecture : Chicago, 1870-1910 Date 1940 Publisher The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2050 The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history— from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists. MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art THEMUSEUM OF MOOERN ART EARLYMODEM HITE UR CHICAGO870-1 91910 . EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE CHICAGO 1870 - 1910 CONTENTS BIOGRAPHIESof the leadingarchitects page 2 CHRONOLOGYof the technicaldevelopment of the skyscraperwith an introduction page 7 CHRONOLOGYof the aestheticdevelopment of the skyscraperwith an introduction page 13 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHSin the exhihitionwith commentson each page 17 Catalogof an exhibitionheld at The Museum of ModernArt, New York, from January18 to February23, 1933 Second edition,revised, March 1940 AAUaNt tloOft 7-1 2 BIOGRAPHIES JENNEY Major WilliamLeBaron Jenney. Born Fairhaven, Mass., 1832. Died Chicago,1907. Studiedat LawrenceScientific School. Gradu ated from Ecole Centraledes Arts et Manufac tures in Paris, 1856, as engineerand archi ^5 V vx tect. Engineeron Sherman'sand Grant'sstaffs X in the Civil War. Settledas architectin Chicago. Built Grace EpiscopalChurch, Union League Club, etc. but chieflyknown ior his commercialbuildings. Generallyconsidered the first to use steel skeletonconstruction. A technicianrather than a designer. 5 Bibliography: "WilliamLeBaron Jenney". eV ArchitecturalRecord, Vol. 22, August 1907, pp 155-57.New York Photographs : //4 ,5 ,14 RICHARDSON Henry HobsonRichardson. Born St. James Parish, La., 1838. Died Brookline, Mass. 1886 A.B. Harvard1859. Worked and studiedin Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in the atelier of J. L. Andre and with Labrouste. Established himselfafter the Civil War as an architect . ^ : tf .. i £ . to clj at : ' . ;;': t . I' " J S3 H f. r 9CT; /lO'lA ' v .v :...0.-3.. qc: .. * ; , . -[ >:.3GflAK0Iff ;;> * icr . 3 first*in New York and then in Brookline. His reputationwas establishedby his design for TrinityChurch, built in Boston 1872-77,based on Romanesqueprecedent. In his later work the importanceof reminiscentelements of de sign grew less and less, but his originalityas an architectwas based on the integrityof his use of traditionalconstruction rather than on technicalinnovations. To the new nationalar chitecturehe contributednot methoasof build ing but a formativespirit. is Bibliography: IlenryHobs on Richardson& H — Monks, MarianaGriswold Van Rensselaer. Boston,1838 The Architectureof H.H.Richardsonand his Times. Henry-RusselHitchcock, Jr. New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1936 Photographs: #7,8,9. ADLER & Louis Henry Sullivan. Born Boston,1856. Died SULLIVAN Chicago,1924. StudiedM.I.T., 1873. Vorkedfor a short while in the office of Furnessand Hewitt in Phila delphia,and of Vm. LeBaronJenney in Chicago. Studiedfrom 1874 to 1876 at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, in the atelier of Vaudremer.Re turningto Chicagohe joinedAdder's staff in 1 . t; i.-. a . ... • L_,\ - J* . 1^: : Vii4-^^cildi:d ' c ; " . - . i 9 , 8 , V% ai&i r - & i I . .. " . ; • 4 1879 and was a full partnerwith Adler from 1381 to 1895. Sullivan'slater associate,Elmslie, was never a partnerand eventuallyleft to work as an independentarchitect. Applyingthe basic stylisticdiscipline of Richardson'sMarshall Field WholesaleStore (#7) to the new skeleton construction,Sullivan first found a dignified clothingfor the skyscraper. In his work of the late eightiesand early ninetieshis de signs emphasizedthe vertical (#20). Soon, however,he found a more logicalexpression of the underlyingconstruction with a scheme of wide windowedhorizontality (#21,22). Sullivan led for two decadesa considerablegroup of ar chitectsknown as the ChicagoSchool, but he alone made of the early skyscraperan aesthetic invention. / Bibliography:Louis Sullivan1rophet of Modern rchitectureA . Hugh Morrison. New York, The Museum of ModernArt and W.W.Norton& Company, 1935. This work containsfull bibliographyon writings by or about Sullivan. KindergartenChats. Louis Henry Sullivan. InterstateArchitect and Builder, 52 issues, Feb. 16, 1901 - Feb. 8, 1902. J '**" ^ . to?. J Id' $ ; :?bnz ub 2 a-- Ur ;oJtK ?- BiUXqJtesif) D±cfcllvci & ' : ' " : >Io- bii.A " . - -i. ...r ' .. -s;: V:- i "'N - -i- Br- , leveYJQrt ' itolfmvai " ' - J ' '-i •' .V '; 3 d IA iTXfr i O Ttft ^P.ff T , 5 rten Kinderga Chats. Louis H. Sullivan, edited and introduced by Claude Bragdon. Scarab Fra ternity Press, 1924. phy. Autobiogra of an Idea Louis Henry Sullivan. New York, Press of the American Institute of Architects, 1924. "A Critique of the Works of Adler & Sullivan." Great American Architects Series. No. 2. Ar chitectural Record. Dec. 1895. Fhotographs: #16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. ADLER Dankmar Adler, Born in Langsfeld, Sachsen-Weimar, in 1844. Died in Chicago, 1900. Came to America in 1854. Studied in Detroit with Julius Melchers, John Schaefer and Willard Smith, and in Chicago, 1857-62. First partnership with Kinney, 1869-71, with Burling, 1871-78. Adler, during his partnershipwith Sullivan was never a designer. f Bibliography: Louis Sullivan Prophet o Modern Architecture. Hugh Morrison. New York, The Museum of Modern Art and W.W. Norton & Company, 1935. WRIGHT Frank Lloyd Wright. Born Richland Center, Wis consin, 1869, now living at Taliesin, Spring ' ..... -,«.«»., -«'- —• . ' ' : L T . ' ' . ? .. ' 6 Green,Wisconsin. Studiedengineering at the Universityof Wis consin,1885-88. Worked in Chicagowith Silsbee and then with Adler & Sullivan,1889-94. His independentpractice began with the Winslow House (#33)in River Forest, 111., 1892-93. By 1900 his new type of domesticdesign had develop ed far beyond that of the rest of the Chicago School.In his early work only shouldhe be con sidereda discipleof Sullivan.His great inno vationslie outsidethe field of this exhibition. A bibliographyof Frank Lloyd Wright can be found in Modern Architecture, a catalogpub lishedby the Museum of Modern Art in 1932. Photograph:#33. BURNHAM& DanielHudson Burnham.Born Henderson,N. Y., ROOT 1846. Died Evanston,111., 1912. Studiedin Chicagoarchitects 1 officesinclud ing that of PeterWright where he met Root. John WellbornRoot, born Lumpkin,Ga., 1850. Died Chicago,1891. GraduatedNew York University, 1869. Worked in Renwick'soffice in New York, then went to Chicagoafter the fire of 1871, where in 1872 he met Burnhamin Wright'soffice, -32 ' %' . in ' 1 Y : . i "OVAll "r ;i.rv 1 Li; V. 1'.- 1 x ' ' . : , . X ' ' 7 and formed a partnershipwith him the next year. This firm was responsible for the development of the highly organized and specialized Ameri can architecturaloffice and methods of prac tice. Until Root's early death he was one of the more original Chicago Richardsonians. The prolific work of the firm beginning with the general supervision of the World's Fair was rarely original or distinguished in design. tect Bibliography: Daniel H.Burnham, Archi _Flan~ ner of Cities. Charles Moore. Boston, 1921. John Wellborn Root. Harriet Monroe. Boston,1896. Photographs: #10, 11, 12. HOLABIRD & William Holabird. Born Amenia Union,N.Y., 1854. ROCHE Died Evanston, 111., 1923. Resigned from West Point and worked with Jenney as engineer after 1875. Formed partnershipwith C. C. Simonds in 1880. Martin Roche. Born Cleveland, Ohio, 1855. Died Chicago, 1927. Brought to Chicago 1857. Entered Jenney's of fice in 1872. Joined Holabird & Simonds in 1881. After Simonds left in 1883, the firm became Holabird & Roche. ' . cHiixnOiih*izno.1H ogsolri:. I'-rr^ic ei:om srfct -* - V ; §0d an\i.x edt x Jlf V on :linq ... :. .1 I ^ . -I . - ; ; r,: - '' ; :' e . : . - "n is ia I 8 Bibliography:Architectural Record, Vol 31, April 1912, pp 313-387.New Yorh. Photographs:#6, 24. CHRON0LOGY OF THE TECHNICALDEVELOPMENT C? ^jE__SKfSC_RAFER The tall commercialbuilding, early labelledthe sky scraper,was the most conspicuousachievement of American architecturein the secondhalf of the nineteenthcentury. In the creationof the skyscraperseveral compli mentarylines of technicaldevelopment joined. First, in the fifties, iron skeletonconstruction was often used to replace masonrybearing walls, sometimesin the interiorof the build ing, sometimesas an ornamentalcast iron facade. Then, with the introductionof the elevator,buildings higher than six storiesbecame convenientand acceptable. At the same time, methodsof fireproofingthe metal skeletonwere inventedin New York, and effectivepier foundationsdeveloped in Chicago. Finally,in Chicago,by the late eighties,the protective masonryshell came to be carriedby the metal frameworkin which Bessemersteel replacedcast and wroughtiron. The skyscraper,imminent for more than a generation,thus became an actuality. Bibliography:"Buffington and the Skyscraper".E. M. Upjohn_ &Bulletin5 iu-LJ.g p y ^ Art Vol> XVn , No. 1, March 1935, pp 48-70. "Was the Home InsuranceBuilding in Chicagothe First Skyscraperof SkeletonConstruction; ThomasE. Tallmadge. The ArchitecturalRecord, Vol. 76, No. 2, August 1934, pp 113-118. ; ' : 0 «. o.rtq X L E 'I8S3S8s£? rioliftv ! : 10 1848 Bogardus Building, Duane Street, New York, by Bogardus. Now demolished First use of cast iron facade. 1851 Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London, by Faxton Destroyed by fire, 1936 First structure entirely of iron and glass. 1851-65 Dome of Capitol, Washington, D.C., by Thomas U, Walter Built of cast iron. 1853 New York Crystal Falace (in imitation of Faxton s) Now demolished First passenger elevator