Sunday, April 17, 2011

Louis Sullivan, Father of the Skyscraper and Modernism

Louis Sullivan, was an American architect. Among his credentials are; Father of skyscrapers, Father of Modernism, Father of Frank Lloyd Wright, Oops! I mean Mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright, Inspiration for the Prairie School and many more to mention.

A Brief history on Louis Sullivan; Born on Sept. 3, 1856 in Boston Massachusetts. at age 16, he entered MIT or Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There he studied architecture under William Ware and Eugene Letang however after just one year he left MIT to go back to his grandparents to work for Architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt but left again after a dispute with Hewitt. In 1874, he went Paris, France to study at Ecole des Beaux-Arts but that too also lasted for a short time. He returned to Chicago one year after and became a draftsman at Johnston & Edelman while he was there he was commissioned  to design the interior of the Moody Tabernacle and this work of his was completed with critical acclamations. In 1879, Sullivan went to work for the office of Dankmar Adler and by 1883 the firm was renamed to Adler & Sullivan. The firm created 180 buildings during its existence and by 1887 Sullivan's prodigy would arrive, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the rest as they is history. 

Considered to be America's FIRST TRULY MODERN architect. He did not imitate styles, HE CREATED HIS OWN. As one can notice Older Architectural Styles were for wide buildings but Louis Sullivan was able to create aesthetic unity in structures that emphasized height. Sullivan's work could be easily recognized by the use of masonry walls with terracotta designs. This style was imitated by other architects and this style would later form the the ideas of his student, Frank Lloyd Wright.

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