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Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan was an innovative American architect born in 1856 who studied at MIT. He replaced traditional classical ornamentation with organic details inspired by nature. One of his most notable contributions was emphasizing the vertical rise of tall commercial buildings through steel frame construction and light materials like terra cotta. In 1893, Sullivan and Adler designed the Transportation Building for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which featured a golden door and emphasized movement despite lacking classical references. The presence of drawings from the Exposition in architecture studios reinforced the exceptional qualities of Sullivan and Adler's two buildings.

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194 views1 page

Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan was an innovative American architect born in 1856 who studied at MIT. He replaced traditional classical ornamentation with organic details inspired by nature. One of his most notable contributions was emphasizing the vertical rise of tall commercial buildings through steel frame construction and light materials like terra cotta. In 1893, Sullivan and Adler designed the Transportation Building for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which featured a golden door and emphasized movement despite lacking classical references. The presence of drawings from the Exposition in architecture studios reinforced the exceptional qualities of Sullivan and Adler's two buildings.

Uploaded by

Julian Maccaferri
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Louis Sullivan

was born in 1856 in Boston and studied architecture for a year at MIT before leaving
for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Like H.H. Richardson, Sullivan is regarded today as one
of the most individual and innovative architects of the developing modern period. He
replaced the standard classical ornamentation of the day with highly original, organic
architectural details inspired by nature. One of Sullivan's most notable contributions
was the creation of a form appropriate to the tall commercial office building. Rather
than stressing the horizontal layers of each story, he emphasized the vertical rise of
these buildings. Verticality was made possible by steel frame construction and the use
of light materials such as terra cotta, which had a malleability appropriate for carrying
out his ornament.

Adler and Sullivan designed the Transportation Building for the 1893 World's
Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It was a long structure, extending 960 feet, with
walls punctuated by arcade windows. The focal point of the building was the Golden
Door, an awesome portal formed by layers of receding arches that featured gold leaf
ornament, adding to a sense of the building's movement. The Transportation Building,
while not included with the buildings surrounding the central basin, nonetheless
occupied a large, important site and was widely admired, despite a lack of overt
classical references.

It was the assemblage of noble, classical edifices, laid out according to the plans of D.H.
Burnham in the Great Basin of the Exposition, that particularly angered Sullivan but
captivated hundreds of visitors. These buildings--the Agricultural Building (McKim,
Mead & White), Machinery Hall (Peabody & Stearns), the Administration Building
(Richard Morris Hunt), the Electricity Building (Van Brunt and Howe), and
Manufacturers Hall (George B. Post)--formed the heart of the Exposition and
represented important interests. The presence of drawings in the MIT architecture studio
by Adler and Sullivan and by William LeBaron Jenney extended the memory of the
Exposition, reinforcing the exceptional qualities of the two buildings.

The Carson Pirie Scott Store,


designed by Louis Sullivan in 1899, marked the high point of the functional tradition in
the Chicago school and is the foremost American example of the transformation of
utility and structure into powerful architecture. The great cellular screens along the
streets are derived directly from the steel cage behind them. Such a treatment of the
elevations is the distinguishing mark of the Chicago school. The interplay of tension
and compression, of thrust and counterthrust, is given intensified expression by subtle
but effective meas.

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