have worked toward its great development. The very important part played by architecture is set forth by Mr. Tallmadge in an interesting manner.
“Illinois, chronologically, at least,” writes Mr. Tallmadge, “can lay claim to all of the styles or modes into which American architecture is usually divided.” He traces the various periods or epochs in our architectural history from the classic or Greek revival style of 1800 to 1850, the post bellurn atrocities, followed by the epoch-marking advent of H. H. Richardson.
All of these phases that overspread the United States he finds represented in Illinois.
The author boldly claims for his state the first serious attempt to depart from the practice of classic precedent and the evolvement of a new thought in architectural design. He states:
“We should be proud of the fact that the only conscious attempt to break away from European precedent and to create a new style which would be distinctly American occurred in Chicago. The leader of this revolt, the prophet and the apostle of the new dispensation, was Louis H. Sullivan. The movement had glorious birth in his Transportation Building of the World’s Fair. It has been fostered by a small number of brilliant and courageous men,
who in the face of opposition and indifference have carried on a losing fight, often sacrificing popularity for principle.
“The characteristics of the style are the strict avoidance of European precedent, an unusual emphasis on the horizontal line, a frank acknowledgment of the construction and materials, and the use of indigenous natural forms in the ornament. The style, sometimes called the Chicago School, has unfortunately been discredited by the excesses of some of its practitioners and has often been made ridiculous by the atrocities perpetrated by ignorant contractor-architects, who have travestied some of its forms and motives in cheap flats and stores. Its best expression we see to-day in the small houses whose owners have not been educated up to the ‘styles’ and in the warehouses and commercial buildings where the logic of its forms makes a happy union with modern engineering.”
An exhibition of photographs and drawings illustrating the architecture of the State of Illinois from the earliest settlements to the present day is an interesting and instructive feature of the exhibition. The exhibits are arranged in chronological order and illustrate the different styles of architectural progress in the state.
UNION STATION, SAINT PAUL, MINN.
CHAS. S. FROST, ARCHITECT
Thirty-first Annual Chicago Exhibition
“Illinois, chronologically, at least,” writes Mr. Tallmadge, “can lay claim to all of the styles or modes into which American architecture is usually divided.” He traces the various periods or epochs in our architectural history from the classic or Greek revival style of 1800 to 1850, the post bellurn atrocities, followed by the epoch-marking advent of H. H. Richardson.
All of these phases that overspread the United States he finds represented in Illinois.
The author boldly claims for his state the first serious attempt to depart from the practice of classic precedent and the evolvement of a new thought in architectural design. He states:
“We should be proud of the fact that the only conscious attempt to break away from European precedent and to create a new style which would be distinctly American occurred in Chicago. The leader of this revolt, the prophet and the apostle of the new dispensation, was Louis H. Sullivan. The movement had glorious birth in his Transportation Building of the World’s Fair. It has been fostered by a small number of brilliant and courageous men,
who in the face of opposition and indifference have carried on a losing fight, often sacrificing popularity for principle.
“The characteristics of the style are the strict avoidance of European precedent, an unusual emphasis on the horizontal line, a frank acknowledgment of the construction and materials, and the use of indigenous natural forms in the ornament. The style, sometimes called the Chicago School, has unfortunately been discredited by the excesses of some of its practitioners and has often been made ridiculous by the atrocities perpetrated by ignorant contractor-architects, who have travestied some of its forms and motives in cheap flats and stores. Its best expression we see to-day in the small houses whose owners have not been educated up to the ‘styles’ and in the warehouses and commercial buildings where the logic of its forms makes a happy union with modern engineering.”
An exhibition of photographs and drawings illustrating the architecture of the State of Illinois from the earliest settlements to the present day is an interesting and instructive feature of the exhibition. The exhibits are arranged in chronological order and illustrate the different styles of architectural progress in the state.
UNION STATION, SAINT PAUL, MINN.
CHAS. S. FROST, ARCHITECT
Thirty-first Annual Chicago Exhibition