Architecture Book Description
Louis Sullivan
(1856–1924) was a giant of architecture, the father of architectural modernism, and one of the earliest builders of the skyscraper. Along with Dankmar Adler (1844–1900) he designed many of the buildings that defined nineteenth-century architecture not only in Chicago but in cities across America—and continue to be admired today.Among their iconic designs are the former Chicago Stock Exchange, Chicago’s Auditorium Building and Carson Pirie Scott flagship store, the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, and the Guaranty Building in Buffalo. This first-of-its-kind catalogue raisonné of the work of Adler and Sullivan—both as a team and individual architects—is a lavish celebration of the designs of these two seminal architects who paved the way for the modern skylines that continue to inspire city dwellers today.
The quest to pull together a complete catalogue of their work was first undertaken in 1952 by photographer Aaron Siskind and Richard Nickel, one of his graduate students at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. This intense, decades-long labor of love has resulted in an extensive and unique resource that includes a complete listing of all of the buildings and projects undertaken by Adler and Sullivan. Each listing contains historic photographs, architectural plans (when available), and a description of each project. Alongside over two and hundred fifty essays are eight hundred photographs of their buildings—many of which have since been demolished—including images by Nickel, Siskind, and other noted photographers.
This rich, incomparable reference will be treasured by readers interested in architecture, photography, and Chicago’s rich history as an architectural mecca.
Review
“The Complete Architecture of Adler & Sullivan is a work
that will quickly become an essential resource for every architectural
scholar. . . . [It] is a profoundly moving portrait . . . . For Louis
Sullivan, this book, better than any biography, is an epic journey of
the progress of a soul.”—Lynn Becker, Architecture Chicago Plus
(Lynn Becker )
“One of the big architectural events in Chicago this fall is a book, not a building. Because a number of Adler & Sullivan’s buildings have been senselessly demolished, the book is, in a sense a work of preservation, its photographs documenting the life of buildings we can no longer experience.”—Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune
(Blair Kamin )
“One of the big architectural events in Chicago this fall is a book, not a building.”—Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune
(Chicago Tribune )
"The final word on one of the most important teams in the history of architecture. . . . It’s massive, comprehensive, scholarly, very enlightening and reveals the genius of Adler & Sullivan and preserves on paper what could not be saved in terra cotta and stone."—Rich Hein, Chicago Sun-Times (Rich Hein Chicago Sun-Times )
"The [Richard Nickel] committee has identified and analyzed about 250 buildings for The Complete Architecture of Adler & Sullivan,which the committee has published in conjunction with the University of Chicago Press. With text by Nickel and three other scholars (and more than 800 photos), the book explains how the architects built a reputation in the 1880s for draping tendril ornament on masonry office towers."—Eva Kahn, New York Times
(Eve Kahn New York Times )
"In a prolific 15-year period between 1880 and 1895, Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan teamed up to produce an architecture that was stridently American—one that drew from nature for its ornament while creating simple, modern forms on steel frame walls."—Dwell (Dwell )
"Epic and sweeping, a new book from the University of Chicago Press chronicles the work of three artists from that city whose courageous work intertwined from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th. Each soared to the height of his profession, and each met a tragic end."—Huffington Post
(J. Michael Welton Huffington Post )
"The photos of buildings, those still standing and those later destroyed, reveal that the seductive power of Sullivan’s work lies largely in the tension between form and function—some might say in the tension between the buildings’ masculine and feminine elements—and in the ways Sullivan balanced the severe, massive elegance of his facades with the rhythmic grace of his exuberant, often whimsical ornament. . . . Although the book contains work by a host of photographers, Nickel’s photographs are of course preponderant. They’re both arresting and angry, and in their depictions of decrepit urban cores and of Sullivan’s soot-stained masterpieces festooned with anachronistically garish lighted signs and cheapjack advertisements, they illuminate their time and place as much as they do Sullivan’s work."--Atlantic (Ben Schwarz )
(Lynn Becker )
“One of the big architectural events in Chicago this fall is a book, not a building. Because a number of Adler & Sullivan’s buildings have been senselessly demolished, the book is, in a sense a work of preservation, its photographs documenting the life of buildings we can no longer experience.”—Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune
(Blair Kamin )
“One of the big architectural events in Chicago this fall is a book, not a building.”—Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune
(Chicago Tribune )
"The final word on one of the most important teams in the history of architecture. . . . It’s massive, comprehensive, scholarly, very enlightening and reveals the genius of Adler & Sullivan and preserves on paper what could not be saved in terra cotta and stone."—Rich Hein, Chicago Sun-Times (Rich Hein Chicago Sun-Times )
"The [Richard Nickel] committee has identified and analyzed about 250 buildings for The Complete Architecture of Adler & Sullivan,which the committee has published in conjunction with the University of Chicago Press. With text by Nickel and three other scholars (and more than 800 photos), the book explains how the architects built a reputation in the 1880s for draping tendril ornament on masonry office towers."—Eva Kahn, New York Times
(Eve Kahn New York Times )
"In a prolific 15-year period between 1880 and 1895, Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan teamed up to produce an architecture that was stridently American—one that drew from nature for its ornament while creating simple, modern forms on steel frame walls."—Dwell (Dwell )
"Epic and sweeping, a new book from the University of Chicago Press chronicles the work of three artists from that city whose courageous work intertwined from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th. Each soared to the height of his profession, and each met a tragic end."—Huffington Post
(J. Michael Welton Huffington Post )
"The photos of buildings, those still standing and those later destroyed, reveal that the seductive power of Sullivan’s work lies largely in the tension between form and function—some might say in the tension between the buildings’ masculine and feminine elements—and in the ways Sullivan balanced the severe, massive elegance of his facades with the rhythmic grace of his exuberant, often whimsical ornament. . . . Although the book contains work by a host of photographers, Nickel’s photographs are of course preponderant. They’re both arresting and angry, and in their depictions of decrepit urban cores and of Sullivan’s soot-stained masterpieces festooned with anachronistically garish lighted signs and cheapjack advertisements, they illuminate their time and place as much as they do Sullivan’s work."--Atlantic (Ben Schwarz )
About the Author
Richard Nickel
(1928–72), attended the Institute of Design, where he studied with the
photographers Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. His master’s thesis was a
continuation of the Sullivan project conceived by Siskind. Aaron Siskind
(1903–91) taught photography at the Institute of Design at the Illinois
Institute of Technology in Chicago and later at the Rhode Island School
of Design. John Vinci is currently principal of Vinci/Hamp architects. Ward Miller is the executive director of the Richard Nickel Committee.
Product Details
- Hardcover: 472 pages
- Publisher: Richard Nickel Committee (November 1, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0966027329
- ISBN-13: 978-0966027327
- Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 12.1 x 1.9 inches
