Louis Sullivan

Louis Henry Sullivan, born 1856 in Boston, is one of the most famous American architects and is widely regarded as “The father of the skyscraper.” Sullivan’s designs, which number more than one hundred, are prevalent throughout a number of major cities in the U.S. Throughout his life Sullivan was intrigued with architecture and saw success from an early age.
In his early years Louis Sullivan attended public schools around the Boston area and spent most of his summers on his grandparent’s farm. After graduating high school, Sullivan enrolled at MIT in 1872. Though successful academically, he was impatient and decided after completing his first year to drop out and pursue an apprenticeship or go to Paris to study architecture. Richard Hunt,
It was Edelmann who would introduce Sullivan to his long-term business partner, Dankmar Adler. At the age of 24 Sullivan partnered up with Adler in 1881 and formed the Adler and Sullivan architectural firm. The duo found most of their success in numerous Chicago commercial buildings. With Sullivan’s design ability and Adler’s business intelligence, the two paired perfectly. The 1880s were a perfect time for the firm as they saw great expansion and the commissioning of a large number of works. Sullivan and Adler experimented in residential and some commercial endeavors, and while substantial they didn’t hold interest for long. In 1886, however, the firm got the commision for the Auditorium building, an office building and hotel combined around an auditorium. The 10 story building was completed in just under 3 years and while displaying a mostly simple granite exterior, the interior is where Sullivan and Adler’s work is truly expressed. The auditorium owes its lavish ornamentation to Sullivan’s great talent in the subject; the interior features an arched ceiling, plasterwork, and an abundance of light bulbs. Not only does the auditorium have astounding beauty, it features an amazing acoustical design thanks to Adler’s structural talent. As the first famous work of the firm the auditorium put Sullivan and Adler’s expertise on the
Louis. Where many architects found trouble expressing the height of their skyscraper’s, Sullivan developed a new method to make the 10 story building appear much taller. Sullivan made the vertical elements of the building stand out by using decorative brick work, and set the horizontal elements back to make the building appear to have much greater height. The design was so successful in making the building stand out, Sullivan was drawn to Buffalo to design the Guaranty building. Now known as the Prudential building, it features a 16 story terra-cotta exterior using the same principle as the