Memoir

By: Louis Sullivan

Date: 1924

Source: Sullivan, Louis H. The Autobiography of an Idea. New York: Press of the American Institute of Architects, 1924; reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1956, 311–314

About the Author: Louis H. Sullivan (1856–1924) was considered the "Dean of American Architects." Born in Boston, he studied architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He received his early training as a draftsman in the studios of Frank Furness and William LeBaron Jenney in Chicago. In 1883, at the age of twenty-five, Sullivan established an architectural firm with Dankmar Adler, a German engineer. Adler & Sullivan designed more than 180 buildings. Sullivan was a mentor for Frank Lloyd Wright, who joined the firm of Adler & Sullivan in 1887. Sullivan was an important member of the Chicago School, a group of...