Louis Sullivan: Creating a New American Architecture

Louis Sullivan: Creating a New American Architecture by Patrick F. Cannon. Hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780764957710.

Louis Sullivans designs stand today as leading exemplars of Chicago School architecture. Having spent much of his career in a late Victorian world that bristled with fussy ornament for ornaments sake, Sullivan (American, 1856-1924) refuted this style with the now famous dictum "Form follows function." This break from tradition is perhaps most evident in Sullivans strides to reimagine the commercial space--from Americas earliest skyscrapers to the small-town banks that populated the architects commissions in the second half of his career. In "Louis Creating a New American Architecture, " nearly 200 photographs with descriptive captions document Sullivans genius for modern design. Patrick Cannon introduces each chapter and discusses the influences that shaped Sullivans illustrious career. Rare historical photographs chronicle those buildings that, sadly, have since been destroyed, while James Caulfields contemporary photography captures those still standing.