Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
known for his work with
art nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...
.
Life and work in Finland
Saarinen was educated in Helsinki at the
Helsinki University of Technology. From 1896 to 1905 he worked as a partner with
Herman Gesellius and
Armas Lindgren
Armas Eliel Lindgren (28 November 1874 – 3 October 1929) was Finnish architect, professor and painter.
Biography Early life and career
Armas Lindgren was born in Hämeenlinna on 28 November 1874. He studied architecture in the Polytechnical I ...
at the firm
Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen
Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen was a Finnish architecture firm, founded in Helsinki in 1896 by architects Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen.
They achieved international recognition with their design for the Finnish pavilion ...
. His first major work with the firm, the Finnish pavilion at the
Paris 1900 World Fair, exhibited an extraordinary convergence of stylistic influences: Finnish wooden architecture, the British
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
, and the
Jugendstil. Saarinen's early manner was later christened the Finnish
National Romanticism
Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...
and culminated in the
Helsinki Central railway station (designed 1904, constructed 1910–14).
From 1910 to 1915 he worked on the extensive city-planning project of Munksnäs-Haga and later published a book on the subject. In January 1911 he became a consultant in city planning for
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
,
Governorate of Estonia and was invited to
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
to advise in city development. In 1912, a brochure written by Saarinen about the planning problems of Budapest was published. He was runner up behind
Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith and Leeton. He has been cr ...
in an international competition to design the new Australian capital city of
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
in 1912, but the following year he received the first place award in an international competition for his plan of Reval. From 1917 to 1918 Saarinen worked on the city-plan for greater
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
. He also designed a series of postage stamps issued 1917 and the
Finnish markka
The markka ( fi, markka; sv, mark; sign: Mk; ISO code: FIM, typically known outside Finland as the Finnish mark) was the currency of Finland from 1860 until 28 February 2002, when it ceased to be legal tender. The mark was divided into 100 ...
banknotes introduced in 1922.
After the divorce from his first wife, Mathilde (who then married Herman Gesellius), on March 6, 1904, Saarinen married his second wife,
Louise (Loja) Gesellius, a sculptor in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, and the younger sister of
Herman Gesellius. They had a daughter
Eva-Lisa (Pipsan) on March 31, 1905, and a son
Eero on August 20, 1910.
Move to the United States
Eliel Saarinen moved to the United States in 1923 after his competition entry for the
Tribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois, won second place and so was not built; the most faithful realization of it is the 1929
Gulf Building in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
. Saarinen first settled in
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...
, where he worked on his scheme for the development of the Chicago lake front. In 1924 he became a visiting professor at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
.
In 1925
George Gough Booth
George Gough Booth (September 24, 1864 – April 11, 1949) was the publisher of the privately held Evening News Association, a co-founder of Booth Newspapers, and a philanthropist.
Biography
He was born on September 24, 1864 in Toronto to Henry ...
asked him to design the campus of
Cranbrook Educational Community, intended to be an American equivalent to the
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...
. Saarinen taught there and became president of the
Cranbrook Academy of Art
The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of C ...
in 1932. Among his student-collaborators were
Ray Eames
Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (née Kaiser; December 15, 1912 – August 21, 1988) was an American artist and designer who worked in a variety of media.
In creative partnership with her husband Charles Eames and The Eames Office, she was ...
(then Ray Kaiser) and
Charles Eames
Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his spouse Ray Kaiser Eames, he was responsible for groundbreaking contributions in the field of a ...
; Saarinen influenced their subsequent furniture design.
In c. 1929–34, Eliel Saarinen was produced in product design for the
Wilcox Silver Plate Co.
The Wilcox Silver Plate Co. (1867-c. 1980) was formed in Meriden, Connecticut. From 1865 to 1867, it was known as the Wilcox Brittania Co. In 1898, the company was acquired by the International Silver Company, headquartered in Meriden. After the a ...
/
International Silver Company in
Meriden, CT. His iconic tea urn (c. 1934) was first exhibited in 1934–35 at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in New York. Over the years, the tea urn has been widely exhibited, including in ''St. Louis Modern'' (2015–16) at the St Louis Art Museum, ''Cranbrook Goes to the Movies: Films and Their Objects, 1925–1975'' at the Cranbrook Art Museum (2014–15)., and in 2005–07, in the touring exhibition ''Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design'', organized by the Dallas Museum of Art, which also travelled to the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
in Washington, DC. In 1951–52, the tea urn was featured in the ''Eliel Saarinen Memorial Exhibition'' which travelled to multiple venues across the United States. In addition to Cranbrook, the Dallas Museum and the St Louis Museum, The
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in London and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
also hold tea urn-related Eliel Saarinen designs.
[(March 16, 2016)]
"Wilcox Silver Plate Co. designs in collections, at auction, and in exhibitions"
''Design Meriden'' / ''artdesigncafe.com''. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
Eliel Saarinen became a professor in the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
's Architecture Department.
His son,
Eero (1910–1961), became one of the most important American architects of the mid-20th century, as one of the leaders of the
International style. Saarinen's student
Edmund N. Bacon
Edmund Norwood Bacon (May 2, 1910October 14, 2005) was an American urban planner, architect, educator, and author. During his tenure as the executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970, his visions shaped to ...
achieved national prominence as Executive Director of the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970.
Eliel received the
AIA Gold Medal in 1947.
Significant works
See also
*
Eliel Square
The Eliel Square ( fi, Elielinaukio, sv, Elielplatsen) is a square on the west side of the Helsinki Central Station in the heart of Helsinki, Finland. It is named after the railway station designer Eliel Saarinen. The square is for the most part ...
*
Saarinen Tower
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*A&E with Richard Guy Wilson, Ph.D.,(2000). America's Castles: Newspaper Moguls, Pittock Mansion, Cranbrook House & Gardens, The American Swedish Institute. ''A&E Television Network''.
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saarinen, Eliel
1873 births
1950 deaths
20th-century American architects
20th-century Finnish architects
American Lutherans
Architects of Lutheran churches
Architecture educators
Art Nouveau architects
Cranbrook Academy of Art faculty
Currency designers
Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Finnish emigrants to the United States
International style architects
Modernist architects
Naturalized citizens of the United States
People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
People from Mikkeli Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)
People from Rantasalmi
Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal
Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal
Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning faculty