John Wellborn Root Jr. (July 14, 1887 – October 24, 1963) was a significant United States architect based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He was the son of architect

John Wellborn Root John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891) was an American architect who was based in Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School style. Two of his buildings have been designated a National ...

. As a young man, he graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and studied architecture at Paris'

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

, where he became friends with

John Augur Holabird John Augur Holabird (1886–1945) was an American architect based in Chicago. Biography John Augur Holabird was born in Evanston, Illinois on May 4, 1886, the son of architect William Holabird. He was educated at The Hill School, then train ...

, the son of another famous Chicago architect. Root returned to the States and joined his friend on the architectural staff at

Holabird & Roche The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern ...

in 1919. After the deaths of

William Holabird William Holabird (September 11, 1854 in Amenia, New York – July 19, 1923 in Evanston, Illinois) was an American architect. Holabird was the son of General Samuel B. Holabird and Mary Theodosia Grant. He studied at the United States Mili ...

in 1923 and

Martin Roche Martin Roche (1853–1927) was an American architect. Life In partnership with William Holabird, Martin Roche designed buildings following the Chicago School and that were landmarks in the development of early sky scrapers. He worked for Wi ...

in 1927, the firm was reorganized under the new partnership of Holabird & Root. They worked on many dazzling projects in the late 1920s and early 1930s, before the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

slowed new construction. These years are notable for the firm's many impressive

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

buildings. The firm weathered the Depression and Root remained an active partner into old age.

Significant buildings

Palmolive Building The Palmolive Building, formerly the Playboy Building, is a 37-story Art Deco building at 919 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Built by Holabird & Root, it was completed in 1929 and was home to the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Corporation. The Palmo ...

, 1929 * 333 North Michigan Building, 1928 *

Chicago Board of Trade Building The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a 44-story, Art Deco skyscraper located in the Chicago Loop, standing at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon. Built in 1930 for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it has served as the primary trading ve ...

, 1930 *

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

Building, 1929 *

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...

at the

Century of Progress A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...

1933-34 World's Fair *

North Dakota State Capitol The North Dakota State Capitol is the house of government of the U.S. state of North Dakota. The capitol, a 21-story Art Deco tower, is located in Bismarck at 600 East Boulevard Avenue, and is the tallest habitable building in the state. On ...

, 1934

References

Bruegmann, Robert. Holabird & Roche/Holabird & Root: An Illustrated Catalog of Works, 1880-1940. New York: Garland Publishing, 1991.

External links

Holabird & Root's current website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Root, John Wellborn Jr. 1887 births 1963 deaths Artists from Chicago Art Deco architects 20th-century American architects Cornell University alumni American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Holabird & Root