H. Allen Brooks (November 6, 1925 – August 8, 2010) was an architectural historian and longtime professor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. Brooks wrote on

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

and the Prairie School and on the early years of Le Corbusier. Brooks served as an engineer in the Philippines (1946–47), then pursued his education at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

(

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

, 1950),

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

(

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

, 1955), and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

(PhD, 1957). After one year at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, Brooks joined the faculty of the Department of Fine Art at the

, where he taught until retirement in 1986. He occasionally accepted visiting positions and lectured throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Brooks became known in the early 1970s for his research on Wright and the Prairie School. The term "Prairie School" has been credited to Brooks. Brooks's first book, ''The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest Contemporaries'' (1972), received the

Alice Davis Hitchcock Award The Alice Davis Hitchcock Book Award, established in 1949, by the Society of Architectural Historians, annually recognizes "the most distinguished work of scholarship in the history of architecture published by a North American scholar." The oldes ...

of the

Society of Architectural Historians The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide. Based in Chicago in the United States, the Society's 3,500 members include ...

. He continued to publish on Wright and the Prairie School and received the "Wright Spirit Award," the highest award granted by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. Brooks also pursued the career of Le Corbusier. His ''LeCorbusier's Formative Years: Charles-Edouard Jeanneret at La Chaux-de-Fonds'', published in 1997, and won a first prize from the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...

for books in architecture and urban planning. Brooks was editor of the 32-volume ''LeCorbusier Archive'' providing thorough documentation LeCorbusier's practice. Brooks was a past board member and president, and a Fellow of the

. He was a charter member of the

Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada The Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (SSAC) is a learned society devoted to the examination of the role of the built environment in Canadian society. Its membership includes structural and landscape architects, architectural histor ...

and a life member of the

Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB) is a United Kingdom learned society for people interested in the history of architecture. Purpose The Society exists to encourage interest in the history of architecture, to enab ...

Writings

* Brooks, H. Allen, ''The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest Contemporaries'', University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1972;
W W Norton page
* Brooks, H. Allen (editor), ''Prairie School Architecture: Studies from "The Western Architect"'', University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo 1975; * Brooks, H. Allen (editor), ''Writings on Wright: Selected Comment on Frank Lloyd Wright'',

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

, Cambridge MA and London 1981; * Brooks, H. Allen, ''

and the Prairie School'', Braziller (in association with the Cooper-Hewitt Museum), New York 1984; * Brooks, H. Allen (editor), '' Le Corbusier'' Princeton University Press, Princeton 1987; * Brooks, H. Allen (general editor), ''Le Corbusier Archive'' (32 volumes), Garland Publishing, New York; Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris 1991; * Brooks, H. Allen, ''Le Corbusier's Formative Years: Charles-Edouard Jeanneret at La Chaux-de-Fonds''

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

, Chicago and London 1997; * Brooks, H. Allen, ''The Prairie School'', W.W. Norton, New York 2006;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, H. Allen 1925 births 2010 deaths American architectural historians American architecture writers American male non-fiction writers Dartmouth College alumni Yale University alumni Northwestern University alumni University of Toronto faculty Writers from New Haven, Connecticut Historians from Connecticut