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Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (GAP&W) was a
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countr ...
that was founded in 1912 as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. through
Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the ''Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been "the most successful power broker the American archi ...
's surviving partner, Ernest R. Graham, and Burnham's sons, Hubert Burnham and Daniel Burnham Jr. In 1917, the Burnhams left to form their own practice, which eventually became Burnham Brothers, and Graham and the remaining members of Graham, Burnham & Co. – Graham, (William) Peirce Anderson, Edward Mathias Probst, and Howard Judson White – formed the resulting practice. The firm also employed Victor Andre Matteson.


Background

Graham, Anderson, Probst & White was the largest architectural firm under one roof during the first half of the twentieth century. The firm's importance to Chicago's architectural legacy cannot be overstated, nor can its connection to Burnham. The firm was headquartered in Burnham's own Railway Exchange Building. In part from its connection to Burnham, the firm captured the majority of the big commissions from 1912 to 1936, including such iconic works as the
Wrigley Building The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located at 400–410 North Michigan Avenue on Chicago's Near North Side. It is located on the Magnificent Mile directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower. Its two towers in an elaborate style ...
,
Merchandise Mart The Merchandise Mart (or the Merch Mart, or the Mart) is a commercial building in Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it opened in 1930, it was the List of largest buildings, world's largest building, with of floor space. The Art De ...
,
Field Museum The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...
,
Shedd Aquarium Shedd Aquarium (formally the John G. Shedd Aquarium) is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago. Opened on May 30, 1930, the aquarium holds about 32,000 animals. It is the third largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere (after the Georgia Aquariu ...
,
Civic Opera House The Civic Opera House, also called Lyric Opera House is an opera house located at 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago. The Civic's main performance space, named for Ardis Krainik, seats 3,276, making it the second-largest opera auditorium in North ...
,
Chicago Fed The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve Federal Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the Federal Reserve System, the United States' central bank. The Chicago Fed ...
, and the former central Chicago post office. Its only close rival was the equally prolific
Holabird and Root Holabird is the name of various people and places, including: People * William S. Holabird ( – May 20, 1855), American lawyer, politician, and the 17th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut. *William Holabird (September 11, 1854 – July 19, 1923) ...
. GAP&W also created the iconic
Terminal Tower Terminal Tower is a 52-story, , landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in the downtown core of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Built during the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 1930s, it was the second-tallest building in the world when ...
in
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
and
Federal Reserve Bank A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...
in
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
. Anderson died in 1924, with Graham and White following just weeks apart in 1936. Surviving partner Edward M. Probst took over the firm, assisted by his sons Marvin Probst and Edward E. Probst. After Mr. Probst's death in 1942, son Marvin G. Probst took over as firm president. Edward E. Probst left the firm about 1947. Just prior to Marvin Probst's death in 1970, the firm was sold to an employee, William R. Surman. From 1970 to 1993 William Surman was president of the firm. After his death in 1993, the practice was run by his son Robert Surman till the firm closed its doors in the fall of 2006. Early on, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White became known for its classical taste and the elegance of its Beaux-Arts-inspired output, which
Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago school (architecture), Chicago ...
decried as a stylistic throwback but which nonetheless withstood multiple generations of critics. Those early buildings are still popular favorites today. However, starting in 1923 with the firm's plans for the
Merchandise Mart The Merchandise Mart (or the Merch Mart, or the Mart) is a commercial building in Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it opened in 1930, it was the List of largest buildings, world's largest building, with of floor space. The Art De ...
and the Straus Building, the practice soon began to move beyond the Beaux-Arts influence of Burnham and the City Beautiful movement to the bolder, starker Art Deco style with its streamlined forms. The firm's ultimate expression of the Art Deco style was found in its design of the 1931 Field Building (later known as the La Salle Bank Building), which was a commission from the estate of department store magnate Marshall Field. It was matched that year by Holabird and Root's equally stunning
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 v ...
. After 1931, GAP&W for the most part stopped referencing the Beaux-Arts style.


Buildings

*
Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...
(D.H. Burnham & Co., 1909–12; Graham, Burnham & Co., 1912–17; GAP&W, 1917–20) * Conway Building, 1913 (D.H. Burnham & Co. and Graham, Burnham & Co.) * Continental and Commercial Bank Building, 1914 (as Graham, Burnham & Co.) * Marshall Field & Co. Annex and northeast section of main store, 1914 (as Graham, Burnham & Co.) *
Union Station (Chicago) Chicago Union Station is an intercity and commuter rail terminal located in the West Loop neighborhood of the Near West Side of Chicago. Amtrak's flagship station in the Midwest, Union Station is the terminus of eight national long-distanc ...
, 225 South Canal Street, 1913-25 (begun as Graham, Burnham & Co.) * Kimball Building (a.k.a. DePaul University Lewis Center), 1917 *
Wrigley Building The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located at 400–410 North Michigan Avenue on Chicago's Near North Side. It is located on the Magnificent Mile directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower. Its two towers in an elaborate style ...
, 1919–1925 * Union Trust Building of Cleveland (925 Building), 1920 * Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Building (925 Grand), 1921 *
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve Federal Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the Federal Reserve System, the United States' central bank. The Chicago Fed ...
Building, 1922 *
Butler Brothers Butler Brothers was a retailer and wholesale supplier based in Chicago. It was founded in 1877 as a mail-order company by Charles Hamblet Butler, George Henry Butler, George H. Butler and Edward Burgess Butler. History In the 1920s, Butler Broth ...
Warehouse Building, 1922 * 7 E. Redwood Ave, Baltimore MD (fmr Citizens National Bank of Baltimore Building, a.k.a. Union Citizens National Bank, 1922) * Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Building (101-23 East Main Street, Louisville, KY - now known as Waterside Building), 1923 * Straus Building (a.k.a. Continental National Insurance Building), 1923–24 *
Merchandise Mart The Merchandise Mart (or the Merch Mart, or the Mart) is a commercial building in Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it opened in 1930, it was the List of largest buildings, world's largest building, with of floor space. The Art De ...
, 1923–31 * Illinois Merchants Bank Building (a.k.a. Continental Illinois Bank Building), 1924 *
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmo ...
Passenger and Freight Stations, Carter Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets,
Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon the southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West ...
, 1925 *
John G. Shedd Aquarium Shedd Aquarium (formally the John G. Shedd Aquarium) is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago. Opened on May 30, 1930, the aquarium holds about 32,000 animals. It is the third largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere (after the Georgia Aquariu ...
, 1925–1931 *
Pittsfield Building The Pittsfield Building is a 38-story skyscraper located at 55 E. Washington Street in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, that was the city's tallest building at the time of it ...
, 1926–1927 * State Line Generating Plant, 1926–29 *
Terminal Tower Terminal Tower is a 52-story, , landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in the downtown core of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Built during the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 1930s, it was the second-tallest building in the world when ...
, Public Square, Cleveland, 1926-1930 * Builders Building (a.k.a. 222 N. La Salle St.), 1927 * 208 W. Washington St., Chicago (a.k.a. Concord City Centre), 1927 *
Civic Opera House (Chicago) The Civic Opera House, also called Lyric Opera House is an opera house located at 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago. The Civic's main performance space, named for Ardis Krainik, seats 3,276, making it the second-largest opera auditorium in Nort ...
, 1927–1929 *
30th Street Station 30th Street Station, officially William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, is a major intermodal passenger transport, intermodal transit station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The station opened in 1933 as Pennsylvania Station– ...
,
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, 1927-1933 * Insurance Exchange Building, south section, 1928 * State Bank of Chicago Building, 1928 *
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI), since 2024, the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, is a science museum located in Chicago, Illinois, in Jackson Park (Chicago), Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborho ...
reconstruction, 1928–1940 * Foreman State National Bank Building, 1930 *
Suburban Station Suburban Station is an Art Deco office building and underground commuter rail station in Penn Center in Philadelphia. Its official SEPTA address is 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. The station is owned and operated by SEPTA and is one of the t ...
, 16th Street at John Fitzgerald Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, 1930 * Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Depot, South 10th Street, Omaha, Nebraska, renovation 1930 * Field Building (a.k.a. La Salle National Bank Building), 1931 * Mayflower Manor Apartments, Akron, 1931 * La Rabida Children's Hospital and Research Center, 1931 * U.S. Post Office Central Office, Chicago, 1932 *
Chicago Historical Society Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the ...
Building, 1932 * Hurley Hall,
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
, 1932 * Reyniers Life Building,
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
, 1947 * Edens Plaza,
Wilmette Wilmette is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Skokie, Northfield, Glenview, and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a populatio ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, 1956 *
Morton Salt Morton Salt is an American food company producing salt for food, Water purification, water conditioning, industrial, agricultural, and road/highway use. Based in Chicago, the business is North America's leading producer and marketer of salt. It i ...
Headquarters, 1956–61 * American Dental Association Building, 1965 * County Bank and Trust Co. Building,
Blue Island, IL Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 22,558 at t ...
, 1965 * Hayes-Haley Hall,
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
, 1968 *
CNA Center CNA Center may refer to one of the following buildings that has housed the headquarters of CNA Financial Corporation: * 151 North Franklin, called CNA Center starting in 2018 * 333 South Wabash, called CNA Center until 2018 See also * List of t ...
, Chicago, 1972–1973 * Motorola World Headquarters, Schaumburg, IL 1973 * Illinois State Library, Springfield, IL 1990 History of the Illinois State Library https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/about/library_history.html * Loyola University Chicago, Administrative Offices, Forest Park, IL 1991 * 2 East Erie, Chicago, IL 2002 * Bethlehem Steel General Office Building (Former Headquarters until Martin Tower was built in the 1970s), Bethlehem, PA 1916. Currently vacant.


Architectural sculpture

Like most of the other prominent architectural firms of the early 20th Century, GAP&W frequently used sculpture to decorate its building designs. As was the custom of the era GAP&W had specific artists that they preferred to work with. One in particular was New Yorker
Henry Hering Henry Hering (February 15, 1874 – January 15, 1949) was an American sculptor. Early career He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York. He then went to Paris where ...
, who created the sculptured pediment for the
Civic Opera House The Civic Opera House, also called Lyric Opera House is an opera house located at 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago. The Civic's main performance space, named for Ardis Krainik, seats 3,276, making it the second-largest opera auditorium in North ...
; a variety of details for the
Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...
, including a variation on the Erectheum porch; and the allegorical figures ''Day'' and ''Night'' for the Great Hall of the Chicago's
Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...
. As the century progressed, the firm moved away from the classical style favored by Hering and used for the firm's earlier Beaux Arts buildings to more contemporary
art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
styled work, such as that attributed to sculptor
Frank Jirouch Frank Jirouch (March 3, 1878 – May 2, 1970) was an American sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and a ...
on Cleveland's Midland Building.


Gallery

Image:2007-09-13 2400x1800 chicago merchandise mart.jpg, Merchandise Mart, Chicago Image:Terminaltower1.jpg, The Terminal Tower in
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. Image:Field fg02.jpg, Field Museum, Chicago Image:XBryant Building Kansas City MO.jpg, Bryant Building,
Kansas City, Missouri Image:925 Grand-former Federal Reserve-KCMO.jpg, Federal Reserve Bank
of Kansas City Image:Civic Opera House 060528.jpg, Civic Opera House, Chicago Image:InlandSteelOffice.JPG, Main Office Building, Inland Steel Co., East Chicago, Indiana File:Architect and engineer (1920) (14760399636).jpg, Railway Exchange Building, Chicago, Illinois File:Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois (74769).jpg, Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois File:Broad Street Suburban Station Pennsylvania R. R. and office building, Philadelphia, PA (61756).jpg, Suburban Station, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania File:County Bank 1965.jpg, County Bank and Trust Co. building,
Blue Island, IL Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 22,558 at t ...


References

*Bach, Ira, ''Chicago On Foot: Walking Tours of Chicago's Architecture'', Rand McNally & Company, Chicago 1979 *Bach, Ira, editor, ''Chicago's Famous Buildings'', University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1980 *Chappell, Sally Kitt, Transforming Tradition: Architecture and Planning of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, 1912–1936, University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL 1992


External links


Graham Foundation

Artnet profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Anderson, Probst and White Design companies established in 1912 1912 establishments in Illinois American railway architects Defunct architecture firms based in Chicago