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| american architects | |
| landscape architects | |
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| university of illinois at urbana-champaign alumni | |
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| 1876 births | |
| 1937 deaths | |
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Walter Burley Griffin ( November 24 , 1876 - February 11 , 1937 ) is an American Architect and landscape architect best known for his role in designing Canberra , Australia 's capital city. However, he has also been credited with the development of the L-shaped floor plan, the carport, and the first use of reinforced concrete. Influenced by Chicago's Prairie School , Griffin went on to develop a unique modern style. For much of his career Griffin worked in partnership with his wife Marion Mahony Griffin , in the 40 years of their architectural practice, the Griffins designed over 350 building, landscape and urban-design projects as well as designing construction materials, interiors, furniture and other household items. EARLY LIFE Griffin was born in Maywood, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois , he was the eldest of the four children of George Walter Griffin, an insurance agent, and Estelle Griffin. His family moved to Oak Park and later to Elmhurst during his childhood. As a boy he had an interest in landscape design and gardening, his parents allowed him to landscape the yard at their new home in Elmhurst. Griffin completed high school at Oak Park High School. He considered studying landscape design but was advised by landscape gardener O. C. Simonds to pursue a more lucrative profession. Griffin chose to study architecture and in 1899 Griffin received a bachelor's degree from the architecture program at the University Of Illinois . The University of Illinois program was run by Nathan Clifford Ricker, a German-educated architect, whose teaching emphasised the technical aspects of architecture. During his studies he also took courses in horticulture and forestry. CHICAGO CAREER Following the completion of his studies Griffin relocated to Chicago and was employed as a draftsman for two years in the offices of progressive architects Dwight H. Perkins , Robert C. Spencer, Jr. , and H. Webster Tomlinson in Steinway Hall. Griffin's employers worked in the distinctive Prairie School style; the school's style is marked by horizontal lines, flat roofs with broad overhanging eaves, solid construction, craftsmanship, and discipline in the use of ornament. Louis Sullivan was highly influential amongst Prairie School and Griffin was a great admirer of his work, and also of his philosophy of architecture which stressed that design should be free of historical precedent. In July 1901 Griffin passed the new Illinois architect licensing examination, which would enable him to enter private practice as an architect. He began to work in Frank Lloyd Wright 's famous Oak Park studio. Although he was never made a partner, Griffin oversaw the construction on many of Lloyd Wright's renowned homes including the Willits House in 1902 and the Larkin Administration Building built in 1904. From 1905 he also began to supply landscape plans for Wright’s buildings. Wright allowed Griffin and his other staff to undertake small commissions of their own. The William Emery house, built in Elmhurst in 1903 was such a commission. While working for Wright, Griffin fell in love with Wright's sister, Maginel Wright. He proposed marriage to her, but his affections were not returned. Early in 1906 Griffin resigned his position at Wright's studio and established his own practice at Steinway Hall. Griffin and Wright had fallen out over events following Wright's 1905 trip to Japan. While Wright was away for five months, Griffin ran the practice. When Wright returned, he told Griffin that he had overstepped his responsibilities as Griffin had completed several commissions and even substituted his own designs. Wright had borrowed money from Griffin to travel and tried to pay his financial debt to Griffin in Japanese prints. It became clear to Griffin that Wright would not make Griffin a partner in his practice. Griffin's first independent commission was a landscape design for the State Normal School at Charleston, Illinois , now known as Eastern Illinois University . In the autumn of that year, 1906, he received his first residential commission from Harry Peters. The Peters' House was the first house designed with an L-shaped or open floor plan. The L-shape was an economical design and easily constructed. From 1907, 13 houses in this style were built in the Chicago neighborhood now known as Beverly-Morgan Park. Seven of these house are on W. 104th Place in Beverly , the street is now known as Walter Burley Griffin Place, and forms a municipal historical district within the national Ridge Historic District, as this block conains the largest collection of small scale Griffin designs in existence. In 1911 Griffin married , is seen as their most dramatic American design development of the decade and remains the largest collection of Prairie Style homes surrounding a natural setting. {Link without Title} From 1899 to 1914, Griffin created more than 130 designs in his Chicago office for buildings, urban plans and landscapes; half of these were built in mid-western states of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. The relationship between Griffin and Frank Lloyd Wright cooled in the years following Griffin's departure from Wright's firm in 1906. With Walter and Marion's wedding Wright started to feel they were "against him". After Griffin's win in the Canberra design and resultant front page coverage in the ''New York Times'', Wright and Griffin never spoke again. In later years whenever Griffin was brought up in conversation Wright would downplay his achievements and refer to him as a draughtsman. {Link without Title} MASON CITY, IOWA HOMES |
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