George A. Fuller
Encyclopedia
George A. Fuller was an architect often credited as being the "inventor" of modern skyscraper
s and the modern contracting system
.
, near Worcester
. After graduating from Andover College
, he took a course in architecture at the Boston School of Technology and then started in the office of his uncle, J.E. Fuller, an architect in Worcester, Massachusetts
. Fuller soon entered the office of Peabody & Stearns – a firm which specialized in building mansions for the rich in Newport, Rhode Island
– where he soon developed a strong interest in the details of erecting a building, and was particularly interested in "skyscrapers", the name recently given to the tall buildings than had been made possible by Elisha Otis
' invention of the safety elevator
. Through Fuller's hard work and diligence, at the age of twenty-five he was made a partner and placed in charge of Peabody & Stearn's New York office.
In New York, Fuller's design for a new club house for the Union League Club of New York
, a Queen Anne mansion for the site at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 39th Street, won over eight other designs, including those submitted by noted architects Richard Morris Hunt
and Charles McKim
and William Mead. Fuller also designed the United Bank Building, a nine-story building at Wall Street and Broadway
, although he left Peabody & Stearns shortly after construction began, having spent four years there.
, the locus of much of the skyscraper construction in the United States at the time, where he formed a partnership with C. Everett Clark, another architect from Massachusetts
, which lasted only two years. He then raised $50,000 and set up the George A. Fuller Company in 1882. Fuller's new firm was different from the many architecture firms of the time, in that it intended to handle all aspects of building construction except for the design of the building, which would come from outside architects. In this way, Fuller created the modern concept of the general contractor
.
One of the new firm's first jobs was the Chicago Opera House
, designed by Henry Ives Cobb
and Charles S. Frost. In this building, Fuller, who was a proponent of using steel
in building construction, utilized it for the floor beams, a decision which subjected him to criticism from the architectural community, which was wary of using steel and unsure of its long-term properties.
Fuller's firm built the Tacoma Building designed by Holabird & Roche
in Chicago in 1889, which was the first structure where the outside walls were not load bearing. By using Bessemer steel
beams, Fuller created steel cages that supported all the building's weight.
Fuller's firm also built the Rookery Building
(1888, Burnham and Root
), the Rand McNally Building
(1890, Burnham & Root), the Pontiac Building (1891, Holabird & Roche) and the Monadnock Building
(1891, Burnham & Root; 1893, Holabird & Roche) in Chicago, and the New York Times Building
(1889, George B. Post
) in New York City
. The Fuller Company was also intensely involved in the building of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, the Columbian Exposition, in which a temporary "White City on the Lake" was constructed under the supervision of Daniel Burnham
.
With the succes of his firm, Fuller became a multimillionaire, and his wife and daughters entered Chicago society. He commissioned Charles P. Post to design a home on Drexel Boulevard on the South Side of Chicago, and Post created a Queen Anne style mansion. His daughter, Allon, married Harry S. Black in 1894, and Fuller took him into the company as vice president, despite the fact that Black was neither an architect nor an engineer.
In 1892, New York City altered its building regulations to allow skeleton construction and curtain walls, in which the load created by the building was carried by the internal skeleton and not by the exterior wall, a construction method which had been allowed under the Chicago building code for years. This change prompted Fuller to open an office in New York in 1896, and soon the company had contracts in Boston
, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Baltimore
, as well as in Chicago and New York.
, leaving a $3 million estate. His tomb at Oak Woods Cemetery
in Chicago, designed by New York architect Bruce Price
, is one of the largest in the cemetery.
, former New York City mayor – and Tammany Hall
man – Hugh J. Grant, and banker James Stillman
and creating what became known as the "skyscraper trust". In 1902, he took the company public, listing it on the New York Stock Exchange
, and then put together a merger with Alliance and New York Realty to create a new $66 million dollar company, the United States Realty and Construction Company; the Fuller Company – which by then had offices in New York, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Pittsburgh – would remain an independent company under the umbrella of the new entity.
Black announced:
Indeed, Black had constructed the new company's board of directors with an eye for its need for steel and rail transport. It included Charles Schwab
of U.S. Steel
, Cornelius Vanderbilt
, Charles Tweed of Southern Pacific, Charles Francis Adams
, former head of Union Pacific, and representatives from J.P. Morgan and the Mutual Life Insurance Company
. Since Black had put together U.S. Realty, he naturally expected to be named the company's president, but the board passed over him and selected Bradish Johnson, president of New York Realty, one of the firms folded into the new conglomerate.
U.S. Realty's stock never performed as expected, although the members of the board did receive substantial salaries and large dividends on the stock they owned, even as the company was underpeforming. When the Fuller Company was implicated in the corruption of the building trades union leader, Samuel Parks, its stock fell. Board members dumped their stock and left the company, but Fuller was buying up stock at the same time. He took control of the company, naming a new board which made Black president.
Among the many buildings constructed by the Fuller Company under Black were the Pennsylvania Station
, the Flatiron Building
, R.H. Macy's
flagship store on Broadway and 34th Street
, lauded at the time as the biggest store in the world, the New York Times Building
in Times Square
, the Plaza Hotel
on Grand Army Plaza and Central Park South
and the Savoy-Plaza Hotel across Fifth Avenue, the biggest hotel in the world at the time, designed by McKim, Mead & White, and demolished in 1964. In Chicago, Fuller built the Stevens Hotel, designed by Holabird & Roche
.
The Fuller Company was liquidated and sold in 1970.
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
s and the modern contracting system
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
.
Early life and career
Fuller was born in Templeton, MassachusettsTempleton, Massachusetts
Templeton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,013 at the 2010 census. The town comprises four main villages: Templeton Center, East Templeton, Baldwinville, and Otter River...
, near Worcester
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
. After graduating from Andover College
Andover College (Maine)
Andover College in South Portland, Maine began as the Andover Institute of Business in Portland in 1967; the name was changed to Andover College in 1977. The college was given accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in 1998.Andover College also has a campus in...
, he took a course in architecture at the Boston School of Technology and then started in the office of his uncle, J.E. Fuller, an architect in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
. Fuller soon entered the office of Peabody & Stearns – a firm which specialized in building mansions for the rich in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
– where he soon developed a strong interest in the details of erecting a building, and was particularly interested in "skyscrapers", the name recently given to the tall buildings than had been made possible by Elisha Otis
Elisha Otis
Elisha Graves Otis was an American industrialist, founder of the Otis Elevator Company, and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails. He worked on this device while living in Yonkers, New York in 1852, and had a finished product in...
' invention of the safety elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
. Through Fuller's hard work and diligence, at the age of twenty-five he was made a partner and placed in charge of Peabody & Stearn's New York office.
In New York, Fuller's design for a new club house for the Union League Club of New York
Union League Club of New York
The Union League Club of New York is a private social club in New York City. Its fourth and current clubhouse, which opened on February 2, 1931, is a building designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris, III, located at 38 East 37th Street between Madison and Park Avenue in the Murray Hill section of...
, a Queen Anne mansion for the site at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 39th Street, won over eight other designs, including those submitted by noted architects Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt was an American architect of the nineteenth century and a preeminent figure in the history of American architecture...
and Charles McKim
Charles McKim
Charles McKim may refer to:*Charles Follen McKim , American Beaux-Arts architect*Charles M. McKim , American architect...
and William Mead. Fuller also designed the United Bank Building, a nine-story building at Wall Street and Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
, although he left Peabody & Stearns shortly after construction began, having spent four years there.
George A. Fuller Company
Fuller moved to ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the locus of much of the skyscraper construction in the United States at the time, where he formed a partnership with C. Everett Clark, another architect from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, which lasted only two years. He then raised $50,000 and set up the George A. Fuller Company in 1882. Fuller's new firm was different from the many architecture firms of the time, in that it intended to handle all aspects of building construction except for the design of the building, which would come from outside architects. In this way, Fuller created the modern concept of the general contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
.
One of the new firm's first jobs was the Chicago Opera House
Chicago Opera House
The Chicago Opera House, was a theater complex in Chicago, Illinois, USA, designed by the architectural firm of Cobb and Frost. The Chicago Opera House building took the cue provided by the Metropolitan Opera of New York as a mixed-used building: it housed both a theater and unrelated offices,...
, designed by Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb , born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Albert Adams and Mary Russell Candler Cobb, was a Chicago-based architect in the last decades of the 19th century, known for his designs in the Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles...
and Charles S. Frost. In this building, Fuller, who was a proponent of using steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
in building construction, utilized it for the floor beams, a decision which subjected him to criticism from the architectural community, which was wary of using steel and unsure of its long-term properties.
Very little is really known today of the properties of steel ... and though events point strongly to [it] becoming the metal of the future, there exists among many reasonable conservative men, a wide and well-grounded distrust of its use in the higher engineer or architectural structures, on account of its mysterious behavior, and frequent erratic and inexplicable failures.
Fuller's firm built the Tacoma Building designed by Holabird & Roche
Holabird & Roche
The architectural firm of Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm's designs have changed many times — from the Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern Architecture to Sustainable Architecture.-History:...
in Chicago in 1889, which was the first structure where the outside walls were not load bearing. By using Bessemer steel
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
beams, Fuller created steel cages that supported all the building's weight.
Fuller's firm also built the Rookery Building
Rookery Building
The Rookery Building is a historic landmark located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Completed by John Wellborn Root and Daniel Burnham of Burnham and Root in 1888, it is considered one of their masterpiece buildings. It once housed the office of the...
(1888, Burnham and Root
Burnham and Root
Burnham and Root was the name of the company that John Wellborn Root and Daniel Hudson Burnham established as one of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century....
), the Rand McNally Building
Rand McNally Building
The Rand McNally Building , in Chicago, was designed by Burnham and Root and was the world's first all-steel framed skyscraper.The building was located at 160-174 Adams Street and also fronted #105-#119 on the backside . It was erected in 1889 at a cost of $1 million...
(1890, Burnham & Root), the Pontiac Building (1891, Holabird & Roche) and the Monadnock Building
Monadnock Building
The Monadnock Building , is a skyscraper located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the south Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The north half of the building was designed by the firm of Burnham & Root and built in 1891...
(1891, Burnham & Root; 1893, Holabird & Roche) in Chicago, and the New York Times Building
41 Park Row
41 Park Row, often called the New York Times Building is located near New York City Hall in the New York City borough of Manhattan, was the longtime home of The New York Times, until it moved to Longacre Square, now known as Times Square...
(1889, George B. Post
George B. Post
George Browne Post was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition.-Biography:Post was a student of Richard Morris Hunt , but unlike many architects of his generation, he had previously received a degree in civil engineering...
) in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The Fuller Company was also intensely involved in the building of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, the Columbian Exposition, in which a temporary "White City on the Lake" was constructed under the supervision of Daniel Burnham
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA was an American architect and urban planner. He was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of cities, including Chicago and downtown Washington DC...
.
With the succes of his firm, Fuller became a multimillionaire, and his wife and daughters entered Chicago society. He commissioned Charles P. Post to design a home on Drexel Boulevard on the South Side of Chicago, and Post created a Queen Anne style mansion. His daughter, Allon, married Harry S. Black in 1894, and Fuller took him into the company as vice president, despite the fact that Black was neither an architect nor an engineer.
In 1892, New York City altered its building regulations to allow skeleton construction and curtain walls, in which the load created by the building was carried by the internal skeleton and not by the exterior wall, a construction method which had been allowed under the Chicago building code for years. This change prompted Fuller to open an office in New York in 1896, and soon the company had contracts in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, as well as in Chicago and New York.
Death
Fuller died suddenly on December 14, 1900 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosisAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...
, leaving a $3 million estate. His tomb at Oak Woods Cemetery
Oak Woods Cemetery
Oak Woods Cemetery was established in 1854; it covers an area of and is located at 1035 E. 67th Street in Chicago. The first burials took place in 1860. Soon after the American Civil War, between four and six thousand Confederate soldiers, prisoners who died at Camp Douglas, were buried here...
in Chicago, designed by New York architect Bruce Price
Bruce Price
Bruce Price was the American architect of many of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Château-type stations and hotels...
, is one of the largest in the cemetery.
The Fuller Company after Fuller
Following the death of Fuller, Harry S. Black, Fuller's son-in-law, took over as president of the Fuller Company and aggressively expanded its capitalization and operations, merging it with smaller companies, and bringing on to the company's board of directors such men as Henry Morgenthau, Sr.Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
Henry Morgenthau was a lawyer, businessman and United States ambassador, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was father of the politician Henry Morgenthau, Jr. and the grandfather of Robert M. Morgenthau, who was the District Attorney of...
, former New York City mayor – and Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
man – Hugh J. Grant, and banker James Stillman
James Stillman
James Jewett Stillman was an American businessman who invested in land, banking, and railroads in New York, Texas, and Mexico.-Biography:...
and creating what became known as the "skyscraper trust". In 1902, he took the company public, listing it on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
, and then put together a merger with Alliance and New York Realty to create a new $66 million dollar company, the United States Realty and Construction Company; the Fuller Company – which by then had offices in New York, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Pittsburgh – would remain an independent company under the umbrella of the new entity.
Black announced:
The new company will undoubtedly enter foreign fields, with the view of introducing steel construction in cities like London, Paris and Berlin. Its relations will be very close to the United States Steel Corporation, and naturally, as we will be the largest consumers of structural steel in the world, our terms as to price and delivery will be most favorable.
Indeed, Black had constructed the new company's board of directors with an eye for its need for steel and rail transport. It included Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab may refer to:*Charles M. Schwab , American steel magnate*Charles R. Schwab , founder of the eponymous brokerage*Charles Schwab Corp., an American based brokerage firm...
of U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel
The United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales...
, Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt , also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads. He was also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history...
, Charles Tweed of Southern Pacific, Charles Francis Adams
Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
Charles Francis Adams II was a member of the prominent Adams family, and son of Charles Francis Adams, Sr. He served as a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
, former head of Union Pacific, and representatives from J.P. Morgan and the Mutual Life Insurance Company
Mutual Life Insurance Company
Mutual Life Insurance Company may refer to:* Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company* Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company* The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company* Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co...
. Since Black had put together U.S. Realty, he naturally expected to be named the company's president, but the board passed over him and selected Bradish Johnson, president of New York Realty, one of the firms folded into the new conglomerate.
U.S. Realty's stock never performed as expected, although the members of the board did receive substantial salaries and large dividends on the stock they owned, even as the company was underpeforming. When the Fuller Company was implicated in the corruption of the building trades union leader, Samuel Parks, its stock fell. Board members dumped their stock and left the company, but Fuller was buying up stock at the same time. He took control of the company, naming a new board which made Black president.
Among the many buildings constructed by the Fuller Company under Black were the Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)
Pennsylvania Station—commonly known as Penn Station—is the major intercity train station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City. It is one of the busiest rail stations in the world, and a hub for inbound and outbound railroad traffic in New York City. The New York City Subway system also...
, the Flatiron Building
Flatiron Building
The Flatiron Building, or Fuller Building, as it was originally called, is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, New York City and is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper. Upon completion in 1902 it was one of the tallest buildings in the city and the only skyscraper...
, R.H. Macy's
R. H. Macy and Company Store (building)
The R. H. Macy and Company Store is the flagship of Macy's department stores, located on Herald Square in Manhattan, New York City. The building has been the world's largest department store since 1924...
flagship store on Broadway and 34th Street
34th Street (Manhattan)
34th Street is a major cross-town street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, connecting the Lincoln Tunnel and Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Like many of New York City's major crosstown streets, it has its own bus routes and four subway stops serving the trains at Eighth Avenue, the trains at...
, lauded at the time as the biggest store in the world, the New York Times Building
The Times Square Building
The Times Square Building, formerly known as The New York Times Building, is an 18-story building at 229 West 43rd Street in Times Square, New York City, that was the headquarters of The New York Times from 1913 through 2007....
in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, the Plaza Hotel
Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel with a height of and length of that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza...
on Grand Army Plaza and Central Park South
Central Park South
Central Park South is the portion of 59th Street that forms the southern border of Central Park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It runs from Columbus Circle at Eighth Avenue on the west to Grand Army Plaza at Fifth Avenue on the east...
and the Savoy-Plaza Hotel across Fifth Avenue, the biggest hotel in the world at the time, designed by McKim, Mead & White, and demolished in 1964. In Chicago, Fuller built the Stevens Hotel, designed by Holabird & Roche
Holabird & Roche
The architectural firm of Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm's designs have changed many times — from the Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern Architecture to Sustainable Architecture.-History:...
.
The Fuller Company was liquidated and sold in 1970.