George Grant Elmslie
Encyclopedia
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
whose work is mostly found in the Midwestern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He worked with Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
and later with William Gray Purcell
William Gray Purcell
William Gray Purcell was a Prairie School architect in the Midwestern United States. He partnered with George Grant Elmslie. The firm of Purcell and Elmslie produced designs for buildings in twenty two states, Australia, and China...
as a partner in the firm Purcell & Elmslie
Purcell & Elmslie
The American progressive architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School after Frank Lloyd Wright...
.
The architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie
Purcell & Elmslie
The American progressive architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School after Frank Lloyd Wright...
consisted of three partnerships. The first, Purcell & Feick, was created at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1907 between Purcell and his Cornell School of Architecture classmate, George Feick, Jr. George Elmslie and Purcell had been friends since 1903, when Purcell worked for a short while in the office of Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
, and Elmslie was an informal influence in the work of Purcell & Feick. In 1909, Elmslie joined the office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the name of the firm changed to Purcell, Feick, & Elmslie in 1910. Feick left the partnership in 1912, and the name of the practice became Purcell & Elmslie until being dissolved in 1921.
Over the course of the partnership, Purcell & Elmslie
Purcell & Elmslie
The American progressive architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School after Frank Lloyd Wright...
became one of the most commissioned firms among the Prairie School architects, second only to Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
. Following the dissolution of his partnership with Purcell, Elmslie worked occasionally with various other architects, including Lawrence A. Fournier, William S. Hutton, Hermann V. von Holst
Hermann V. von Holst
Hermann V. von Holst was an American architect practicing in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida, from the 1890s through the 1940s, best remembered for agreeing to take on the responsibility of heading up Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural practice when Wright went off to Europe with Mamah...
and William Eugene Drummond
William Eugene Drummond
William Eugene Drummond was a Chicago Prairie School architect.-Early Years and Education:He was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of carpenter and cabinet maker Eugene Drummond and his wife Ida Marietta Lozier...
, and produced a number of banks, train stations, commercial, and institutional buildings during the 1920s and 1930s.
A curious historical note: Elmslie claimed to have been born in 1871, and he carefully kept his true birth year a secret all his life except from a very few people. The apparent reason for this was due to his immigration status in 1885, when he joined his father John Elmslie in Chicago from his native Scotland. Had Elmslie divulged his true age, he would have been ineligible to enter the United States as a dependent family member.
Elmslie was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
in 1947.
See also
- William Gray Purcell HouseWilliam Gray Purcell HouseThe Edna S. Purcell house was designed by William Gray Purcell & George Grant Elmslie for Purcell and his family in 1913. The dwelling is considered a masterpiece of Prairie School architecture. The long, narrow floor plan of the house disregards Victorian concepts about room divisions. The...
, a house designed by Purcell & ElmsliePurcell & ElmslieThe American progressive architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School after Frank Lloyd Wright...
in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
Further reading
- Gebhard, DavidDavid GebhardDavid S. Gebhard was a leading architectural historian, particularly known for his books on the architecture and architects of California. He was a long-time faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was dedicated to the preservation of Santa Barbara architecture.Gebhard...
(edited by Patricia Gebhard), Purcell & Elmslie: Prairie Progressive Architects, Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City 2006, ISBN 1423600053