Irving Kane Pond
Encyclopedia
Irving Kane Pond was an American
architect, college athlete, and author.
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan
, Pond attended the University of Michigan
and received a degree in civil engineering
in 1879. He was a member of the first University of Michigan football team
and scored the first touchdown
in the school's history in May 1879.
After graduating from Michigan, Pond moved to Chicago
where he worked as an architect from 1879 to 1939. He began his architectural career as a draftsman in the offices of William LeBaron Jenney and worked as the head draftsman in the office of Solon Spencer Beman
during the construction of the planned
Pullman community
. In 1886, Pond formed the Chicago architectural firm Pond and Pond
in partnership with his brother Allen Bartlitt Pond. The Pond brothers worked together for more than 40 years, and their buildings are considered to be among the best examples of Arts and Crafts
architecture in Chicago. The Ponds gained acclaim as the architects of Jane Addams
' Hull House
, and three of their buildings have been declared National Historic Landmark
s -- the Hull House dining hall, the Lorado Taft Midway Studios
, and the Frank R. Lillie House
. Pond became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1900 and served as president of the American Institute of Architects
from 1910 to 1911.
Pond was also a leader in the Chicago arts community in the late 19th and early 20th Century. He was one of the founders of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony
and a member of the Chicago Literary Club from 1888 to 1939. Pond was also a published author of fiction, poetry, and essays on art and architecture. He was also a frequent contributor to architectural journals and wrote for The Dial
and Gustav Stickley
's The Craftsman
. In 1918, he published the book The Meaning of Architecture summarizing his views on the role of architecture in the broader spectrum of the arts.
in 1857. He was the son of Elihu Pond and Mary Barlow (Allen) Pond. His father was a member of the Michigan State Senate, warden of the Michigan state prison for two years, the first president of the Michigan Press Association and the editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, the Argus of Ann Arbor. Growing up in Ann Arbor, Pond lived in a house on the current site of the Michigan Union
, a building he later designed. His next door neighbor as a child was the noted legal scholar, Thomas M. Cooley
. Cooley encouraged the young Pond, who aspired to be an artist, by presenting him with his first art book and by commissioning Pond to draw a set of cartoons of the Cooley family. Pond attended the public schools in Ann Arbor before enrolling at the University of Michigan
.
Pond was an engineering student at the University of Michigan from 1875 to 1879 and took architecture classes taught by Chicago architect William LeBaron Jenney. Six years later, Jenney gained fame for designing Chicago's metal-framed Home Insurance Building
. In 1934, Pond wrote an article challenging the popular assertion that the Home Insurance Building was the first steel-framed skyscraper.
While attending the University of Michigan, Pond was a member of the first Michigan Wolverines football team
. On May 30, 1879, the team played its first intercollegiate football game against Racine College
at White Stocking Park in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies
." Pond scored the first touchdown in University of Michigan history in the match. He scored the touchdown midway through "the first 'inning'." According to Will Perry's history of Michigan football, the crowd responded to Pond's plays with cheers of "Pond Forever." Pond graduated from Michigan in 1879 with a degree in civil engineering.
to pursue a career as an architect. He worked as a draftsman in the offices of his former teacher, William LeBaron Jenney, and worked as the head draftsman in the office of Solon Spencer Beman
during the construction of the planned
Pullman community
. While working with Beman, Pond was an ardent supporter of the Pullman planned community, he later acknowledged the resentment of Pullman residents that the town was anachronistic and represented some form of medieval barony.
Some of Pond's earliest works as an independent architect were for clients in his home town of Ann Arbor and nearby Detroit. As early as 1882, he designed "a modest but commodious home of stone and brick" on South State Street for Dr. Victor C. Vaughan. Pond later pointed to the designs of the old mantels in the Vaughan house which "foreshadowed his future works." He also designed Ann Arbor's Ladies Library Association Building (1885) and the West Physics Building for the University of Michigan, built in 1887 and destroyed by fire in 1967. In 1887, he renovated the Detroit Opera House
, increasing the seating capacity to 2,100 and relocating the auditorium to the main floor.
In 1886, Pond and his brother Allen Bartlitt Pond (1858–1929) formed their own architectural firm in Chicago under the name Pond and Pond
. The brothers continued to operate the firm for more than 40 years, and their buildings are considered to be among the best examples of Arts and Crafts
architecture in Chicago.
's Hull House
. Their father's work as warden of the state prison had sparked an interest in social reform and the settlement house movement. Allen Bartlitt Pond was the assistant superintendent of the Armour Mission
, an educational and healthcare center, when Jane Addams came to Chicago in January 1889 looking for a building in which to open a new settlement house. The two became friends and were riding in a carriage when Addams saw an old two-story brick house on Halsted Street. Addams took a lease on the house, which she named Hull House after its original owner, and hired the Ponds to put the old house into shape.
Between 1890 and 1907, the Ponds were the architects for the Hull House as the project expanded rapidly. The first building they designed for Hull House was the Butler Art Gallery. Built in 1891, the Butler Gallery was situated on the same lot as Hull House. It consisted of a reading room, an exhibition hall that was "the last word in design and lighting for those days," and a studio above. Numerous other building projects followed, including the original coffee house and gymnasium in 1893, the Children's Building in 1895, remodels and additions to the original building in 1895 and 1899, the Jane Club in 1898, a new Coffee House and Hull House Theater in 1899, the Hull House Apartments and Men's Club in 1901 and 1902, the Woman's Club (Bowen Hall) in 1904, the Boys' Club in 1906 and the Mary Crane Nursery in 1907. The Pond brothers were affectionately known by residents of the Hull House complex as Allen the "deep Pond" and Irving the "wide pond."
One of Addams' biographers wrote that the "Pond brothers did it all, harmonized everything," and described the scene when Irving Pond attended Addams' memorial service in 1935:
The only surviving building from the Ponds' Hull House complex is the 1905 dining hall, a simple Craftsman style building that was designated as a National Historic Landmark
in the 1960s.
The Ponds also designed club houses and settlement houses for other social reform organizations, including the Chicago Commons settlement house building (1901), the Northwestern University Settlement House (1901), and the City Club of Chicago
building (1910). The City Club building, noted for its "gently curving limestone arch that ties together the windows of the second floor," is today operated as the John Marshall Law School
. When the City Club building opened in 1910, its was considered a symbol of the reform movement:
Pond was also a leading member of the Chicago arts community in the late 19th and early 20th Century. In 1898, Pond was one of the founders of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony
near Oregon, Illinois
. Pond and eleven others, including his brother Allen Pond, Lorado Taft
, Hamlin Garland
, Ralph Clarkson, Horace Spencer Fiske, leased a plot of land on a steep ridge with "craggy rocks" and gnarled cedars overlooking the Rock River. The Pond brothers designed the home that was built for the colony, and the group spent their summers at the colony with other sculptors, painters, writers, architects, naturalists and kindred spirits.
The artists colony became integrated with the Oregon community, and the Pond brothers undertook several significant architectural projects in the Oregon area:
In 1907, Pond was also one of the founders with Hamlin Garland
of the Cliff Dwellers (originally known as the Attic Club and later the Little Room), a private club in Chicago for professionals engaged in the fine arts and performing arts. In its early years as the Little Room, the group was described as "an exclusive organization consisting of creative individuals of like temperament joined together for relaxation." Pond served as president of the Cliff Dwellers from 1934 to 1935.
in 1900 and served as president of the American Institute of Architects from 1910 to 1911. He also represented the U.S. government and the AIA at the International Congress of Architects at Rome and Venice in 1911, delivering addresses at both. He was also a founder of the Chicago Architectural Club and served as president of the Illinois Society of Architects.
Pond's best known buildings include three National Historic Landmark structures located in Chicago — the Hull House dining hall the Lorado Taft Midway Studios
, and the Frank R. Lillie House
(1904). Other notable Pond designs include the Freer House (1898) in Ann Arbor, the American School of Correspondence building (1906–1907) in Chicago, the federal building in Kankakee, Illinois
, the Michigan Union (1919) built on the site of Pond's boyhood home in Ann Arbor, the Purdue Memorial Union
(1924) at Purdue University
, the MSU Union in East Lansing, Michigan
, the Kansas Memorial Union at Kansas University, the Park Ridge Public Library
, the Michigan League in Ann Arbor, the Omaha Apartments in Chicago, the Kent Building in Chicago (1902), and the Toll Building in Chicago (1908).
, where Pond's papers are housed, said of the firm: "While Pond and Pond were best known through their work for social service organizations, they designed a wide range of buildings — social, religious, educational/academic, residential, governmental, and civic — mainly in the Chicago area and the Midwest. They were known for detailed brickwork, asymmetrical massing, and distinctive decorative detail, producing fine examples of Arts and Crafts and early modern architecture."
In 1905 a 15-page article in the Architectural Record
by Pond and illustrated by his designs was published. Pond described his views in it about architecture as an art:
Pond's article was viewed by some as a criticism of those in the Prairie School
who overemphasized the horizontal over the vertical. In this regard, Pond wrote:
, that was responsible for "transforming the concepts of the Arts & Crafts movement into the indigenous Prairie School." Pond was a contemporary, and in some ways rival, of Wright in the Chicago architectural scene
of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Both were members of the Chicago Architectural Club and served as judges and participants in the Club's annual competitions. One biographer of Wright noted that Wright was insulted when the American Institute of Architects in 1912 commissioned a study of midwestern "progressive architecture" and instructed the investigators to examine the work of Louis Sullivan and Pond, but not including Wright. In a letter to Lewis Mumford
, Wright expressed his dislike for the "truly-old" Pond:
While progressive in his approach to architecture, Pond was not as revolutionary as others in the Chicago school of his day. Architect Stuart Cohen, FAIA, noted that, while the Pond brothers' architecture departs from traditional architectural styles, they "did not break radically from such stylistic forms" but sought instead "to create a modern American architecture without rejecting architectural stylistic traditions, but simplifying them through the emphasis of geometry and the inherent quality of building materials and construction."
In 2009, Pond's autobiography, written in the two years before his death, was published by Hyoogen Press through the efforts of Chicago architect David Swan. At the time of the autobiography's release, architecture historian Robert Bruegmann
opined that the Pond brothers "have remained relatively obscure because they didn't fit in with narratives that wished to see Chicago architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a prelude to European modernism of the 1920s." Nevertheless, Bruegmann noted that "Chicago architecture was always a great deal more than that" and expressed his satisfaction that the publication of Pond's autobiography "should go a long way toward bringing back into focus one of America's most interesting and important architectural practices."
Pond was also a frequent contributor to architectural journals and wrote for The Dial
. In 1910, he published an essay in Gustav Stickley
's The Craftsman
, advocating an architectural style embodying the American spirit and idealism. In 1918, he published the book The Meaning of Architecture.
In 1908, Pond's 13-page article on the architecture of telephone exchange buildings, illustrated by the designs of Pond and Louis Sullivan
, also appeared in Architectural Record.
Books by Pond
After his brother died in 1929, Pond married Katherine N. de Nancrede, who was 47 years old, at a ceremony in Ann Arbor. Pond said at the time, "It's the first time I ever did it, and I thought I ought to be pardoned because of my youth." Pond was also an amateur acrobat and remained a physical fitness buff all of his life. At the time of his wedding in 1929, the Associated Press reported that he is "almost as well known for his present athletic agility as for his architectural accomplishments. A part of his daily routine is to turn handsprings and flipflops and do other strenuous exercises." He drew applause when, on his 80th birthday, he grabbed his bare knees with both hands and performed a backflip
. A photograph of Pond's feat was published in Life
magazine in June 1937.
Though he was some 25 years older than his wife, Pond outlived her. She died in 1935, and Pond died four years later in September 1939 while traveling in Washington, D.C.
. The cause of death was reported as a stomach ulcer. He was age 82 when he died, and he asked that his remains be cremated and sent to the University of Michigan.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
architect, college athlete, and author.
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
, Pond attended the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and received a degree in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
in 1879. He was a member of the first University of Michigan football team
1879 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1879 college football season. The team was the first intercollegiate football squad to represent the University of Michigan. They played two games, winning one and tying the other. In its first intercollegiate...
and scored the first touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
in the school's history in May 1879.
After graduating from Michigan, Pond moved to Chicago
Chicago
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...
where he worked as an architect from 1879 to 1939. He began his architectural career as a draftsman in the offices of William LeBaron Jenney and worked as the head draftsman in the office of Solon Spencer Beman
Solon Spencer Beman
Solon Spencer Beman was an American architect who was based in Chicago, best known as the architect of the planned Pullman community and adjacent Pullman Company factory complex. Several of his other largest commissions, including the Pullman Office Building, Pabst Building, and Grand Central...
during the construction of the planned
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
Pullman community
Pullman, Chicago
Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent Lake Calumet....
. In 1886, Pond formed the Chicago architectural firm Pond and Pond
Pond and Pond
Pond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond.-Overview:Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irregular massing of forms. One of their earliest...
in partnership with his brother Allen Bartlitt Pond. The Pond brothers worked together for more than 40 years, and their buildings are considered to be among the best examples of Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
architecture in Chicago. The Ponds gained acclaim as the architects of Jane Addams
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
' Hull House
Hull House
Hull House is a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of , Hull House opened its doors to the recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had grown to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull...
, and three of their buildings have been declared National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
s -- the Hull House dining hall, the Lorado Taft Midway Studios
Lorado Taft Midway Studios
The Lorado Taft Midway Studios consist of a converted and relocated barn that became the art studio of one of the early 20th century's most important sculptors, Lorado Taft. It is located in the Woodlawn community area of Chicago, Illinois and is now owned by the University of Chicago. It was...
, and the Frank R. Lillie House
Frank R. Lillie House
The Frank R. Lillie House is the former home of American embryologist Frank R. Lillie. Located at 5801 South Kenwood Avenue in Hyde Park community area of Chicago, Illinois, the building was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976.-Note:...
. Pond became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1900 and served as president of 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...
from 1910 to 1911.
Pond was also a leader in the Chicago arts community in the late 19th and early 20th Century. He was one of the founders of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony
Eagle's Nest Art Colony
The Eagle's Nest Art Colony, the site known in more modern times as the Lorado Taft Field Campus, was founded in 1898 by American sculptor Lorado Taft on the bluffs flanking the east bank of the Rock River, overlooking Oregon, Illinois...
and a member of the Chicago Literary Club from 1888 to 1939. Pond was also a published author of fiction, poetry, and essays on art and architecture. He was also a frequent contributor to architectural journals and wrote for The Dial
The Dial
The Dial was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. In the 1880s it was revived as a political magazine...
and Gustav Stickley
Gustav Stickley
Gustav Stickley was a manufacturer of furniture and the leading proselytizer for the American Arts and Crafts movement, an extension of the British Arts and Crafts movement.-Biography:...
's The Craftsman
The Craftsman
The Craftsman was a magazine founded by Gustav Stickley in 1901 which carried house designs that created the American Craftsman architectural style....
. In 1918, he published the book The Meaning of Architecture summarizing his views on the role of architecture in the broader spectrum of the arts.
Early years and education
Pond was born in Ann Arbor, MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
in 1857. He was the son of Elihu Pond and Mary Barlow (Allen) Pond. His father was a member of the Michigan State Senate, warden of the Michigan state prison for two years, the first president of the Michigan Press Association and the editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, the Argus of Ann Arbor. Growing up in Ann Arbor, Pond lived in a house on the current site of the Michigan Union
Michigan Union
The Michigan Union is a student union at the University of Michigan. It is located at the intersection of South State Street and South University Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan....
, a building he later designed. His next door neighbor as a child was the noted legal scholar, Thomas M. Cooley
Thomas M. Cooley
Thomas McIntyre Cooley, LL.D., was the 25th Justice and a Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, between 1864 and 1885. Born in Attica, New York, he was father to Charles Cooley, a distinguished American sociologist...
. Cooley encouraged the young Pond, who aspired to be an artist, by presenting him with his first art book and by commissioning Pond to draw a set of cartoons of the Cooley family. Pond attended the public schools in Ann Arbor before enrolling at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
.
Pond was an engineering student at the University of Michigan from 1875 to 1879 and took architecture classes taught by Chicago architect William LeBaron Jenney. Six years later, Jenney gained fame for designing Chicago's metal-framed Home Insurance Building
Home Insurance Building
The Home Insurance Building was built in 1884 in Chicago, Illinois, USA and destroyed in 1931 to make way for the Field Building . It was the first building to use structural steel in its frame, but the majority of its structure was composed of cast and wrought iron...
. In 1934, Pond wrote an article challenging the popular assertion that the Home Insurance Building was the first steel-framed skyscraper.
While attending the University of Michigan, Pond was a member of the first Michigan Wolverines football team
1879 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1879 college football season. The team was the first intercollegiate football squad to represent the University of Michigan. They played two games, winning one and tying the other. In its first intercollegiate...
. On May 30, 1879, the team played its first intercollegiate football game against Racine College
Racine College
Racine College was an Episcopal college in Racine, Wisconsin, founded in 1852. The collegiate department closed in 1887, but the college continued to be used as a grammar school and a military school until it closed in 1933....
at White Stocking Park in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
." Pond scored the first touchdown in University of Michigan history in the match. He scored the touchdown midway through "the first 'inning'." According to Will Perry's history of Michigan football, the crowd responded to Pond's plays with cheers of "Pond Forever." Pond graduated from Michigan in 1879 with a degree in civil engineering.
Early career
In 1879, Pond 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...
to pursue a career as an architect. He worked as a draftsman in the offices of his former teacher, William LeBaron Jenney, and worked as the head draftsman in the office of Solon Spencer Beman
Solon Spencer Beman
Solon Spencer Beman was an American architect who was based in Chicago, best known as the architect of the planned Pullman community and adjacent Pullman Company factory complex. Several of his other largest commissions, including the Pullman Office Building, Pabst Building, and Grand Central...
during the construction of the planned
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
Pullman community
Pullman, Chicago
Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent Lake Calumet....
. While working with Beman, Pond was an ardent supporter of the Pullman planned community, he later acknowledged the resentment of Pullman residents that the town was anachronistic and represented some form of medieval barony.
Some of Pond's earliest works as an independent architect were for clients in his home town of Ann Arbor and nearby Detroit. As early as 1882, he designed "a modest but commodious home of stone and brick" on South State Street for Dr. Victor C. Vaughan. Pond later pointed to the designs of the old mantels in the Vaughan house which "foreshadowed his future works." He also designed Ann Arbor's Ladies Library Association Building (1885) and the West Physics Building for the University of Michigan, built in 1887 and destroyed by fire in 1967. In 1887, he renovated the Detroit Opera House
Detroit Opera House
The Detroit Opera House is an opera house located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the venue for all Michigan Opera Theatre productions and it hosts a variety of other events. It opened on January 22, 1922....
, increasing the seating capacity to 2,100 and relocating the auditorium to the main floor.
In 1886, Pond and his brother Allen Bartlitt Pond (1858–1929) formed their own architectural firm in Chicago under the name Pond and Pond
Pond and Pond
Pond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond.-Overview:Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irregular massing of forms. One of their earliest...
. The brothers continued to operate the firm for more than 40 years, and their buildings are considered to be among the best examples of Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
architecture in Chicago.
Hull House and settlement house movement
The Pond brothers gained their greatest acclaim as the architects for Jane AddamsJane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
's Hull House
Hull House
Hull House is a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of , Hull House opened its doors to the recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had grown to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull...
. Their father's work as warden of the state prison had sparked an interest in social reform and the settlement house movement. Allen Bartlitt Pond was the assistant superintendent of the Armour Mission
Philip Danforth Armour
Philip Danforth Armour, Sr. was an American businessman who founded Armour and Company, an American meatpacking firm.-Biography:...
, an educational and healthcare center, when Jane Addams came to Chicago in January 1889 looking for a building in which to open a new settlement house. The two became friends and were riding in a carriage when Addams saw an old two-story brick house on Halsted Street. Addams took a lease on the house, which she named Hull House after its original owner, and hired the Ponds to put the old house into shape.
Between 1890 and 1907, the Ponds were the architects for the Hull House as the project expanded rapidly. The first building they designed for Hull House was the Butler Art Gallery. Built in 1891, the Butler Gallery was situated on the same lot as Hull House. It consisted of a reading room, an exhibition hall that was "the last word in design and lighting for those days," and a studio above. Numerous other building projects followed, including the original coffee house and gymnasium in 1893, the Children's Building in 1895, remodels and additions to the original building in 1895 and 1899, the Jane Club in 1898, a new Coffee House and Hull House Theater in 1899, the Hull House Apartments and Men's Club in 1901 and 1902, the Woman's Club (Bowen Hall) in 1904, the Boys' Club in 1906 and the Mary Crane Nursery in 1907. The Pond brothers were affectionately known by residents of the Hull House complex as Allen the "deep Pond" and Irving the "wide pond."
One of Addams' biographers wrote that the "Pond brothers did it all, harmonized everything," and described the scene when Irving Pond attended Addams' memorial service in 1935:
"Irving K., at Jane Addams memorial services in the Hull House Court, when Doctor Gilkey said, 'if you seek her monument look around you,' looked round also with tears in his eyes but pride in his heart; the visible memorial to Jane Addams was also a visible memorial to the Ponds."
The only surviving building from the Ponds' Hull House complex is the 1905 dining hall, a simple Craftsman style building that was designated as a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in the 1960s.
The Ponds also designed club houses and settlement houses for other social reform organizations, including the Chicago Commons settlement house building (1901), the Northwestern University Settlement House (1901), and the City Club of Chicago
City Club of Chicago
The City Club of Chicago is a nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization intended to foster civic responsibility, promote public issues, and provide a forum for open political debate. Founded in 1903, it is the longest-running public policy forum in Chicago.- History :When the City Club began,...
building (1910). The City Club building, noted for its "gently curving limestone arch that ties together the windows of the second floor," is today operated as the John Marshall Law School
John Marshall Law School (Chicago)
The John Marshall Law School is a law school in Chicago, Illinois, that was founded in 1899 and accredited by the American Bar Association in 1941. The school was named for the influential nineteenth century U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall....
. When the City Club building opened in 1910, its was considered a symbol of the reform movement:
"The new building embodied the soaring expectations of the reform movement, as well as providing the material comforts of a middle-class social club. Its two-story dining-lecture hall, complete with balcony and private eating chambers, accommodated over two hundred for the weekly luncheon talks on social and political issues of the day. ... Architect and club member Irving K. Pond declared that 'every line of the building illustrated some phase of the uplift movement.'"
Eagle's Nest and related activities
Eagle's Nest Art Colony
The Eagle's Nest Art Colony, the site known in more modern times as the Lorado Taft Field Campus, was founded in 1898 by American sculptor Lorado Taft on the bluffs flanking the east bank of the Rock River, overlooking Oregon, Illinois...
near Oregon, Illinois
Oregon, Illinois
Oregon is a city located in Ogle County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 3,721, down from 4,060 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ogle County.- History :...
. Pond and eleven others, including his brother Allen Pond, Lorado Taft
Lorado Taft
Lorado Zadoc Taft was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Taft was born in Elmwood, Illinois in 1860 and died in his home studio in Chicago in 1936.-Early years and education:...
, Hamlin Garland
Hamlin Garland
Hannibal Hamlin Garland was an American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his fiction involving hard-working Midwestern farmers.- Biography :...
, Ralph Clarkson, Horace Spencer Fiske, leased a plot of land on a steep ridge with "craggy rocks" and gnarled cedars overlooking the Rock River. The Pond brothers designed the home that was built for the colony, and the group spent their summers at the colony with other sculptors, painters, writers, architects, naturalists and kindred spirits.
The artists colony became integrated with the Oregon community, and the Pond brothers undertook several significant architectural projects in the Oregon area:
- Oregon Public LibraryOregon Public LibraryThe Oregon Public Library is located in Oregon, Illinois, United States, the county seat of Ogle County. The building is a public library that was constructed in 1909. Prior to 1909, Oregon's library was housed in different buildings, none of which were designed to house a library. The library was...
. In 1908, the city of Oregon built a new public library based on a design by Pond and Pond and with funding from Andrew CarnegieAndrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. The Ponds' design has been described as having a "commodious and pleasing" interior with an exterior of white brick and Elizabethan-Gothic architecture. One of the unusual features of the design was a two-story art room in which artists from Eagle's Nest displayed their works and offered instruction to local residents. - The Soldier's MonumentThe Soldiers' Monument (Oregon, Illinois)The Soldiers' Monument is a memorial consisting of three statues, one in bronze and two in marble by sculptor Lorado Taft, grouped around an exedra designed by the architectural firm of Pond and Pond. It is located in Oregon, Illinois, the county seat of Ogle County, Illinois. It was dedicated in...
. In 1916, the city commissioned a monument that included sculpture by Lorado TaftLorado TaftLorado Zadoc Taft was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Taft was born in Elmwood, Illinois in 1860 and died in his home studio in Chicago in 1936.-Early years and education:...
and an elaborate marble exedraExedraIn architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's facade. The original Greek sense was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical...
by Pond and Pond. - Lowden Residence. The residence of Frank Lowden, Governor of Illinois from 1917–1921, was another Pond and PondPond and PondPond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond.-Overview:Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irregular massing of forms. One of their earliest...
design. The house is located several miles south of Oregon on the Sinnissippi Farm.
In 1907, Pond was also one of the founders with Hamlin Garland
Hamlin Garland
Hannibal Hamlin Garland was an American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his fiction involving hard-working Midwestern farmers.- Biography :...
of the Cliff Dwellers (originally known as the Attic Club and later the Little Room), a private club in Chicago for professionals engaged in the fine arts and performing arts. In its early years as the Little Room, the group was described as "an exclusive organization consisting of creative individuals of like temperament joined together for relaxation." Pond served as president of the Cliff Dwellers from 1934 to 1935.
Professional organizations
In recognition of his contributions to architecture, Pond became a Fellow of the American Institute of ArchitectsAmerican 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 1900 and served as president of the American Institute of Architects from 1910 to 1911. He also represented the U.S. government and the AIA at the International Congress of Architects at Rome and Venice in 1911, delivering addresses at both. He was also a founder of the Chicago Architectural Club and served as president of the Illinois Society of Architects.
Notable commissions
- Unless otherwise mentioned all were designed by Pond and PondPond and PondPond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond.-Overview:Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irregular massing of forms. One of their earliest...
Pond's best known buildings include three National Historic Landmark structures located in Chicago — the Hull House dining hall the Lorado Taft Midway Studios
Lorado Taft Midway Studios
The Lorado Taft Midway Studios consist of a converted and relocated barn that became the art studio of one of the early 20th century's most important sculptors, Lorado Taft. It is located in the Woodlawn community area of Chicago, Illinois and is now owned by the University of Chicago. It was...
, and the Frank R. Lillie House
Frank R. Lillie House
The Frank R. Lillie House is the former home of American embryologist Frank R. Lillie. Located at 5801 South Kenwood Avenue in Hyde Park community area of Chicago, Illinois, the building was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976.-Note:...
(1904). Other notable Pond designs include the Freer House (1898) in Ann Arbor, the American School of Correspondence building (1906–1907) in Chicago, the federal building in Kankakee, Illinois
Kankakee, Illinois
Kankakee is a city in Kankakee County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 25,561, and 26,840 as of a 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Kankakee County...
, the Michigan Union (1919) built on the site of Pond's boyhood home in Ann Arbor, the Purdue Memorial Union
Purdue Memorial Union
The Purdue Memorial Union is a student union building located on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. It opened in 1924 as a memorial to the Purdue students who had fought in World War I...
(1924) at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, the MSU Union in East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located directly east of Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital. Most of the city is within Ingham County, though a small portion lies in Clinton County. The population was 48,579 at the time of the 2010 census, an increase from...
, the Kansas Memorial Union at Kansas University, the Park Ridge Public Library
Park Ridge Public Library
The Park Ridge Public Library serves residents and businesses of the village of Park Ridge, Illinois. Park Ridge is a northwest suburb of Chicago. The library serves a population of 37,775 residents and is located at 20 S. Prospect Ave, Park Ridge, IL 60068 in the Uptown neighborhood...
, the Michigan League in Ann Arbor, the Omaha Apartments in Chicago, the Kent Building in Chicago (1902), and the Toll Building in Chicago (1908).
Architectural style and philosophy
As early as 1892, Pond became known as one of the "earliest modernizers in architecture." The Art Institute of ChicagoArt Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, where Pond's papers are housed, said of the firm: "While Pond and Pond were best known through their work for social service organizations, they designed a wide range of buildings — social, religious, educational/academic, residential, governmental, and civic — mainly in the Chicago area and the Midwest. They were known for detailed brickwork, asymmetrical massing, and distinctive decorative detail, producing fine examples of Arts and Crafts and early modern architecture."
In 1905 a 15-page article in the Architectural Record
Architectural Record
Architectural Record is an American monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design, published by McGraw-Hill Construction in New York City. It is over 110 years old...
by Pond and illustrated by his designs was published. Pond described his views in it about architecture as an art:
"Architecture is an art, and as an art, it does not consist simply in piling up forms, old or new, but is a means of expression. ... If architecture is an art and art consists in the expression of life, then that is neither architecture nor art which merely reproduces, even in new combinations, the old forms because they were once the accepted forms. That is a phase of archaeology and is unworthy of living architecture. ... However, the old ideas are not to be spurned and the old forms are not altogether to be cast aside when they contain the spark of life ..."
Pond's article was viewed by some as a criticism of those in 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,...
who overemphasized the horizontal over the vertical. In this regard, Pond wrote:
"In architectural composition, as in music, order is comprehended in rhythm. Rhythm is expressed in the flow of part into part, of mass into mass, in the appearance and reappearance of certain proportions which are made to exist between the subordinate masses and between these masses and the dominant mass; between all the parts of the perfect whole. Without order there is no architecture; without rhythmic composition no vital architecture can be. That is the highest architecture in which rhythmic action of the structural forces becomes apparent. Vertical forces in action, by the law of gravity, tend to work in right lines; horizontal forces, acted upon by this same law tend to work in curves. ... It is not enough that the rhythmic movement be in horizontal direction only, but there must be a rhythmic flow vertically as well. The result of these combined movements should be that of unity -- simple in its effect though complex in its harmonies."
Role in the Chicago school
In the AIA Guide to Chicago, the Ponds are identified as part of the "circle of young architects", including Frank Lloyd WrightFrank 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...
, that was responsible for "transforming the concepts of the Arts & Crafts movement into the indigenous Prairie School." Pond was a contemporary, and in some ways rival, of Wright in the Chicago architectural scene
Chicago school (architecture)
Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. The style is also known as Commercial style. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century...
of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Both were members of the Chicago Architectural Club and served as judges and participants in the Club's annual competitions. One biographer of Wright noted that Wright was insulted when the American Institute of Architects in 1912 commissioned a study of midwestern "progressive architecture" and instructed the investigators to examine the work of Louis Sullivan and Pond, but not including Wright. In a letter to Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
, Wright expressed his dislike for the "truly-old" Pond:
"Yesterday someone told me that truly-old I.K. Pond took exception to your 'Sticks and Stones' because you weren't a 'practicing architect.' What 'practicing architects' know anything at all of architecture anyway, -- even if they could write about it? Certainly not he. He's a dried herring, hanging beneath the eaves or Architecture."
While progressive in his approach to architecture, Pond was not as revolutionary as others in the Chicago school of his day. Architect Stuart Cohen, FAIA, noted that, while the Pond brothers' architecture departs from traditional architectural styles, they "did not break radically from such stylistic forms" but sought instead "to create a modern American architecture without rejecting architectural stylistic traditions, but simplifying them through the emphasis of geometry and the inherent quality of building materials and construction."
In 2009, Pond's autobiography, written in the two years before his death, was published by Hyoogen Press through the efforts of Chicago architect David Swan. At the time of the autobiography's release, architecture historian Robert Bruegmann
Robert Bruegmann
Robert Bruegmann is an historian of architecture, landscape and the built environment. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a specialist on the Chicago school , and best known for his research on the architectural firm of Holabird & Root...
opined that the Pond brothers "have remained relatively obscure because they didn't fit in with narratives that wished to see Chicago architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a prelude to European modernism of the 1920s." Nevertheless, Bruegmann noted that "Chicago architecture was always a great deal more than that" and expressed his satisfaction that the publication of Pond's autobiography "should go a long way toward bringing back into focus one of America's most interesting and important architectural practices."
Author
Pond was a noted author and member of the Chicago Literary Club from 1888 to 1939. He was the club's president from 1922 to 1923. Many of his works of fiction, poems and papers on art and architecture were published by the club, including "A Strange Fellow: A Story with an Immoral" (1889), "The Mystery of the Light" (1891), "The Pleasures of Travel (1894), "Can Architecture Become Again a Living Art?" (1895), "The Whale - A Study: The Historic School of Jonah" (1897), "The Poetry of Motion: and Other Matters" (1899), "A Few Meloncholy Reflections and Lively Anticipations of Misdeeds to Come" (1905), "A Side Light on Architecture" (1906), "Art and the Expression of Individuality" (1911), "Architecture: Its Origins and Illusions" (1914),"Poems" (1917), "Here Lies the Way" (1918), "Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On." "The Stones of Venice" (1919), "A Day Under the Big Top: A Study in Life and Art" (1924), "On Believing and Leaving" (1928), "Toward an American Architecture" (1930), "Hold Your Horses: The Elephants Are Coming!" (1931), "What Is Modern Architecture?" (1933), "Just One Thing After Another" (1934), and "Do Children Think?" (1938).Pond was also a frequent contributor to architectural journals and wrote for The Dial
The Dial
The Dial was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. In the 1880s it was revived as a political magazine...
. In 1910, he published an essay in Gustav Stickley
Gustav Stickley
Gustav Stickley was a manufacturer of furniture and the leading proselytizer for the American Arts and Crafts movement, an extension of the British Arts and Crafts movement.-Biography:...
's The Craftsman
The Craftsman
The Craftsman was a magazine founded by Gustav Stickley in 1901 which carried house designs that created the American Craftsman architectural style....
, advocating an architectural style embodying the American spirit and idealism. In 1918, he published the book The Meaning of Architecture.
In 1908, Pond's 13-page article on the architecture of telephone exchange buildings, illustrated by the designs of Pond and 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...
, also appeared in Architectural Record.
Books by Pond
- The Meaning Of Architecture: An Essay In Constructive Criticism (1918)
- The College Union (1931)
- Big Top Rhythms: A Study in Art and Life, written and illustrated by Pond (1937)
- A Strange Fellow, and other Club Papers, written and illustrated by Pond (1938)
- The Autobiography of Irving K. Pond, written in the 1930s and published posthumously (2009)
Later years
Pond was a bachelor until age 72. Through most of his life, his closest friend was his brother Allen Pond. In 1918, he wrote the following in the dedication to his book, The Meaning of Architecture:"This book is dedicated to my brother -- my lifelong companion and partner Allen Bartlit Pond. Through his sympathy and understanding, in the light of his clear thought, and under his inspiration I have been better able to follow those paths of individual, professional and civic endeavor in which a rare ancestry bade us walk."
After his brother died in 1929, Pond married Katherine N. de Nancrede, who was 47 years old, at a ceremony in Ann Arbor. Pond said at the time, "It's the first time I ever did it, and I thought I ought to be pardoned because of my youth." Pond was also an amateur acrobat and remained a physical fitness buff all of his life. At the time of his wedding in 1929, the Associated Press reported that he is "almost as well known for his present athletic agility as for his architectural accomplishments. A part of his daily routine is to turn handsprings and flipflops and do other strenuous exercises." He drew applause when, on his 80th birthday, he grabbed his bare knees with both hands and performed a backflip
Flip (acrobatic)
An acrobatic flip is a sequence of body movements in which a person leaps into the air and then rotates one or more times while airborne. Acrobatic flips are performed in acro dance, free running, gymnastics, tricking, and various other activities...
. A photograph of Pond's feat was published in Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine in June 1937.
Though he was some 25 years older than his wife, Pond outlived her. She died in 1935, and Pond died four years later in September 1939 while traveling in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. The cause of death was reported as a stomach ulcer. He was age 82 when he died, and he asked that his remains be cremated and sent to the University of Michigan.
External links
- Irving Kane Pond's American Circus Collection at The Newberry Library