Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
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Graham, Anderson, Probst & White is a Chicago architecture firm that was founded in 1912 originally as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. by Daniel Burnham's surviving partner Ernest Graham and Burnham's sons Hubert Burnham and Daniel Burnham Jr. In 1917, the Burnhams left to form Burnham Brothers, and Graham and the others, (William) Peirce Anderson, Edward Mathias Probst, and Howard Judson White formed the current firm.
Graham, Anderson, Probst and White was the largest architectural firm under one roof in the first half of the twentieth century. Their importance to Chicago's architectural legacy cannot be overstated. This one firm seemed to capture the majority of the big commissions from 1912 to 1936, including such iconic works as the Wrigley Building, Merchandise Mart, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Civic Opera House, and the old main U. S. Post Office. They also created the iconic Terminal Tower in Cleveland. Mr. Anderson died in 1924, with Graham and White following just weeks apart in 1936. Surviving partner Probst took over the firm, assisted by his sons Marvin and Edward E. Probst.
After Mr. Probst's death in 1942, his son Marvin G. Probst took over as firm president. Edward E. Probst left the firm about 1947. Just prior to Marvin's death in 1970, the firm was sold to an employee, William R. Surman and since his death in 1993, it is being run by his son Robert Surman.
The firm is known for its classical taste and the elegance of its Beaux Arts-inspired output that has withstood multiple generations of critics. Their buildings are still popular favorites.
[edit] Architectural sculpture
Like most of the other prominent architectural firms of the early 20th Century GAP&W frequently used sculpture to decorate their buildings. Like many of the other firms of the era GAP&W had specific artists that they preferred to work with. One in particular was New Yorker Henry Hering who created the sculptured pediment for the Civic Opera House, a variety of details for the Field Museum, including a variation on the Erectheum porch, as well as the allegorical figures Day and Night in the Great Room of the Chicago Train Station. As the century progressed the firm moved away from the classical style used by Hering to more contemporary art deco styled work as that attributed to sculptor Frank Jirouch on Cleveland's Midland Building.
[edit] References
- Bach, Ira, Chicago On Foot: Walking Tours of Chicago's Architecture, Rand McNally & Company, Chicago 1979
- Bach, Ira, editor, Chicago's Famous Buildings, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1980
- Chappell, Sally Kitt, Transforming Tradition: Architecture and Planning of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, 1912 – 1936, University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL 1992
