John Augur Holabird
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John Augur Holabird (1886 - 1945) was a significant U.S. architect based in Chicago. Born on May 4, 1886, the day of Chicago's Haymarket Riot, John was the son of architect William Holabird. As a young man he studied architecture at Paris' Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he became friends with John Wellborn Root, Jr., the son of another famous Chicago architect. After school, Holabird joined his father's architecture firm, Holabird & Roche.
After the deaths of his father in 1923 and Martin Roche in 1927, the firm was reorganized under the new partnership of John and his friend Root and renamed Holabird & Root. They worked on many dazzling projects in the late '20s and early '30s, before the Great Depression slowed new construction. These years are notable for the firm's many impressive Art Deco buildings.
The firm weathered the Depression and is still active. John died just as victory was declared in Europe for World War II. His nephew Bill Holabird was named a partner in the firm in 1945, and John A. Holabird, Jr., became a partner in 1970.
[edit] Significant buildings
- Palmolive Building, 1929
- 333 North Michigan Building, 1928
- Chicago Board of Trade Building, 1930
- Chicago Daily News Building, 1929
- Chrysler Building at the Century of Progress 1933-34 World's Fair
[edit] Sources
Bruegmann, Robert. Holabird & Roche/Holabird & Root: An Illustrated Catalog of Works, 1880-1940. New York: Garland Publishing, 1991.
