Join author Patrick F. Cannon as he discusses his new book, Louis Sullivan: An American Architect (University of Minnesota Press, 2024), published on the 100th anniversary of the architect’s death.

The designs of Louis Sullivan, FAIA, (1856-1924) stand today as leading exemplars of Chicago School architecture. Having spent much of his career in a late Victorian world of ornament for ornament’s sake, Sullivan refuted this style with the now-famous dictum “Form follows function.” This break from tradition is perhaps most evident in Sullivan’s strides to reimagine commercial space—from America’s earliest skyscrapers to the small-town banks that populated the architect’s commissions in the second half of his career. In the new book, nearly 200 photographs with descriptive captions document Sullivan’s genius for Modern design. Cannon introduces each chapter and discusses the influences that shaped Sullivan’s illustrious career. Rare historical photographs chronicle those buildings that, sadly, have since been destroyed, while James Caulfield’s contemporary photography captures those still standing.

After his retirement in 2001 as manager of the Public Relations and Communications Division of the International Association of Lions Clubs, Cannon began a partnership with photographer Caulfield that has yielded eight books on Chicago architecture and architects. Three were Gold Medal winners at the Independent Publisher Book Awards: The Space Within: Inside Great Chicago Buildings (Pomegranate Communications, 2016), At Home in Chicago: A Living History of Domestic Architecture (CityFiles Press, 2021), and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple: A Good-Time Place Reborn (Unity Temple Restoration Foundation, 2022).

Authors on Architecture: Cannon on Sullivan, Sunday, October 13, 2024; 1-2:30 PM PST; $5; go to www.sahscc.org and pay via PayPal; Zoom connection information sent upon registration.

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