The following architects, designers and builders all played
significant roles in creating the historic architectural
heritage of Hinsdale. Some, such as William G. Barfield
and R. Harold Zook, spent most of their professional careers
in Hinsdale and designed some of the village's most prominent
buildings. Others, including Patton & Fisher and George
Grant Elmslie, designed only one structure in the area,
yet those structures have become local landmarks.
William G.
Barfield
Born in England, Barfield came to the United States in 1882
and established an architectural practice in Chicago, where
he worked until his death in 1935. He was a long-time resident
of Hinsdale, building his first house here in 1912 at 136
South Oak Street. He later moved to 112 North Lincoln Street
and remained there for the rest of his life. The Hinsdale
Theatre, with its beautiful cream-colored terra cotta ornament,
is typical of the best commercial work of the 1920s. Unlike
his contemporary, R. Harold Zook, Barfield was drawn to
the simplicity of the Craftsman and Prairie styles for his
house designs. The design of 441 East Third Street reflects
his love of the Prairie Style's horizontality, simple stucco
and wood wall surfaces and large expanses of window. · 138
North Grant Street (1921)
- 29 East First Street (1925), Hinsdale Theatre Building
- 101 South Washington Street (1927), Gap Building
- 441 East Third Street (c.1910)
- 136 South Oak Street (1912)
- 739 South Washington Street (date unknown)
Solon S. Beman
Beman, Spencer & Solon
Beman practiced for over 40 years in the Chicago area, designing
numerous Christian Science churches and houses in various
historical revival styles. In his hometown of Winnetka he
was responsible for the design of over 60 houses and several
public buildings. He continued the highly successful practice
of his father, famous Chicago architect S. S. Beman, particularly
in his association with the Christian Science church. This
Hinsdale example is a simple and straightforward Colonial
Revival design that blends well with its residential neighborhood.
- 405 East First Street (1950), First Church of Christ
Scientist
Edwin H. Clark
A graduate of Yale and native Chicagoan, Clark began work
with William A. Otis in 1903 and was made a partner in 1908.
He moved to Winnetka that same year. Although he worked
primarily on North Shore houses, Clark also designed numerous
larger commissions such as the Brookfield Zoo and Wilmette's
Plaza del Lago. He also designed the fine Winnetka Village
Hall. He remained a prominent and respected architect until
his retirement in 1953. He won the commission for The Memorial
Building in an open competition.
William Drummond
He was a Prairie School architect who joined Frank Lloyd
Wright's studio in 1899, finally departing in 1909. Born
in New Jersey, his family came to Chicago when he was ten.
He attended classes in architecture at the University of
Illinois while working as a carpenter. He became acquainted
with Wright's work in Oak Park on one of his many long evening
walks, applied for a position, and was hired within days.
He also worked as a draftsman for Richard Schmidt and D.
H. Burnham during the same time. From 1910 -1915 Drummond
partnered with Louis Guenzel. After that he practiced alone,
abandoning the Prairie style after World War I.
- 105 North Grant Street (1912)
George
Grant Elmslie
He immigrated to the United States from Scotland with his
parents when he was a child. He began his apprenticeship
in the office of William LeBaron Jenney, and in 1887 joined
Frank Lloyd Wright and George Maher in the office Jospeh
Lyman Silsbee. For twenty years he worked with Dankmar Adler
and Louis Sullivan, were he was Sullivan's chief draftsman
and ornamental designer. He detailed the ornamentation for
the Schlesinger & Mayer (currently known as Carson Pirie
Scott) Department store in Chicago. In 1909 he went to work
with William Gray Purcell and their partnership became the
most active and productive within the Prairie School.
Jenney & Mundie
William LeBaron Jenney began his career as an engineer in
the Civil War. He arrived in Chicago in 1867 and worked
with Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to design the
picturesque suburb of Riverside. Jenney also helped plan
Chicago's boulevard and park system. He is most well known,
however, for his work in developing the steel-framed skyscraper
and for training a generation of Chicago architects in the
1870s and 1880s. William Mundie, the son and grandson of
Canadian architects, joined Jenney in 1884 and became his
partner in 1891. The house at 134 North Lincoln Street,
locally known as "the terra cotta house", was built for
the owner of the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company.
- 134 North Lincoln Street (1894), Terra Cotta House
George W. Maher
Maher began his architectural education in 1878 with the
prominent Chicago architects Augustus Bauer and Henry Hill.
In 1887, he joined the office of Shingle style architect
Joseph L. Silsbee as a draftsman, where he worked with fellow
draftsman Frank Lloyd Wright. During the 1890s he worked
in a variety of styles, his Shingle and Queen Anne projects
were widely reviewed in the Inland Architect journal during
this time period. By the late 1890s his work began to reflect
characteristics of the Prairie style and he is considered
on the pioneer Prairie style architects along with Frank
Lloyd Wright, Purcell & Elmslie, and Walter Burley Griffin.
He developed the campus plan for Northwestern University
in 1907 and designed Swift Hall and Patten Gymnasium on
that campus. After World War I, Maher became a vocal proponent
of community planning and prepared development plans for
Glencoe and Kenilworth.
- 306 South Garfield Street (1899), William Coffeen
residence
Alfred F. Pashley
Born in Wisconsin and educated in the Chicago Public Schools,
Pashley began practicing architecture in Chicago in 1885
and was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects
and member of the Illinois Chapter of the American Institute
of Architecture. In 1880, Pashley designed the Cardinal's
residence located at 1555 North State Parkway, in the Gold
Coast of Chicago with a picturesque roofline of many chimneys,
turrets, dormers and gables in the Queen Anne style.
- 330 South County Line Road (1925)
Patton & Fisher
Normand S. Patton was educated at M.I.T. and established
his practice in Chicago in 1874. Although he and Fisher
were partners from 1885-1901, very little is known about
Fisher. Patton designed such notable buildings as the Armour
Institute (now part of I.I.T.) and the Chicago Academy of
Science as well as numerous college buildings and campus
plans, including work at Millikin, Purdue and Carlton College.
He also designed over 100 Carnegie libraries. He lived in
Oak Park, where he designed the Scoville Institute and the
First Congregational Church. He became a Fellow of the American
Institute of Architects in 1889 and served on its board
for two terms. He was held in great respect by his peers
for his thoughtful designs and ingenious plans.
Eben Ezra
"E.E." Roberts
Roberts first worked for S.S. Beman (Sr.) in Pullman as
a site superintendent starting in 1889. He set up his own
practice in Oak Park in 1893, where he designed nearly 200
houses. Although he worked in a variety of styles, his work
favored the Prairie style of his Oak Park contemporary Frank
Lloyd Wright. The house at 231 East Third Street was designed
for A. W. True in a bold Prairie style with deep eaves and
bands of windows set in dark wood trim. In 1912 Roberts
moved his office to Chicago and began to concentrate more
on commercial designs, including several important buildings
in Oak Park. He retired in 1926, leaving his practice to
his son Elmer.
- 231 East Third Street (1908)
Shepley,
Rutan & Coolidge
This well-known Boston architectural firm established a
Chicago office in 1888 and played an important role in the
master plan and designs for the University of Chicago, the
Art Institute and the Chicago Public Library (now the Chicago
Cultural Center). Although they inherited the practice of
H. H. Richardson in 1886, the firm turned away from Richardson's
Romanesque Revival to embrace the Renaissance Revival made
famous by the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The house at 244
East First Street, with its Classical details and symmetry,
is a skillful example of their work. The carriage house
on Elm Street was moved and converted to residential use
in 1955.
Philip Duke
West
Graduating from the University of Michigan in 1929, West
weathered the Depression as a designer and draftsman at
important Chicago architectural firms, including Holabid
& Root and Schmidt, Garden & Erickson. In 1947 he set up
his own practice in Hinsdale, where he had begun designing
buildings in the 1930s. He was responsible for numerous
public buildings in Hinsdale (including the present Police
and Fire Station on Symonds Drive) and served on the Plan
Commission starting in 1950. The best of his work was executed
in the International Style, with ribbons of metal-framed
windows set in simple limestone bands and red brickwork.
- 33 East Third Street (1950), Hinsdale Furrier
- 420 East Third Street (1954)
- 740 South Elm Street (c.1935)
R. Harold Zook
Zook studied at the Armour Institute (now I.I.T.) and apprenticed
to Howard Van Doren Shaw. He opened his own office in Chicago
in 1924, the same year he moved his young family to a small
house of his own design at 327 S. Oak in Hinsdale. Although
Zook was busy during the 1920s, the Depression of the 1930s
took its toll on his business. Zook was involved in the
choosing of Edwin H. Clark, the architect for the Memorial
Building and in 1932 was chairman of the Hinsdale Plan Commission.
Ultimately, Zook built 31 houses and 6 commercial buildings
in Hinsdale. He also designed the Art Deco Municipal Building
in St. Charles City Hall and the Pickwick Theatre in Park
Ridge. Most of his houses are exceptionally crafted with
detailed woodwork and hardware, patterned brickwork, decorative
leaded glass windows and unusually complex rooflines. Zook
houses are still instantly recognizable.
- 20 Center Street (1937)
- 46 South County Line Road (1928)
- 5901
South County Line Road (1927), Katherine Legge Memorial
Lodge, locally landmarked February 6, 2001
- 347 North Elm Street (1935)
- 300 Forest (1938)
- 340 Forest (1935)
- 514
South Garfield Street (1928), locally landmarked
October 1, 2002
- 501 West North Street (1941)
- 327 South Oak Street (1924) in 2005 relocated to Katherine
Legge Memorial Park on South County Line Road
- 815 The Pines (1932)
- 824 The Pines (1930)
- 133 Ravine (1939)
- 350 North Vine Street, Burns Field Warming Shelter,
locally landmarked March 6, 2001
- 820 North Washington Street (1949)
- 840 North Washington Street (1947)
- 566 Woodland (1923)
- 325 East Eighth Street (1928)
- 420 East Eighth Street (1947)
- 8 East First Street (1945)
- 14 West First Street (1941)
- 444 East Fourth Street (1929)
- 405 East Seventh Street (1927)
- 439 East Sixth Street (1937)
- 600 East Sixth Street (1940)
- 430 East Third Street (1936)
- 434 East Third Street (1928)
