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)
