Holabird & Root is an American architectural firm, founded in Chicago in 1880 as Holabird & Simonds. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern Architecture to Sustainable Architecture.
Holabird & Root provides architectural, engineering, interior design, and planning services. It is Chicago's oldest architecture firm. The firm remains a privately held partnership currently operating with five principals and four associate principals.
History The founders, William Holabird and Ossian Cole Simonds, worked in the office of William LeBaron Jenney. They set up their own independent practice, Holabird & Simonds, in 1880 when they took on the project for an extension to Graceland Cemetery, passed on to them by Jenney. In 1881, Martin Roche, who had also worked for Jenney, joined them as a third partner. After only working together on five projects, Simonds left the firm in 1883 to pursue a career as a landscape architect. Holabird, Simonds & Roche became Holabird & Roche. A few years later however, the firm once again collaborated with the ex-partner when, from 1889 to 1895, they designed and built Fort Sheridan, for which Simonds provided the landscaping.
Beginning with the Tacoma Building (completed 1889; demolished 1929), their first major commission, and the Marquette Building (1895), the firm became well known for its groundbreaking Chicago School skyscrapers. An enormously successful practice, they also designed large, ornate hotels across the country, including Chicago's Palmer House, with Richard Neutra in a junior role on the team. Their work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1932 Summer Olympics.
In 1928, after the deaths of William Holabird (1923) and Martin Roche (1927), the firm was renamed Holabird & Root."Noted Firm Changes Name," Architect and Engineer, May 1928, 110. The new firm was run by Holabird's son John Augur Holabird and John Wellborn Root Jr., who had both joined back in 1914. Under their leadership, the firm adopted an Art Deco style. The company name changed to Holabird, Root & Burgee for a while, and two further generations of Holabirds served as partners (up to 1987). Currently located in the Marquette Building, the firm is once again called Holabird & Root, though no one of either name is currently affiliated.
Buildings
Graceland Cemetery Chapel, 1888 Pontiac Building, 1891 Monadnock Building (southern half), 1893 McConnell Apartments, 1210 North Astor (Chicago), 1897 Gage Group Buildings, 1899 57 East Jackson Boulevard (Chicago), 1899 Powers Building, 1902 Chicago Building, 1904 Oliver Building, 1907 & 1920 University Club of Chicago, 1908 City Hall-County Building, 1910 North American Building, 36 South State Street (Chicago), 1911 Sherman House Hotel, 1911 Century Building, 1915 Muehlebach Hotel, 1915 University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois), 1917 Waterman Building (Chicago), 1920 Memorial Stadium (Champaign), 1923 Chicago Temple Building, 1923 Nicollet Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1924 Soldier Field, 1924 Palmer House Hotel, 1925 Hotel Wausau, Wausau, Wisconsin, 1925 Pedestals for Ivan Meštrović's The Bowman and The Spearman statues, 1926 Stevens Hotel, 1927 Schroeder Hotel. Milwaukee, 1928 333 North Michigan Building, Chicago, Illinois, 1928 Palmolive Building, Chicago, 1929 Chicago Daily News Building, Chicago, 1929 Rand Tower, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1929 Chicago Board of Trade Building, Chicago, 1930 Henry Crown Field House, Chicago, 1931 University of Illinois Ice Arena, 1931 Battle Creek Tower, Battle Creek, Michigan, 1931 Jefferson County Courthouse (Birmingham, Alabama), 1929–32 Wrigley Field Hand-turned Scoreboard and Center Field Bleachers, 1937 Mason City Public Library, Mason City, Iowa, 1939 North Dakota State Capitol Building, Bismarck, North Dakota, 1934 Statler Hotel Washington, 1943 Adams County Courthouse, Quincy, 1950 Morris Inn, University of Notre Dame, 1951 Hotel Tequendama, Bogotá, Colombia, 1952 Fisher Hall (University of Notre Dame), 1953 1155 E. 60th St (University of Chicago), 1954 Pangborn Hall (University of Notre Dame), 1955 One Financial Plaza, Minneapolis, 1960 Skybridge, City of Davenport, Iowa, 2005 Ogle County Courthouse Renovation, Oregon, Illinois, 2010 School of the Art Institute of Chicago Champlain Building Roof and Facade Renovation, Chicago, Illinois, 2012
Sources Blaser, Werner. Chicago Architecture: Holabird & Root, 1880–1992. Basel; Boston: Birkhauser Verlag, 1992. Bruegmann, Robert. Holabird & Roche/Holabird & Root: An Illustrated Catalog of Works, 1880–1940. New York: Garland Publishing, 1991. Bruegmann, Robert. The Architects and the City: Holabird & Roche of Chicago, 1880–1918. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
References
External links
Holabird & Root's current website Holabird & Roche/Root Chicago Encyclopedia entry Holabird & Roche Archive at the Chicago Historical Society Holabird & Root on Google Maps