Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924)[1] was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers"[2] and "father of modernism".[3] He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School. Along with Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture."[4] The phrase "form follows function" is attributed to him, although the idea was theorised by Viollet le Duc who considered that structure and function in architecture should be the sole determinants of form.[5] In 1944, Sullivan was the second architect to posthumously receive the AIA Gold Medal.[6]
^The spelling of Sullivan's middle name (whether Henry or Henri) has caused confusion. According to Robert Twombly, Louis Sullivan – His Life and Work (Elizabeth Sifton Books, New York City, 1986),
his birth certificate read Henry Louis Sullivan, although he was called Louis Henry. Sullivan helped propagate confusion over his middle name as well by announcing, in his book Autobiography of an Idea, which he wrote at the end of his life, at a time when professional failure and alcohol may have clouded his judgment, that he had been named Louis Henri after his grandfather Henri List (see footnote below). The latter spelling was in turn enshrined by the designers of his funerary monument (see picture in text).
^Kaufman, Mervyn D. (1969). Father of Skyscrapers: A Biography of Louis Sullivan. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.