When we think of pedigree we may think of the Tripple Crown, or the American Kennel Club’s Best in Show. While reading ‘The Guilded Life of Stanford White', I pondered if there is a pedigree in architecture. Stanford White, before the fame of McKim, Mead & White worked as a draftsman for Henry Hobson Richardson. John Mervin Carrère, of Carrère & Hastings, was a draftsman in the office of McKim, Mead & White.The linage’: H.H. Richardson to Stanford White to John Carrère
I started noticing a pattern that suggested that legendary architects worked for renowned architects
Inherently, every architect works under another architect in order to gain the experience needed to be accepted into the industry. Today, in the United States, aspiring architects are required by the state to work under an architect (or other applicable professions) in order to earn the necessary Intern Development Program (IDP) points and become a licensed architect. An architectural ancestry or family tree is therefore established for every architect, yet I will argue it does not establish a pedigree.
Famous architects do not grow from simple ancestry.
As the following examples illustrate, famous architects breed famous architects.
H.H. Richardson to Charles Follen McKim to Cass Gilbert
Eliel Saarinen (Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen) to Eero Saarinen to Robert Venturi
William Le Baron Jenney to Louis Sullivan to Frank Lloyd Wright to E. Fay Jones
Jack Pritchard (Isokon Co.) to Marcel Breuer to Richard Meier to Robert A.M. Stern
Cope & Stewardson to John Molitor to Louis I. Kahn to Moshe Safdie
Peter Behrens to Victor Gruen to Frank Gehry
Peter Behrens to Mies Van Der Rohe
Renwick Aspinwall & Russel to Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue to Raymond Hood
Auguste Perret to Le Corbusier to Jose Oubrerie
William LeBaron Jenney to Daniel Burnham to Ernest R. Graham
I know that there are a few exceptions to the rule and I am sure if one tries hard enough one can destroy my hypotheses with facts – yet it makes for a good blog entry and an interesting conversation piece (maybe only at AIA functions).
* One major exception is two of the ‘New York Five,’ Eisenman and Graves. Some can argue that these two have a linage from their mentor and promoter, Philip Johnson. However, Philip Johnson has no Architectural Lineage; he just had a lot of money.
KNOW OF OTHER ARCHITECTURAL LINIAGES, PLEASE COMMENT
