The Resume

(September 3, 1856-April 14, 1924)
Born in Boston, Massachusetts
Notable buildings include the Auditorium Building (Chicago, 1889), the Wainwright Building (St. Louis, 1890), the Chicago Stock Exchange (1893), the Transportation Building at the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), the Guaranty Building (Buffalo, 1894), the Bayard Building (New York City, 1898), the Carson Pirie Scott Building (Chicago, 1904) and the Van Allen Building (Clinton, Iowa, 1914)
Wrote 'The Autobiography of an Idea' (1924)
Called the 'father of skyscrapers' and 'father of modernism'

Why he might be annoying:

He had fits of anger and an air of superiority that drove away clients, so after breaking up with partner Dankmar Adler (1894), he had trouble getting commissions.
He lost several of the commissions that he did land by provoking fights over trivial details.
He died broke and Frank Lloyd Wright had to pay for his funeral.
His dictum 'Form follows function' inspired modernist architects to declare war on ornamentation and produce an endless series of glass boxes.

Why he might not be annoying:

He entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at age 16.
Although other architects had built skyscrapers before him, his design for the Wainwright Building was described by Frank Lloyd Wright as the birth of 'the skyscraper as an entity with a beauty all its own.'
Despite declaring 'form follows function,' many of his buildings featured Art Nouveau decorations in iron or terra cotta.
The New York Times dubbed him 'the dean of American architects.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Architects
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 36]
• I am on a U.S. Postage Stamp [R-T]
• I Attended MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• I Died in 1924 (Ranked: 67)
• I Died in Debt
• I’m Buried at Graceland Cemetery [Chicago]
• In Town for The World's Fair at the Columbian Exposition [1893-Chicago]
• Profiles 31251-31500 (Ranked: 31343)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 16 Votes: 43.75% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying