Inspiration - Hugh Ferriss
About a hundred years ago the Beaux Art movement was at its height. Practically all architects were either trained or influenced by the process and style of the French school. Typically, designs were presented in plan, elevation and section, drawn in ink with watercolor rendering of shade and shadow. These drawings were at best austerely impressive, but at worst dull and repetitive. About a hundred years ago the Beaux Art conventions were being revised and stretched, questioned and ignored. One of the architects trained in the Beaux Art tradition, but willing to try something entirely new was Hugh Ferriss. Born in St. Louis in 1889, Ferriss became an architect as the first era of skyscrapers was coming of age. Louis Sullivan’s Auditorium Building (considered the first tall building which developed its aesthetic from its height) was opened the year that Ferriss was born. 1913 saw the completion of the Woolworth Building, in New York City, by Cass Gilbert, the architect whose offi...