Purcell and Elmslie, Architects Firm active: 1907-1921 Minneapolis, Minnesota :: Chicago, Illinois Philadelphia, Pennsylvania :: Portland, Oregon

Introductory text coming.  Eventually there will be individual exhibits where documentation is available for those Team members.  In the meanwhile, here are essays written for the Guide to the William Gray Purcell Papers, and incidental links that crop up as I add new materials.

Biographical Information and Documents

• William Gray Purcell (1880-1965)
• George Grant Elmslie (1869-1952)
• The Team (1907-1921)
• John Jager (1871‑1959)

Additional information on the principals can be found on the Biographical and Historical Research Manuscripts pages.

Associated Architects

• Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr.
• William L. Steele

In the Office

• Marion Alice Parker (drafter)
• Laurence A. Fournier (drafter)
• Frederick A. Strauel (drafter)
• Lawrence Clapp (drafter)
• Leroy A. Gaarder (drafter)
• Kenneth Harrison (drafter)
• Emil Frank (drafter)
• Herbert Fritz (drafter)
• Paul Haugen (drafter)
• Gertrude Phillips (office secretary)

In the Studio

• Harry Franklin Baker (landscape designer)
• Richard Bock (artist)
• John S. Bradstreet & Company "Crafthouse"
• Charles Livingston Bull (artist)
• Charles S. Chapman (artist)
• Douglas Donaldson (interior designer, artist)
• Louise C. Elmslie (interior design, George Elmslie's sister)
• Albert Fleury (artist)
• Fred N. Hegg (contractor)
• Alphonso Ianelli (artist)
• August P. Lennartz (contractor, foreman)
• Jens Jensen (landscape designer)
• William [Wilhelm] Miller (landscape designer)
• Niedecken and Wallbridge (interior designers and furniture makers)
• John W. Norton (artist)
• Ralph B. Pelton (contractor, furniture maker)
• Harry Rubins (interior designer, artist)
• Edward L. Sharretts (Mosaic Art Shops)
• Gustav F. Weber (interior designer)

General Interest

• Read a curious circumstance, so typical of the fourth dimensional slice of mind, in how one generation of Team members caught the second wave.  Or, did the second wave catch them?  This continuum at work involves James Van Evera Bailey, a drafter who worked for Purcell in Portland and later became famous as an "architect to the stars" in California.
   
• A comment about Gutzon Borglum bearing affinity with Progressive ideals in art in a Parabiographies entry, by William Gray Purcell.
   
• A series of letters in 1911 between Parker N. Berry and P&E about coming to work for the firm.