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MAIN MENU
Up Front
Selected Works of Purcell & Elmslie,
Architects (alphabetical
listing)
Creme de la creme, a la carte. A
sampling of the delights within, illustrated here. The much requested,
if still accumulating, earth addresses for surviving
P&E buildings are also available.
Charles A. Purcell residence
River Forest, Illinois 1909 |
E. L. Powers residence
Minneapolis, Minnesota 1910 |
Edna S. Purcell residence
Minneapolis, Minnesota 1913 |
Hearth and home were the most frequently happening place for
P&E, from small open plan houses built for Joe Citizen to large estates for
wealthy clients--and lots, so to speak, in between.
- Commercial
Motor Inn Garage
Minneapolis, Minnesota 1908 |
First National Bank
Rhinelander, Wisconsin 1910 |
Merchants Bank
Winona, Minnesota 1912 |
This category includes banks, office buildings and interiors,
stores, factory designs, business garages, and hotels. Except for the
banks much of the commercial work of the firm has vanished. Their most
honored series of commercial commissions, the Edison Shops, are long gone, as
are the exquisite Alexander Brothers Executive Offices.
- Institutional and
Civic
Stewart Memorial Church
Minneapolis, Minnesota 1909 |
Town Hall
Jump River, Wisconsin 1915 |
Municipal Building
Kasson, Minnesota 1916 |
Here find the churches and their community spaces, town halls,
libraries and schools (all unbuilt), theaters, pavilions, and monuments, plus
the magnificent Woodbury County Court House, the only major public building
erected in the progressive idiom. There's even a YMCA for Hunan
province, China, and of course the Australian Federal Parliament Building
designs.
- Furnishings and
Decorations
E. L. Powers residence
Dining room 1910
Gustav Weber, delineator |
John Adair residence
Fireplace mosaic
Owatonna, Minnesota 1913 |
Merchants Bank
Leaded glass
Winona, Minnesota 1912 |
This section includes furniture, terra-cotta, leaded glass, sawed
wood, textiles, mosaics, stencils, metalwork, electric fixtures, and all the
other bits and pieces required to complete the idea of a building.
- Landscaping
Catherine Gray residence
Front steps
Minneapolis, Minnesota 1907 |
Henry Babson estate
Landscaping plan
Riverside, Illinois 1914
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Edna S. Purcell residence
Reflecting pool
Minneapolis, Minnesota 1913 |
Growing things were the icing on the cake in an organic building,
and alas the most ephemeral.
- Graphical Designs
Farmers National Bank
Stationery |
Purcell & Elmslie
Advertising brochure 1916 |
Alexander Brothers
Advertising poster 1916 |
The encounter with idea of the idea also deserved proper
representation, and the many graphic devices produced included stationery,
advertising, and even magazine layouts.
IN PROGRESS: In
an effort to assist researchers not affiliated with the dark side, these
catalogs present the original drawings for decorative elements such as sawed
wood, leaded glass, terracotta, light fixtures, and stencils in one reference
set. Carpe caveat.
- Historical Continuities
The Acropolis, 1906 |
World's Columbian Exposition ticket, or,
Be Ancient Now |
Court of [dis]Honor
World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 |
The pictures above reveal at a glance the organic argument, leaving only the
details of who said what to whom.
When completed, this section will offer an overview of various narratives that make the organic greater than the sum of the parts.
Starting with the poetic insight of the Transcendentalists, through the
evolution of "fourth dimensional consciousness," the World's Columbian
Exposition, and evolving modes of architectural education, the timestream
flows over the course of a century from 1820-1920. Purcell and Elmslie
epitomize the essential practical outcome of the philosophical journey.
The Team
William Gray Purcell
circa 1910 |
"The Team" office
circa 1910 |
George Grant Elmslie
circa 1910 |
Everyone who made it happen received recognition in the P&E office, meaning the drafters, office
staff, contractors, artists, and craftsmen as well as the architects.
This was a highly unusual democratic practice among practitioners of the day.
Images not directly related to a specific Purcell and Elmslie
architectural commission (such as personal portraits and later work by the
individual architects) can also be found through the
Illustrations Index.
Others on the Field
Accounts of other major players as they interacted
with the firm, such as H. P. Berlage, Frank Lloyd Wright, and significant
clients, as well as various biographical information concerning artists,
writers, and others who impacted the continuum of events before, during, and
after P&E.
Writings and
Publications
A prolific writer, William Gray Purcell left a
massive body of manuscripts articulating the work of the firm, their design
intentions, and the experience of getting through the work. In particular,
Purcell developed a commission-by-commission account of Purcell & Elmslie,
Architects, that he called the Parabiographies. Also available here are the contents
of the three Western Architect issues (1913, 1915) showcasing P&E design;
writings by George Grant Elmslie; and selected publications from the era.
- Competitions and Exhibitions
F. W. Bird Competition, 1908 |
Cornell Exhibition
Plates, 1912 |
Minnesota State Art Commission Competition, 1914 |
The practice of architecture relies on getting your message out there, at
least when an architect has one. Even today, competitions and
exhibitions sponsored by professional organizations, product manufacturers,
and even museums are the main venue for peer
review and subsequent publicity (not least of which is the privilege of saying
you won an award). Back in the 1910s, such opportunities--and they were
pretty much the same--were
even more important in getting across the progressive message--and
occasionally seeing who was best among the pure and good.
- THE BOOK ::
Purcell and Elmslie: Architecture in the
Spirit of Democracy
After 25 years of research and contemplation, I
have begun the draft of my last monograph on P&E. While there are
publishers waiting, the writing will appear here as sections are completed in
the meantime, illustrated and noted without hindrance. This surpasses the
earlier 1994 monograph "Purcell and Elmslie, Architects"
that appeared in Art and Life on the Upper Mississippi: Minnesota 1900
(University of Delaware Press) in many respects. I am particularly happy
to throw off the academic, but not scholarly, yoke in order to express as fully
as possible the motivations of organic spirit. Even the longest journey
comes to an end. There's not much here yet, but that is about change.
- Bibliography
IN PROGRESS. Not everything can be OCR'd
despite 99% accuracy. This section includes a much edited version of my essay, "Purcell and Elmslie, Architects,"
which appeared in Life and Art on the Upper Mississippi, 1890-1915: Minnesota 1900," edited by
Michael Conforti and published in conjunction with the Minnesota 1900
exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 1994.
Access to various guides and information
available at other locations, archives, and web sites, such as the inestimably
important William Gray Purcell Papers. Also reports of auctioned items.
This information wouldn't be here for you if these people
and organizations hadn't been there for me along the way. Take a
moment of appreciation.
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