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firm active: 1907-1921 minneapolis, minnesota :: chicago, illinois |
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Edna S. Purcell Residence
also known as Lake Place
Purcell and Elmslie
Minneapolis, Minnesota 1913
Correspondence, 1914-1919: Artist Commissions and Sale of the House
The program to furnish Lake Place with artworks began with the mural painted by Charles Livingston Bull. Miles Sater, the brother-in-law of Walter Burley Griffin, had prepared sketches for the area above the fireplace, but Purcell was especially taken with Bull's illustrations of children's books and eventually hired him. During the three years that the Purcells lived in the house they sought to purchase an additional piece. The first was "a study of the Chicago River," by Albert Fleury [which now again hangs in the house], then they commissioned a sculpture group called "Nils and His Goose" (but often referred to as "Nils the Gooseboy") from Richard Bock. Finally, along the way, there were some incidental items that were custom made by Chicago metalsmith Robert Jarvie. The best summary of the idea behind this decoration program can be seen in a letter from William Gray Purcell to artist Maynard Dixon in 1915.
Letters, telegrams, and postcards
research courtesy mark hammons