Ernest R. Graham |
A B O U T T H E G R A H A M F O U N D A T I O N
The Graham Foundation was created in 1956 by a bequest from Ernest R. Graham (1866–1936), a prominent Chicago architect who was a protégé of Daniel Burnham. Graham was Burnham’s principal assistant in overseeing construction of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and later helped D. H. Burnham & Co. achieve national prominence. Following Burnham’s death in 1912, Graham carried on Burnham’s architectural practice, first as Graham Burnham & Co. and, after 1917, as Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (www.gapw.com).
Under Graham’s leadership this practice became one of the largest and most prestigious in the United States. The firm was responsible for designing scores of major structures—railroad stations, banks, office buildings,museums, department stores, theatres, and post offices—for important clients in major cities across the country.
After Graham’s death in 1936, twenty years passed before his associate and executor, Charles F. Murphy (1890–1985), could rebuild the estate and begin implementation of Graham’s legacy. Murphy’s dedication to this task ranks with Graham’s munificence in its contribution to the Foundation.
In 1955 Murphy, with the assistance of John Burchard, organized a conference in Aspen, Colorado. Participants included Pietro Belluschi, William Wurster, John Lyon Reid, Eero Saarinen, Catherine Bauer, Aline Saarinen, Rudolph Arnheim, Jimmy Ernst, Robert Iglehart, and Charles Rummel. From these meetings evolved the initial plan which led, over time, to the development of the Graham Foundation as it exists today.
Charles Murphy served as the Foundation’s first President and William Hartmann as the Foundation’s first Director. The character and mission of the Graham Foundation were further refined by John Entenza, who served as Director from 1960 to 1971; by Carter Manny, who directed the Foundation from 1971 through 1993; and by Richard Solomon, Director of the Foundation from 1993 to 2005.
The Graham Foundation is fortunate to own and occupy the Madlener House, a turn-of-the-century residence by architects Richard Schmidt (1866–1959) and Hugh Garden (1873–1961).
The House was sensitively restored for the Foundation by Daniel Brenner (1917–1977) in 1963–64, and presently contains the Foundation’s offices, exhibition space, lecture hall, and a permanent exhibition of architectural fragments from the work of Louis H. Sullivan, his mentor John H. Edleman, and his disciples Frank Lloyd Wright and George Grant Elmslie.
Public tours of the Madlener House are offered weekly and the Foundation makes the House available to other organizations at a nominal fee for activities that relate to the Graham Foundation’s purposes.