H. Webster Tomlinson by comcast7101010

COVER IMAGE: Tomlinson,

618 Maple Avenue (view from the southeast), Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1910 (photographed 2018). ENDPAPERS: Detail of patent

for the first slide rule designed by Tomlinson in 1914 (see p. 46).

PAGE 6: Tomlinson, detail of

the window on the north facade

PRODUCED BY

of 618 Maple Avenue, Lake Bluff,

Illinois, 1910.

PRINTED BY

Kim Coventry, The Coventry Group

Georgia Bockos, Bockos Design, Inc.

Graphic Arts Studio

PAGE 8: Tomlinson, detail of the

second-floor leaded glass transom of 618 Maple Avenue, Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1910.

ISBN: 978-0-578-40075-4

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

EARLY CAREER AND PARTNERSHIP

WITH FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT SOLO CAREER, 1902–16: NONRESIDENTIAL DESIGN SOLO CAREER, 1902–16: RESIDENTIAL DESIGN SOLO CAREER, 1902–16: NONARCHITECTURAL WORK

LATER CAREER AND LIFE, 1916–42

TIME LINE

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENEALOGY

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To my paternal grandmother, Martha Balbach Bovik, who was a friend of Lake Forest historian Edward Arpee. As a child in the 1960 s and 1970 s, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to listen in on many of their conversations. They instilled in me an admiration for those who dedicate their lives to research and preservation.

FOREWORD This book is based on a paper that I wrote in the fall of 2017 for a graduate course on the modern house at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Naively, I decided to take as my topic the architect Henry Webster Tomlinson, who designed the home in which my family and I have lived for twenty years. Little did I know how difficult it would be to find information about Tomlinson and his work. Please bear in mind that I am a painter working on a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not a writer. Still, I hope that my work will be a catalyst for others to complete the story of Tomlinsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life and work.

INTRODUCTION The architect Henry Webster Tomlinson (1869 –1942), who practiced for over four decades, beginning in 1898, is rarely mentioned in the annals of architectural history. In fact, he is often relegated to a footnote in the career of architectural master Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), with whom he worked in the early years of the twentieth century. Tomlinson’s brief association with Wright is commonly accepted as the whole of his architectural legacy and is repeated, by default, in most sources that mention him. However, a more thorough investigation into Tomlinson’s life and practice reveals a complex man and diverse body of work. He was an earnest, bright, devout individual committed to making a contribution to the development of modern architecture, one of the so-called Eighteen, a loosely structured group of architects who often gathered for meals and discussions in Steinway Hall at 64 East Van Buren Street in Chicago.

FIGURE 1.

Henry Webster Tomlinson, 1907.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION Tomlinson (fig. 1) was born in Chicago on August 11, 1869, to John Henry Tomlinson (1827–1911) and Annette Augusta Webster (1835–1911). John was a firstgeneration Canadian whose father had been an English immigrant. He was a publisher involved with the First Baptist Church, originally located at South Water and Franklin Streets on Chicago’s Near South Side, and reportedly the oldest active officer of any Sunday school in the United States in the late 1800 s. Tomlinson’s mother, Annette, was born in New Hampshire. Through

her mother, Julia Ann Dearborn, Tomlinson was eligible for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution; he was a descendant of Simeon Choate.1 According to her obituary, Annette was “of a very intellectual and philanthropic mind,” noted for “her deeds of kindness.” 2

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A profile in the June 15, 1907, issue of Construction News refers to Tomlinson as a “Chicago product.” 3 As a young man, he attended Douglas School and later South Division High School, both located on the city’s South Side. After graduation he went to work for William Warren Boyington (1818–1898), a prolific and well-known architect in Chicago during the years leading up to and immediately following the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. Boyington’s office designed several prominent buildings, including the original Chicago Board of Trade Building and the State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. His best-known work is the Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station, which survived the Great Chicago Fire and remains a pristine example of the architect’s Victorianera, eclectic style. Tomlinson worked for Boyington for nearly six years —as a draftsman, office manager, and eventually outside supervisor. Among the buildings designed during his employment are the Illinois Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Columbus Memorial Building in Chicago’s Loop, and Hahnermann Hospital on the South Side. The years that Tomlinson worked for Boyington were arguably the most influential of his career. He cut his teeth primarily on institutional design, and this experience solidified his desire to become an architect. When the economy, and thus commissions, slowed after the conclusion of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Tomlinson applied to Cornell University’s College of Architecture in Ithaca, New York. By 1896 he had finished the four-year curriculum in just three years. After graduation, with passport in hand, Tomlinson embarked on what was considered de rigueur for any serious architect of the time —a sketching tour of Europe. Over a period of six to seven months, he visited more than seventyfive cities.4 After returning to his family home in Chicago, he opened an office on the eleventh floor (room 1106) of Steinway Hall, which was designed by Dwight H. Perkins and completed in 1896.

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EARLY CAREER AND PARTNERSHIP WITH FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT At Steinway Hall, Tomlinson joined a collection of young architects who came to be known as the Eighteen, a name supposedly given the group by Wright. There is no surviving list of the members, but the names associated with the group include, among others, Adamo Boari, Arthur R. Dean, George R. Dean, Hugh M. G. Garden, Alfred R. Granger, Walter B. Griffin, Arthur R. Huen, Jarvis Hunt, Myron H. Hunt, Rich Long, Marion Mahony, Dwight H. Perkins, Allen B. Pond, Irving K. Pond, James Gamble Rogers, Richard E. Schmidt, Howard V. Shaw, Robert C. Spencer, Vernon S. Watson, and Wright. The Eighteen was considered radical due to the members’ belief in cooperation rather than competition.5 By January 1901, Griffin was drafting for Tomlinson. Simultaneously, Tomlinson and Wright were working together and, months later, entered into a formal partnership. The January 1901 issue of Brickbuilder announced the formation of this partnership: “Frank Lloyd Wright and Webster Tomlinson, architects, Chicago, have formed a co-partnership, with offices at Oak Park, Ill., and 17 Van Buren Street, Chicago.” 6 The January 19, 1901, issue of Construction News confirmed the news, adding, “The firm will have a studio at Oak Park and a business office in Steinway Hall, Chicago.” 7 Six months later, in June 1901, Griffin and Mahony were working with Wright at his suburban office in Oak Park. It has been posited that the extra office may have given the members of the Eighteen the impression that Wright — and possibly Tomlinson —was less invested in the group than other members. Both Tomlinson and Wright were disciples of Louis Sullivan, who practiced and coined the phrase “form follows function” and advocated using new materials in architecture. It is widely believed that Tomlinson was the organizer and sometime draftsman of the partnership, while Wright was the primary designer. It is well established that Wright had many collaborators who advanced his cause during his early practice.

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Wright and Tomlinson worked as a team from prior to February 1901 to some time after March 1902. However, they probably became acquainted in the 1890 s. Both were members of the Chicago Architectural Club, which was

formed in 1885, first as a sketching club and then, around 1895, as an informal school to discuss architectural concerns. In 1899 Tomlinson was tapped by Sullivan to deliver his short paper “The Modern Phase of Architecture” at the club’s June convention in Cleveland, Ohio, when the older architect was unable to attend.8 This was a great compliment to Tomlinson. Sullivan was only eleven years the senior of the average member of the Eighteen, but he was considered the torchbearer for the group. He saw it as a breath of fresh air and did everything he could to support its members. Publications from the turn of the century reveal the growing relationship between Tomlinson and Wright, which developed in 1899. Initially, the two architects were merely mentioned together, but soon their association became clear. Eventually, they were simply referred to as Wright & Tomlinson. For example, the February 19, 1901, issue of Construction News reported: Frank Lloyd Wright and Webster Tomlinson associate architects, 1107 Steinway Hall, are taking figures for the erection of a hand-

some $8,00 0 brick residence on Sheridan Drive, North Evanston, for John S. Butler. It will have tile roof, steam heating, tile floors, bathrooms, oak finish, cut stone work, etc.9 Tomlinson may also have played a role in some of Wright’s prior important commissions. There has been speculation that Tomlinson introduced Wright to the parents of Anna Hickox Bradley and Warren R. Hickox, the owners of the Bradley and Hickox homes built in 1900 in Kankakee, Illinois. These homes are considered by many to be the first example of Prairie-style architecture. However, I could not find concrete evidence to support this speculation.10

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Another reference to Tomlinson and Wright’s partnership appeared in Construction News later in 1901: “Wright & Tomlinson, 19 Van Buren Street, are making plans for a residence for James C. Rogers, in Forest Avenue, Oak Park; 74 x 56 ; exterior of frame and plaster, nine rooms, elaborately finished in hardwood, modern improvement. Cost, $10,000.” 11 As late as March 1902, the press continued to refer to the two architects together: Frank Lloyd Wright and Webster Tomlinson, Steinway Hall, have prepared plans for and are ready to receive estimates on a 3-story stone residence which V. E. Metzger will erect at Sault Sainte Marie, Mich., at a cost of $20,000. Structure will be 100 x 80, have hardwood interiors, electric lights, combination heating, bowling alley, leaded glass, structural iron, etc.12 Most historians do not consider the possibility that Tomlinson had any influence on Wright, yet given the Eighteen’s promotion of free-flowing design, open offices, and group discussions, it is hard to determine with any certainty who was influencing whom.13 There were surely many crossinfluences within the group, but it is difficult to define the exact nature of the working relationships among the members. The relationship between Cecil Corwin and Wright, who first worked together in Joseph Lyman Silsbee’s (1848–1913) office, also illustrates the cross-influences of Chicago architects of the period. About the relationship, historian Mark Hertzberg noted: The March 1894 edition of the Inland Architect and News Record lists the Mitchell house in Corwin’s name. That alone is not conclusive [of authorship] because Wright’s “bootleg houses” were in Corwin’s name. But a few lines below is listed a commission in Wright’s name. He had left Adler & Sullivan the year before, and had no reason to hide his work anymore.14 As a young architect, Wright was most influenced by working in Silsbee’s office between 1887 and 1888. Silsbee’s most recognizable surviving work is the Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago, but he was perhaps best known as a designer of homes in the Shingle style. In the early 1890 s, Wright continued to design residences in Silsbee’s style and then went on to create similarly styled “bootleg” homes while moonlighting at Adler & Sullivan. Wright coined

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the term bootleg to refer to these houses, as he was strictly forbidden from designing work independent of Adler & Sullivan at the time. These projects were in Corwin’s name because Wright, arguably, could have lost his job with the firm for designing them. In 1901, the first year of Wright and Tomlinson’s partnership, the architects designed and built four houses. The first was the E. Arthur Davenport House in River Forest, Illinois.15 The close-out contract for the home is preserved in the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. It includes itemized construction costs of $3,422 and contractor fees of $300. The contract was clearly signed on each page by Davenport, Wright, and Tomlinson. However, based on the style of the signatures, the bracket that was added to connect Wright’s and Tomlinson’s signatures, and the letter s that was added to the word Architect, it appears that Tomlinson signed the contract for Wright (figs. 2–3). The signatures and nature of the contract may suggest that the Davenport House was more Tomlinson’s legwork than Wright’s.

FIGURES 2 a – b. E. Arthur Davenport’s, Wright’s,

and Tomlinson’s signatures on the contract for the E. Arthur Davenport House by Wright & Tomlinson, 1901.

FIGURE 3. For comparison’s sake, this is a sample

of Wright’s signature on a letter to Herbert Miles, April 9, 1901. The differences between this signature and the one on the E. Arthur Davenport House contract suggest that Wright’s partner, Tomlinson, may have signed his name on the contract.

AN INVESTIGATION

FIGURE 4.

Wright & Tomlinson, E. Arthur Davenport House, River Forest, Illinois, 1901 (photographed 1978).

The Davenport House continues Wright’s pattern of designing cottage homes with Tomlinson in 1901 but adds new design elements (fig. 4). The Davenport House was a fairly traditional cedar board-and-batten structure with a dramatically gabled roofline. In 1901 Construction News attributed the house to Wright and Tomlinson, noting they “have designed a 2-story frame house to be built at River Forest, for E. Arthur Davenport, to cost $3,000.”16 In Wright’s own words, the Davenport House disregards somewhat the economical limit in compact planning to take advantage of light, air and prospect, the enjoyable things one goes to the suburbs to secure. The cruciform plan of the Davenport house thus ensured that each room gained exposure to natural light, fresh air, and exterior views. The stark contrast between the dark wood board and batten siding that covers the lower portion of the residence, and the light plaster used around its second story windows, makes a bold statement that is enhanced by the strongly articulated geometry of the second story ribbon windows of leaded glass.17

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FIGURE 5.

Wright & Tomlinson, Frank W. Thomas House, Oak Park, Illinois, 1901.

Wright & Tomlinson’s second commission was the Frank W. Thomas House (fig. 5). Built in 1901, it is thought to be the first Prairie-style house in Oak Park. Wright said that the home “flare[s] outward, opening like a flower to the sky.” According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: The residence features an L-shaped plan and Wright employs a variety of design innovations to harmonize its two wings and upper and lower stories. Wright emphasizes the structure’s horizontal planes and visually connects distinct architectural volumes through the use of ribbon windows and dark stringcourses. In his design of the house Wright abandons the traditional structure elevating the basement to ground level and raising the living quarters in order to increase privacy. The main entrance of the house is accessed indirectly through an elaborate arrangement of passageways — a walled walk leads to a dramatic archway, just beyond and to the left of which are stairs that wind back and forth to the expansive terrace and entrance. Beaded molding and geometric ornament in the woodwork, as well as the abstracted floral motifs that appear in the leaded glass doors and casement windows, reinforce Wright’s analogy between the house and a natural organism.18 Many of these features relate to Tomlinson’s subsequent residential design.

AN INVESTIGATION

FIGURE 6. Wright & Tomlinson, F. B. Henderson House, Elmhurst, Illinois, 1901.

Wright & Tomlinson’s third commission was the F. B. Henderson House in Elmhurst, Illinois (fig. 6). The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust described the Henderson House: The dark colored stringcourses and narrow, continuous bands of casement windows, all of which stand out against the house’s light stucco surface treatment, run parallel to the ground. The low-pitched, hipped roofs, which Wright characterized as “pyramidal,” further temper the upward thrust of the building’s supporting walls. Wright’s sensitivity to the natural setting extended to a consideration for the way its interior spaces were illuminated by natural light. 19

FIGURE 7. Wright &

Tomlinson, William Fricke House, Oak Park, Illinois, 1901 (photographed 1905).

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Wright & Tomlinson’s fourth commission was for the William Fricke House in Oak Park (fig. 7). According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: The house exhibits many key elements of Wright’s mature Prairie style, including its stone water table, horizontal banding, overhanging roof eaves, shallow hipped roof, and stucco exterior. Nevertheless, tiered geometric masses, including another angular prow-like projection adjacent to the front door; and a centrally located three-story tower with long, thin windows and mullions, lend the building a vertical appearance.20 The partners’ fifth commission was an addition to an existing home, the Herbert and Flora Miles House, in Racine, Wisconsin. It was never completed, and Wright and Tomlinson’s exact role in the project is somewhat unclear. Corwin had begun working with the Mileses on an addition to their home as early as 1899. While the drawings for the house bear Wright and Tomlinson’s names, a letter from Corwin to the Mileses about the house also exists. According to a 2003 article published by Mark Hertzberg, Corwin “married Emma Payne Erskine, Charles Erskine’s widow (and Herbert and Flora Miles’ sister in law) in 1917, nine years after Erskine’s death.” 21

FIGURE 8 a . Envelope with four

FIGURE 8 b. Probably Herbert Miles,

cents due, containing drawings for the Herbert and Flora Miles House, 1901.

simple sketch of existing Herbert and Flora Miles House, to which the addition was to be added, n.d.

AN INVESTIGATION

Accordingly, Corwin wrote the Mileses a letter in 1899 about the addition to the home, addressing them as “my dear Herbert and Flora.” In the letter, he apologizes for taking so long to write them back and explains that he has been ill. Perhaps Corwin needed help producing the drawings for the addition as a result of his illness. After all, he had worked in the same office as Wright and knew him fairly well. An envelope that contained drawings for the project is dated 1901; postage of four cents was due on the letter when it arrived (fig. 8a). The Charles Deering McCormick Library has various drawings of the Miles House: one that is assumed to be the owner’s rendering (fig. 8b), a full rendering probably by Wright (fig. 9), and another by Corwin (fig. 10).

FIGURE 9. Wright, early drawing (presumably) of the Herbert and Flora Miles House addition, n.d. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections at Northwestern University’s Libraries.

FIGURE 10. Possibly Cecil Corwin, sketch of the Herbert and Flora Miles House, n.d. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections at Northwestern University’s Libraries.

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FIGURE 11. Wright, rendering of the Victor Metzger House, Sault Ste. Marie,

Michigan, 1902. The information on the back of the card gives the location of the house as Desbarats, Ontario, rather than Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but the postcard is an outlier. All other references confirm Sault Ste. Marie.

In 1902 Wright & Tomlinson began plans for the Victor Metzger House in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (fig. 11). Renderings and floor plans for the home exist, but the project was never executed. Based on the drawings, the home appears to have been more the work of Wright than Tomlinson; Wright had obviously developed his own unique style by this point, which is evident in the renderings. Wright continued his use of banded windows and a cruciform plan for the home, which he planned to build into its surroundings, but he left the board-and-batten and stucco of his earlier projects far behind. In March 1901, the magazine Inland Architect described a “somewhat humorous” situation that occurred when Tomlinson decided to drop Henry from his name.22 According to the article, an overzealous attorney named P. B. Wight claimed that “Henry W. Tomlinson was Tomlinson’s given name and that using Webster Tomlinson was a ‘gross violation of state law.’” From this point forward, Henry Webster Tomlinson legally became H. Webster Tomlinson. Wright and Tomlinson’s partnership was dissolved in March 1902. The cause of the dissolution is not clear. In 1902 the architectural trade journals refer to Wright as an independent practitioner at his Oak Park address, rather than at Steinway Hall.

AN INVESTIGATION

SOLO CAREER, 1902–16: NONRESIDENTIAL DESIGN After the dissolution of his partnership with Wright, Tomlinson found himself returning to commercial and institutional design, a comfortable role thanks to his early career in Boyington’s office. Tomlinson’s independent work was first recorded in the September 20, 1902, issue of Construction News: H. W. Tomlinson, 17 Van Buren Street, is planning for M. Weil several buildings for use as a furniture factory, to be erected at Rockwell and Fillmore streets. One will be 2-stories, 44 x 84, and the other 5-stories, 50 x 64, and other buildings include an office building, dry kiln, engine and boiler house. The construction will be of brick and stone and will cost $25,000.23 In November 1902, Tomlinson was mentioned again in Construction News: “Webster Tomlinson, Steinway Hall, has completed drawings for a 6-story brick and stone warehouse, 100 x 48, to be erected at Sangamon street and the Chicago Terminal Transfer railroad for J. Lowenthal at a cost of $25,000. It will be of mill construction.” 24 A few months later, in April and May 1903, Construction News again reported on Tomlinson, who was involved in the construction of another warehouse in Chicago —this time for E. A. Cook —and purchased steel rolling doors and shutters from the Columbus Steel Rolling Shutter Company in Columbus, Ohio, for the project.25 Such commercial and industrial projects supported the architect financially in his independent practice.26 Tomlinson expanded his practice beyond commercial architecture in 1904 by securing the commission to rebuild the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church (renamed St. Joseph Church when the project was completed) in Libertyville, Illinois, which had been damaged by fire. Following this $12,000 project, Tomlinson received a commission for another religious building, the $6,000 Raymond Mission Chapel for the First Baptist Church at the northeast corner of 31st Street and Poplar Avenue in Chicago, built in 1905. In 1906 Tomlinson also began work on an addition to the Hinsdale Sanitarium and Benevolent Association’s main sanitarium in Hinsdale, Illinois, a project that would cost $10,000. 27 This commission may have led to an additional Hinsdale project,

the sanitarium for the Workingmen’s Life Boat Mission, in September 1907. 28

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FIGURES 12 a – b. Tomlinson,

Lake Bluff Village Hall, Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1905. Photographs courtesy of Lake Bluff History Museum.

In late 1904, Tomlinson secured one of his most important institutional commissions up to that point: a new village hall in the North Shore suburb of Lake Bluff (figs. 12–17 ). The building would include meeting rooms for village government business, a police station, two jail cells, and a clubhouse for the volunteer fire department. In November of that year, Construction News reported that Tomlinson would “receive sealed proposals” for this new project, explaining that “the [building] will be 2-story, 52 x 38 feet, of common brick for the first story and half-timber construction above.” 29 The building’s lowpitched roof with wide overhangs was typical of Prairie design, while the half-timbering below the eaves and the round tower were remnants of Tudor style. The final proposal estimate for the project was $30,000. The Lake Bluff Village Hall was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and presented on January 12, 2005 ; it is now on the National Register

of Historic Places.30

AN INVESTIGATION

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FIGURE 13. Tomlinson, sheet no. 1 (front elevation),

Drawings for a Village Hall to Be Erected at Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1904.

AN INVESTIGATION

FIGURE 14. Tomlinson, sheet no. 2 (rear and side elevations), Drawings for a Village Hall to Be Erected at Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1904.

FIGURE 15. Tomlinson, sheet no. 3 (first- and second-floor plans), Drawings for a Village Hall to Be Erected at Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1904.

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FIGURE 16. Tomlinson, sheet no. 4 (foundation and footing plate and roof plan),

Drawings for a Village Hall to Be Erected at Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1904.

FIGURE 17. Tomlinson, sheet no. 5 (cross sections),

Drawings for a Village Hall to Be Erected at Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1904.

AN INVESTIGATION

Tomlinson continued to receive various Chicago commissions throughout the decade, most of them industrial, manufacturing, and warehouse structures — like a March 1905 eight-story storage facility on Chicago’s West Side, at the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Halsted Street. This was one of his largest commissions up to that point, estimated at $300,000.31 In February 1906, Tomlinson moved beyond Chicago and its suburbs. He was awarded the commission for the new Yankton County Prison in Yankton, South Dakota. Construction News reported in April of that year that it would be “2-story, of concrete construction, have slate roof, steam heat and Georgia pine finish.” 32 In early 1905, Tomlinson also earned a commission to do the new courthouse building in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The following year, Tomlinson continued his work in South Dakota with the design for a mental hospital. According to an article in Inter Ocean, entitled “South Dakota Insane Build Their Own Asylum,” 33 the residents of the institution would be the ones to build the structure designed by Tomlinson (fig. 18). “The insane [at this institution] had a higher cure rate than had ever been effected in the world” as a result of helping to build this addition.

FIGURE 18. “South Dakota Insane Build Their Own Asylum,”

Inter Ocean, December 20, 1908.

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This project highlights a pattern in Tomlinson’s work that speaks to his primary interests: concrete and aiding humanity. According to the article in Inter Ocean, “The concrete construction employed by the Chicago architect . . . affords unrivalled facilities for the employment of those . . . to restore their lost mental faculties.” 34 Tomlinson even declared “that the concrete made by the . . . men of South Dakota is of such durability that even an earthquake would have a hard job trying to destroy the buildings.” An article in Construction News provided more details about the project: It will be 3-story, of fireproof concrete construction, have concrete porches, granite trimmings, tile roof, steam heat, hard wood finish, marble, tile and mosaic work, contain a gymnasium on the third floor, parlors on the second and wards and kitchen on the first floor. The building will be of a very modern type with all the latest conveniences and improvements.35 Tomlinson’s structure was actually the third addition to the hospital. Thus, he had to match the institution’s existing architectural style and likely had little say in its overall design. Back in Chicago, in June 1906, Construction News reported that Tomlinson was planning an addition to Baptist Hospital, at the southwest corner of 34th Street and Rhodes Avenue.36 In 1908 he prepared plans for an addition to his earlier Hinsdale Sanitarium project. 37 Although Tomlinson’s commercial and institutional work in Chicago would continue for the next several years, it was supplemented by several important residential commissions throughout the first two decades of the twentieth century. 38

AN INVESTIGATION

SOLO CAREER, 1902–16: RESIDENTIAL DESIGN In 1903 Tomlinson’s first major independent residential design, a home located at 710 East Prospect Avenue in Lake Bluff, was announced in Western Architect. 39 Tomlinson designed the home for John Howard, a village trustee from 1903 to 1908 and, subsequently, the village president from 1909 to 1913. It is likely that Boyington, who would later become the mayor of Highland Park, Illinois, introduced Tomlinson and Howard. The house was christened Jungle Nook, according to the local Lake Bluff Chat; the article noted, “The Pink Rabbit Ball was hosted on the [Howards’] front lawn,” which at the time extended to Sunrise Avenue, all the way to the lakefront.40 Jungle Nook got plenty of attention in a 1903 article in Western Architect.41 It also received a full-page spread in Vick’s Magazine, a publication “handsomely illustrated and ably edited, in all matter pertaining to Gardening and Floriculture” (fig. 19).42 The relationship between Tomlinson and Howard surely helped the architect to secure the major commission for the Lake Bluff Village Hall in 1904. The home is reminiscent of Wright & Tomlinson’s E. Arthur Davenport House in River Forest, with a similar board-and-batten and stucco exterior (fig. 20). A later photograph, from 710 East Prospect’s current owner, clearly shows the house’s wide, overhanging eaves and a pitched roof similar to that of the Davenport House (fig. 21). In the first two decades of the twentieth century, Tomlinson built or planned several additional homes throughout the city of Chicago and in its northern and western suburbs. These residences ranged from modest single-family homes that cost $4,000–5,000 to more sumptuous $10,000 structures. For example, in 1906 Construction News announced: Architect Webster Tomlinson, 17 Van Buren street, is taking figures on a residence to be built on Junior terrace, Buena Park (Chicago) for C. D. Michaels. It will be 2-story, 32 x 40 feet, of brick veneer for the first story, plaster above, with stone foundation; have shingle roof, stained birch finish, steam or furnace heat, mantel, and cost $5,000.43

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FIGURE 19.

“The House in the Wood,” Vick’s Magazine, May 1906.

FIGURES 20–21.

Tomlinson, 710 East Prospect Avenue, Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1903 (photographed April 1903 and c. 1950).

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In 1910 the publication described another new home by Tomlinson, this one in Glencoe, Illinois: “2-story building, 47 x 32 feet, of brick and plaster. Will have attic and basement, tile roof, Bedford cut stone, marble and tile in bathrooms, plate and art glass. Cost, $10,000.” 44 In the early 1900 s, Tomlinson also began designing apartment buildings. A typical commission from this period was the three-story structure built for M. M. Lewis at the southeast corner of Washington Boulevard and Washtenaw

Avenue on Chicago’s West Side. The May 23, 1903, issue of Construction News described the building: It will extend over 80 feet on Washington Boulevard and 108 on the Avenue. It will be constructed of pressed brick and terra cotta. The interior will be divided into 18 apartments and will [be] trimmed in hardwoods and heated with steam. The building will cost $45,000. Construction will be commenced at once.45 Tomlinson designed several apartment buildings and two-flats during the first decades of the twentieth century, most of them on the city’s West Side in the Austin neighborhood or on the South Side in Hyde Park. Within only a few short years, these were being singled out as distinct and noteworthy. In February 1908 , for example, Tomlinson designed an apartment building at 5528–30 S. Lake Park Avenue for William M. Hoyt, a wholesale grocer, at the behest of the Hyde Park Betterment League. Of the thousands of apartment buildings built in Chicago that year, Tomlinson’s design was considered important enough to be featured in the Chicago Tribune. The newspaper referred to it as a “model flat”: There will be no class distinction among the tenants of the new “model flat” building at 5528 and 5530 Lake Avenue. There will be no aristocrat of the “first floor front” nor plebian of the “top floor rear,” and Mrs. Brown, who lives on the west court, will be unable to flaunt the superiority of her apartment over that of Mrs. Smith, who lives around the corner in the east court.46 The article further asserted that although Tomlinson’s design was original and untested —and rent on the five-room units was a mere nineteen dollars a month—the plan would offer a financial profit for Hoyt.

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This experiment on Chicago’s South Side may have prompted Tomlinson’s 1909 article in American Architect, “A Chicago ‘Model Tenement,’” in which he

discussed the living conditions in Chicago’s congested districts (figs. 22–23). He argued that units should be “well lighted, well ventilated and sanitary, together with conveniences and as much ‘attractiveness’ as possible as an inducement to the cultivation of self-respect and a higher scale of living.” 47 Furthermore, he noted, “One peculiarity of the building [5528–30 S. Lake Park Avenue] is perhaps worthy of more extended notice, that is the ‘unit plan’ and its ‘flexibility’ and privacy. The decision to make all of the apartments to consist of the same number of rooms was arrived at only after long investigation and analysis.”

FIGURES 22–23. Tomlinson,

The League “model tenements” and their flexible floor plans, illustrated in “A Chicago ‘Model Tenement,’” American Architect 95, no. 1733 (March 10, 1909).

AN INVESTIGATION

Tomlinson believed that the availability of plans with one-, two-, and threebedroom apartments would balance out the feeling of class distinction which is not conducive to neighborhood harmony. The element of flexibility of the unit plan, which in great measure compensates for the lack of choice in number of rooms, is attained by so arranging them that they may be readily converted to various uses.48 His plan for the apartments at 5528–30 S. Lake Park Avenue shows his concern for the privacy and dignity of the building’s working-class occupants. Eight months later, in December 1909, Tomlinson published another article in American Architect: “The Small Flat Building: Features of Apartment House Planning in Chicago” (fig. 24). He described the influence of local building ordinances on the work of architects: To the mind of the public the architect is supposed to be the guiding genius who determines the character and style of the buildings that are erected in any locality —and this is, of course, mainly true —but it is nevertheless intensely interesting to note how great is the influence which the local building ordinances extend in determining “types” of buildings.49

FIGURE 24. Tomlinson, floor plans of “the small flat building,” illustrated in “The Small Flat Building: Features of Apartment House Planning in Chicago,” American Architect 96, no. 1774 (December 22, 1909).

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

Given the fast pace of change in ordinances, Tomlinson noted that he could determine when a building was built in Chicago by the “disposition of its ‘features.’” He then introduced “the small flat building,” appealing to homebuyers in search of a quick, inexpensive residence in which they could let one of the floors and divide the building’s storage space. Tomlinson would revisit this interest in splitting residences like apartments again later in his practice. Tomlinson continued to design apartment buildings and flats for the next several years. Between 1910 and 1914, he built no fewer than ten in Chicago, ranging from simple two-flats to larger multiunit apartment blocks, with estimated costs from about $4,000 to $15,000. Most of these were located on the city’s South and West Sides.50 In 1910 Tomlinson designed 618 Maple Avenue in Lake Bluff, which has been described as his crown jewel (figs. 25–34). He built the home for Annie and Minnie Sherman, spinster sisters who, beginning in 1894, performed at Lake Bluff’s Hotel Irving, described in newspaper advertisements as “the finest and most economical Summer Resort in America.” 51 The popular Hotel Irving attracted an artistic crowd to Lake Bluff that did not blend well with the town’s original residents, members of the Methodist Camp Meeting Association. The Hotel Irving faced Prospect Avenue and took up an entire block, with Center Avenue running behind it and Moffett Road and Maple Avenue on either side. The grounds around the hotel were laid out for croquet and lawn tennis, a new game that had been brought to the United States from England. Built in the Queen Anne style, the Hotel Irving was surrounded by fountains, floral gardens, and graveled walks with towering trees. It was named for J. Irving Pearce, the manager of Chicago’s famous hotel Sherman House, where the Sherman sisters also performed.52 At the turn of the twentieth century, Lake Bluff was changing. Many larger homes were being built as yearround residences. Tomlinson designed 618 Maple (the Sherman House) as a year-round home for the Sherman sisters, who had summered in Lake Bluff for twenty-nine years. The house would allow the sisters to live together yet apart in one building, as it could be divided into two separate but overlapping domiciles. FIGURE 25. Tomlinson, 618 Maple Avenue, Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1910.

AN INVESTIGATION

FIGURE 26. Tomlinson,

618 Maple Avenue (view from the east), 1910 (photographed 2017).

FIGURE 27. Tomlinson,

618 Maple Avenue (view from the north), 1910 (photographed 2017).

FIGURE 28. Tomlinson, 618 Maple Avenue (view from the southeast), 1910 (photographed 2017).

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

618 Maple Avenue features a Prairie design, with wide, overhanging eaves

and a low-pitched roof. The most outstanding architectural elements of the home are the intricate Prairie-style stained glass windows, four large casement windows with subdivided leaded glass transoms, numerous doors providing great flexibility for the floor plan, and two grand staircases, each with its own contextural window. The home originally had four entrances on the first floor: front door, porch door, kitchen door, and basement door for coal delivery. The front door opens into a small vestibule with a coat closet. A door in this entryway opens into a larger vestibule with a fireplace (fig. 29). A small room to one side of the vestibule originally functioned as the home’s living room (fig. 30). A common dining room, porch, kitchen, butler’s pantry, and powder room were also originally located on the first floor, which can be divided by closing a large floor-to-ceiling pocket door between the front hall and dining room. A birch staircase with Prairie-style elements — simple appliqued wood pieces that echo the patterns in the stained glass window on the north side of the staircase — leads to the second floor. On the second floor are servants’ quarters with private access (by way of another staircase) to the kitchen. According to the 1940 census, a male and a female servant lived with the Sherman sisters at 618 Maple Avenue: Gus Johnson, a fifty-six-year-old general worker, and Marion Kanerva, a twenty-four-year-old housekeeper. The home’s second floor also houses three bedrooms, one with a music room (which no longer exists due to renovations to the home) and two with large casement windows with subdivided leaded glass transoms (fig. 31). These windows, facing north and south, afford a view of Lake Michigan just a block to the east. In 1912 Annie Sherman married Willard N. Van Matre, the president of the Schumann Piano Company, after his first wife, Irma, passed away at the age of seventy.53 The Van Matres had lived just around the corner from the Sherman sisters. Thus, less than two years after they moved into 618 Maple Avenue, the Sherman sisters built an addition to the house. Although there is no documentation indicating that Tomlinson designed this addition, its details support his authorship. It is also possible that Tomlinson was aware of the sisters’ plans to expand the home at a future date.

AN INVESTIGATION

FIGURE 29. The original reception hall of 618 Maple

Avenue, 1910 (photographed 2018).

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

FIGURE 30. The original living room of 618 Maple Avenue, 1910 (photographed 2018).

AN INVESTIGATION

FIGURE 31. The casement windows with subdivided leaded glass transoms

in a bedroom of 618 Maple Avenue, 1910 (photographed 2018).

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

FIGURE 32. The original billiard room windows of 618 Maple Avenue, 1910 (photographed 2018).

AN INVESTIGATION

The 1912 addition to 618 Maple Avenue, built to accommodate Annie and Willardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marriage, includes a billiard room (present-day living room) on the south side of the first floor, with a separate staircase leading to a master bedroom (fig. 34). A large pair of stained glass folding doors with wood frames close off the small space between the billiard room and dining room. Since Van Matre was the president of the Schumann Piano Company, he had access to a large selection of wood veneers (fig. 32). The interior walls of the billiard room are partially covered in perfectly matched mahogany veneers. The elaborate quarter-turn staircase has three winder stairs and wrap-around base stairs that protrude into the billiard room. Both the new staircase and the master bedroom feature large casement windows with subdivided leaded glass transoms that form a triangular niche. Along its north wall, the master bedroom also originally had two mirrored closets and one identical mirrored door that seemed to come straight from Aliceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Adventures in Wonderland (fig. 33). Annie and Willard would have stepped over an eight-inch threshold to pass through the mirrored door to access the original part of the house from their new master bedroom. A renovation in 2017 transformed the master bedroom, adding a walk-in

closet that reused Tomlinsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovative mirror design and enlarging the master bathroom and bedroom. In 2012 , 618 Maple Avenue was awarded the Lake Bluff Distinguished Home Award by the Lake Bluff History Museum.

FIGURE 33. The mirrored door of 618 Maple Avenue

designed by Tomlinson to disguise the entrance from the master bedroom into the original part of the house, 1910 (photographed 2018).

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

FIGURE 34. First- (top) and second-floor (bottom)

plans for renovations to 618 Maple Avenue by Sheehan Partners, February 15, 2006.

AN INVESTIGATION

The first phase of the Sherman sisters’ house was completed by 1911. In that year, the Lake Bluff Chat reported: “The Misses Sherman entertained a small company in their beautiful new home Saturday evening. A right pleasant time is reported by those present.”54 In 1915 the publication printed “reproductions of a few of our many attractive and handsome residences”; the April 1, 1915, issue highlighted the cut of the residence built for the Misses Sherman by Mr. Webster Tomlinson. . . . This house is true to type and proves its classic beauty not only by its perfection of detail, but by the fact that the more one looks at it the more it appeals to one’s sense of proportions and finish.55 Although Tomlinson continued to design single-family residences throughout his career, large commissions like the Sherman House would be few and far between. During the next five years, until 1916, Tomlinson designed only a handful of homes. In 1914, for instance, he secured work on the R. C. Leland Residence in River Forest, which cost between $5,000 and $6,000.56 Back in Lake Bluff, across the street from 618 Maple Avenue, Tomlinson designed the Colonial-style 600 Scranton Avenue for Maurice Mandeville in 1915 (fig. 35). Mandeville later served as president of the school board and was very active in village affairs.57 The Mandeville House was later the home and office of Dr. John Ward.58

FIGURE 35.

Tomlinson, Maurice Mandeville House, Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1915.

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

SOLO CAREER, 1902–16: NONARCHITECTURAL WORK Tomlinson’s mother and father passed away within nine days of each other in the spring of 1911. Less than a week after his father’s death, Tomlinson wed Carry Stewart Merriman, born May 16, 1871. It is presumed that this was a marriage of convenience due to the timing of the marriage and their age. They did not have children. In 1911 Tomlinson was elected secretary of the Illinois chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), a position he would hold for several years. He remained an active member of the Chicago chapter of the AIA until he moved to Joliet, Illinois, in 1916. Tomlinson was active throughout his entire professional career in many groups that furthered architectural and artistic matters. At an October 1912 meeting of the Municipal Art League, which was “devoted to an expert discussion of protection of the home from the trespass of commerce,” for example, Tomlinson, “chairman of the League committee on building regulations, read a decision of the Supreme court of California upholding the right of the city of Los Angeles to confine factories to certain localities.” 59 During the same time frame, Construction News reported: Webster Tomlinson is anxious to have specifications standardized, by which it will not be necessary to repeat in each specification many of the things with which they are all familiar and by this method would avoid much confusion. He is of the impression that it is possible to standardize methods of construction in several lines of industry by which it will be possible to refer in a specification to the Chicago A, B or C, and so on. This idea seemed to meet with the approval of many present. Mr. Tomlinson was appointed a committee of one to consider the matter further with Mr. Jones. Mr. Reum said that the plastering contractors and employees are now devising a standard specification which he thought would be valuable to architects and contractors and would eliminate much of the confusion which now exists. Again, Tomlinson proved to be a numbers man and interested in organization and standardization.60

AN INVESTIGATION

On August 25, 1914, Tomlinson was awarded the patent for a slide rule designed to measure concrete beams (fig. 36). His patent application describes how the slide rule works and includes an illustration. Construction News devoted two articles to this slide rule and a second one designed by Tomlinson, noting his innovation’s benefits: “The new Winslow strength-computing slide-rule is a simple direct-reading, calculating device recently put on the market, by which any beam problem can be solved mechanically and with automatic precision in a few seconds — quicker than by any other method.” 61 These new slide rules were adopted by the building departments in Chicago and scores of other cities throughout the United States, as well as by “steel and bridge companies, railroads, colleges and by hundreds of architects and engineers.” By 1915 Tomlinson’s designs were deemed a success.

FIGURE 36.

Patent for the slide rule designed by Tomlinson, August 25, 1914.

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

Tomlinson also developed an interest in using concrete in his building projects during this period. Construction News reported as early as 1907: [Tomlinson] devoted much study . . . lately to the application of reinforced concrete. To this feature of construction he has given much time and may well be considered an expert. His efforts in the use of this material as well as his ideas as shown in the design for the two buildings now underway in Dakota are worthy of more than passing mention.62 Within just a few short years, the United States would enter into World War I; a passage from Hugh Miller’s Chicago School of Architecture: A Plan for Preserving a Significant Remnant of America’s Architectural Heritage, included in a National Parks preservation report, accurately summarizes the architectural climate during this period: When the United States entered World War I the Chicago School was abruptly deprived of its clientele. After the war, the nation turned its back on Chicago’s inventive, forward-looking architecture. With the change in politics, economics, and social life in the postwar years, America’s architectural appetite reverted altogether to eclecticism. Except for a few critics who were willing to risk their reputations by making an objective assessment of the activities of the Chicago group, the works of the Chicago School went into eclipse. During the period between the two world wars the Chicago group was often condemned and generally forgotten.63 This may well explain Tomlinson’s later career choices and residential work. The Prairie style may have been considered frivolous or even inappropriate for the postwar years.

AN INVESTIGATION

LATER CAREER AND LIFE, 1916–42 Tomlinson began work on the Stateville Penitentiary, outside of Joliet, in 1916. This commission would take him back to his roots in Boyington’s office, where he had worked on institutional building design. Stateville’s original architect was William Carbys Zimmerman (1856–1932); he had opened a practice in Steinway Hall in 1898 and was, like Tomlinson, a member of the Illinois chapter of the AIA . Zimmerman also held the post of Illinois State Architect from 1905 to 1915. Sometime after Zimmerman’s retirement, Tomlinson “was appointed Superintendent of work on Prison Cells being erected in Stateville from plans of Architect W. C. Zimmerman. From that assignment forward other prison work throughout the state was assigned to Mr. Tomlinson.” 64 A 1928 local history publication provides some information on the prison, which had opened in 1925: The “yard” contains 64 acres (being the largest known), and is surrounded by a smooth concrete wall 1.14 miles long and 33 feet high, 14 inches thick at the top and 24 inches at the bottom, and in its building new principles of engineering were applied which have been adopted by other states. All the buildings are of fireproof construction — concrete, brick, steel, and “wire” glass — and have been constructed very largely by inmate labor, under competent supervision. Mr. Henry W. Tomlinson has been the superintendent of construction from the beginning of the first building, which was started August 25, 1916.65 Parts of the Stateville prison were designed according to the panopticon concept proposed by the British philosopher and prison reformer Jeremy Bentham. Stateville’s F House, commonly known as the “roundhouse,” had a panopticon layout, featuring an armed tower in the center of an open area surrounded by several tiers of cells; this design was originally intended to provide better living conditions for inmates. Panopticon prison design was eventually deemed inhumane, yet F House at Stateville remained open until late 2016. It was the only remaining roundhouse still in use in the United States, and Illinois plans to keep the building intact for its historical significance.

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

Once the prison was completed in 1925, Tomlinson took a tour of Europe to inspect prisons on the Continent and share ideas. This trip was likely sponsored by Illinois’s Prison Commission — a committee created by the state legislature in 1907 — on which Tomlinson served. In 1919 Tomlinson published “Second Report on the Work of the Underwriters’ Laboratories” with Elmer C. Jensen and George C. Nimmons in American Architect. The article promoted fire prevention safeguards, even when local ordinances did not demand them, a topic that apparently appealed to AIA members.66

In 1921 Tomlinson designed his own home in Joliet (fig. 37 ). It was “a large but simple Tudor Revival with simple brick massing, and light half timbering” as described by the Upper Bluff National Register, City of Joliet. As was the case with most residential architecture of the 1920 s, Tomlinson’s revivalist design turned its back on the innovations of the earlier Prairie style.67

FIGURE 37. Tomlinson, Tomlinson House,

304 Nicholson, Joliet, Illinois, 1921.

AN INVESTIGATION

It is not entirely clear how Tomlinson occupied himself during the years of the Depression, which began in 1929. On July 26, 1931, an article on Tomlinson in the Chicago Tribune described one project: his design for “Two Bungalows in One.” According to the article: “The home provided generous living accommodations for two families, one on each floor. Both units were equipped as spacious apartments with living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, sun parlor, breakfast room, and attached garage with a cost of $18,000.” 68 At the time that Tomlinson completed this design, his offices were listed at the Morris Building in Joliet. Tomlinson died on July 11, 1942, at the age of seventy-two, after a long and productive life. His parents raised him with Christian values, and he never lost those roots. He became a trustee of the First Baptist Church and was a member of many professional organizations, giving freely of his time to the Municipal Art League, the City Club of Chicago, the Illinois Society of Architects, the Illinois Judicature Society, the Chicago Historical Society, the Chicago Architectural Club, the Architectural League of America, the Committee on the Work of Underwriters Laboratories, and the AIA . A June 15, 1907, profile of Tomlinson in Construction News perhaps puts it best: Webster was a Chicago product, and the city would be much better off had it within its borders more men of this type. . . . Mr. Tomlinson also had altruistic ideas in embracing this profession, believing that there were great opportunities for improving construction and bettering conditions surrounding the poor people of a great city. He thought that to improve and better a man’s surrounding made him a better man.69

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

It is unclear how much input Tomlinson had on the Prairie-style homes he designed with Wright at the turn of the twentieth century, but as one of the Eighteen, he was an important voice in the development of modern American architecture. Indeed, as Hugh Miller wrote in Chicago School of Architecture: Architecture, unlike painting, literature, or music, is not the product of the genius of one person. Architecture is a business as well as an art. An architect employs other architects, often more capable than himself, to prepare his designs, make working drawings, and even supervise construction. He hires consultants for the structural, mechanical, and electrical elements of buildings — the infrastructure that often controls the final design.70 Not only are there unsurprising parallels between Tomlinson’s and Wright’s independent designs, but there are also connections between Tomlinson’s pioneering work in reinforced concrete and the work of master architects like Le Corbusier. Tomlinson was passionate about designing architecture that honored the human condition, creating tenement housing that provided residents equitable living conditions and showed respect for all. Though he was only 5'1½", he cast a long shadow in his profession. This look at Tomlinson and his work is long overdue. He was a man who contributed all of himself to his architecture and construction, creating many beautiful designs and advancing the science of his profession.

AN INVESTIGATION

TIME LINE 1869

1902

Henry Webster Tomlinson is born on

Wright & Tomlinson receives the commission

August 11 in Hyde Park.

for the Victor Metzger House in Sault Ste.

1883–87

Marie, Michigan.

Tomlinson attends South Division High

Wright & Tomlinson dissolves.

School on the South Side of Chicago.

1903

1887–93

Tomlinson receives commissions for Jungle

Tomlinson works for the architect William

Nook, the home of John Howard, in Lake Bluff

Warren Boyington in Chicago.

and a warehouse for E. A. Cook in Chicago.

1889 Tomlinson becomes a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

1896 Steinway Hall, designed by Dwight H. Perkins, opens in Chicago.

In May, Tomlinson designs a three-story apartment building for M. M. Lewis on Chicago’s West Side.

1904 In November, Tomlinson receives the commission for the Lake Bluff Village Hall.

Tomlinson graduates (in only three years)

1905

with a BS in architecture from Cornell

In March, Tomlinson receives the commission

University in Ithaca, New York, on June 19.

for an eight-story storage facility on Chicago’s

On June 29, Tomlinson submits an

West Side.

application for a passport so that he can

In June, Tomlinson receives the commission

travel to Europe on a sketching tour.

for a new courthouse building in Sioux Falls,

1901

South Dakota.

Tomlinson announces his partnership

1906

with Frank Lloyd Wright.

Tomlinson receives the commission for

Wright & Tomlinson receives commissions

an addition to the Hinsdale Sanitarium.

for the E. Arthur Davenport House in

In February, Tomlinson receives the

River Forest, the Frank W. Thomas House

commission for the new Yankton County

in Oak Park, the F. B. Henderson House

Prison in Yankton, South Dakota.

in Elmhurst, the William Fricke House

1907

in Oak Park, and the Herbert and Flora

Tomlinson builds a home for C. D. Michaels

Miles House in Racine, Wisconsin.

in Chicago.

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

1908

1915

Tomlinson works on additional plans for

Tomlinson receives the commission for

the Hinsdale Sanitarium.

the Maurice Mandeville House in Lake Bluff.

Tomlinson receives the commission for

1916

the home of Dr. L. J. Isaac in Chicago.

On August 25, Tomlinson begins work on

Tomlinson designs an apartment building

Stateville Penitentiary, outside Joliet.

at 5528–30 S. Lake Park Avenue at the behest of the Hyde Park Betterment League. In February, Tomlinson receives the

1918 Tomlinson and his wife move to Joliet.

commission for a mental hospital

1919

in South Dakota.

With Elmer C. Jensen and George C. Nimmons,

1909 In March and December, Tomlinson publishes articles in American Architect.

1910 Tomlinson receives the commission for

Tomlinson publishes “Second Report on the Work of the Underwriters’ Laboratories” in American Architect.

1921 Tomlinson constructs his own home in Joliet.

the home of the Sherman sisters in

1924

Lake Bluff.

Tomlinson completes work at Stateville

1911

Penitentiary.

On March 4, Tomlinson’s mother,

1925

Annette Augusta Webster, dies at age

Tomlinson is sent to Europe to inspect prisons

seventy-four in Chicago. Nine days later,

on the Continent.

his father, John Henry Tomlinson, dies

1929–39

at age eighty-three in Chicago.

The Great Depression takes place in the

On March 30, Tomlinson marries Carry

United States and throughout the world.

Stewart Merriman.

1914 Tomlinson applies for a patent for a slide rule to measure concrete beams. Tomlinson receives the commission for the R. C. Leland Residence in River Forest.

1914–18 World War I rages throughout Europe.

1931 Tomlinson designs a two-unit building in Joliet.

1940 Tomlinson retires.

1942 On July 11, Tomlinson dies after a short illness at his home in Joliet. He is buried with his wife’s family.

AN INVESTIGATION

NOTES 1

“U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889–1970,” volume 124, 2011. This information is available from ancestry.com. Tomlinson’s member number was 24637. “Mrs. Annette Webster Tomlinson Death Notice,” Portsmouth Herald, August 24, 1911. According to this obituary, Annette had only one sister, Mrs. Fred F. Moses. Because Tomlinson was an only child and had no heirs of his own, if any of his drawings have survived, they may be in the possession of his aunt’s heirs. Her papers have not been located. “H. Webster Tomlinson: Architect, Chicago,” Construction News 23, no. 24 (June 15, 1907): 429.

10 Perhaps

future research will reveal more on this topic.

11 “Chicago,”

Construction News 12, no. 40 (October 5, 1901): 669.

C. Miller, Chicago School of Architecture: A Plan for Preserving a Significant Remnant of America’s Architectural Heritage (Washington, D.C.: Department of Interior, 1973), 8.

14 Mark

Hertzberg, email correspondence with the author, December 14, 2017.

15 Grant

C. Manson, Frank Lloyd Wright to 1910: The First Golden Age (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1958), 79.

5 Anne

Watson, Beyond Architecture: Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin—America, Australia, India (Sydney: Powerhouse Publishing, 1998). For more information on the Eighteen at Steinway Hall, see H. Allen Brooks, “Steinway Hall, Architects and Dreams,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 22, no. 3 (October 1963): 171–75.

“In General,” Brickbuilder 10, no. 1 (January 1901): 20.

“Notes and News,” Construction News 12, no. 3 (January 19, 1901): 34.

8 Donald

Leslie Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright: The Early Years, Progressivism, Aesthetics, Cities (Abingdon, England: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2018): 113.

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

“News of the Week: Chicago,” Construction News 13, no. 9 (March 1, 1902): 141. In a second article from the same issue of Construction News, entitled “Residences and Flats,” additional information on this residence is given: it included a “shingle or tile roof,” “oak and Georgia pine finish,” and “cement floors” (144).

13 Hugh

4 A

copy of Tomlinson’s 1869 application for a passport shows that he was a mere 5'1½". See “NARA M1372. Images of handwritten letters and application forms for U.S. passports, 1795–1905,” National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C., NARA Series: Passport Applications, 1795–1905, Roll #: 472, Volume #: Roll 472–22 Jun 1896–30 Jun 1896.

“Residences, Flats, Etc.,” Construction News 12, no. 6 (February 9, 1901): 88.

“Residences, Flats, Etc.,” Construction News 12, no. 8 (February 23, 1901): 120.

“E. Arthur Davenport House,” Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, accessed December 9, 2017, flwright.org/researchexplore/wrightbuildings/ earthurdavenporthouse.

“Frank Thomas House,” Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, accessed December 9, 2017, flwright.org/research explore/wrightbuildings/frankthomashouse.

“Frank Henderson House,” Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, accessed December 9, 2017, flwright.org/researchexplore/wrightbuildings/ frankhendersonhouse.

20 “William

Fricke House,” Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, accessed December 9, 2017, flwright.org/research explore/wrightbuildings/williamfrickehouse.

21 Mark

Herztberg, “Wright Rediscovered,” Journal Times (Racine, WI), November 2, 2003, journaltimes.com/news/local/wrightrediscovered/article_51e304f7-0623-59b6-

31 “Chicago,”

Construction News 19, no. 10 (March 11, 1905): 177.

bae7-c8007812b68c.html. This letter and the

accompanying drawings are in the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections at Northwestern University’s Libraries in Evanston, Illinois.

“News of the Week: Contracts Let,” Construction News 21, no. 17 (April 28, 1906): 323.

33 “South

Dakota Insane Build Their Own Asylum,” Inter Ocean (December 20, 1908): 34.

34 Ibid.

22 “Mosaics,” Inland

35 “Chicago,”

23 “Chicago,”

36 “Chicago,”

24 “Chicago,”

37 “Chicago,”

38 Between

Architect and News Record 37, no. 2 (March 1901): 16. Construction News 14, no. 12 (September 20, 1902): 163. Construction News 14, no. 22 (November 29, 1902): 312.

“Trade Notes,” Construction News 15, no. 15 (April 11, 1903): 231; “Trade Notes,” Construction News 15, no. 18 (May 2, 1903): 275.

Construction News 23, no. 5 (February 2, 1907): 88. Construction News 21, no. 24 (June 16, 1906): 470. Construction News 26, no. 21 (November 21, 1908): 331. 1908 and 1915, Tomlinson built several factories, warehouses, and other types of industrial structures, mostly on Chicago’s West and Near South Sides. For details about these projects, see the following issues of Construction News: 26, no. 8 (August 22, 1908): 121; 32, no. 3 (July 22, 1911): 18; 32, no. 5 (August 5, 1911): 13; 35, no. 7 (February 15, 1913): 13; 36, no. 6 (August 9, 1913): 18; 36, no. 8 (August 23, 1913): 23; 38, no. 11 (September 12, 1914): 9; 38, no. 12 (September 19, 1914): 9; 40, no. 11 (September 11, 1915): 8; 40, no. 23 (December 4, 1915): 7.

26 Tomlinson

erected a number of additional commercial and industrial buildings in 1903 and 1904, including buildings at 17 and 19 North River Street in March 1903, a “1 and 2-story brick foundry and shops” at 246 Jackson Boulevard for Maurice Weil in November 1903, and a 2-story brick store and flat at 610 South Canal Street, also for Maurice Weil, in April 1904. See Construction News 15, no. 11 (March 14, 1903): 170; Construction News 16, no. 22 (November 28, 1903): 390; and Construction News 17, no. 14 (April 2, 1904): 252.

39 Tomlinson

built other smaller homes prior to this, including a $5,000 frame house for a Mr. Day in Evanston and a remodel of the J. B. Moos House in Lake Forest; see notices in Construction News 12, no. 36 (September 7, 1901): 603; and 14, no. 18 (November 1, 1902): 255.

27 See

Construction News 18, no. 9 (August 27, 1904): 152; Construction News 18, no. 10 (September 3, 1904): 170; Construction News 18, no. 14 (October 1, 1904): 239; Construction News 19, no. 1 (January 7, 1905): 10; Construction News 19, no. 5 (February 4, 1905): 79; Construction News 21, no. 24 (June 16, 1906): 470.

28 “Chicago,”

Construction News 24, no. 12 (September 21, 1907): 207.

29 “Chicago,”

Construction News 18, no. 20 (November 12, 1904): 352.

30 Michael

Croak of the Lake Bluff Village Hall generously shared the original drawings. These plans are the only original Tomlinson drawings known to exist.

40 “Residence

Built for the Misses Sherman,” Lake Bluff Chat, April 1, 1915.

“Summer Cottage of J. H. Howard, Lake Bluff, Illinois,” Western Architect 2 (April 1903): 22.

“The House in the Wood,” Vick’s Magazine, May 1906: 21.

43 “Chicago,”

Construction News 21, no. 4 (January 27, 1906): 66.

44 “News

of the Week,” Construction News 30, no. 19 (November 5, 1910): 25.

AN INVESTIGATION

45 “Chicago,”

56 “Building

46 “Model

57 Lyndon

Construction News 15, no. 21 (May 23, 1903): 321. Apartment Plans Described,” Chicago Tribune, December 12, 1908, 7. Rent in Hyde Park for a three-bedroom apartment averaged seventy dollars a month in 1908; this was among the highest rents in Chicago.

News of the Week, Chicago and Vicinity,” Construction News 37, no. 17 (April 25, 1914): 8. Jensen and Kathleen O’Hara, Post Card History Series (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2008).

58 Dr.

Ward was a primary care physician in Lake Bluff for much of his life. Indeed, he made house calls, a practice long abandoned by most physicians, into the 1990s. He was a kind and caring man; I spoke with him many times myself.

47 H.

Webster Tomlinson, “A Chicago ‘Model Tenement,’” American Architect 95, no. 1733 (March 10, 1909): 81–82.

48 Ibid.

49 H.

Webster Tomlinson, “The Small Flat Building: Features of Apartment House Planning in Chicago,” American Architect 96, no. 1774 (December 22, 1909): 268–71.

60 “Illinois

Chapter A.I.A.,” Construction News 36, no. 16 (October 18, 1913): 7.

“The New Winslow Strength Computing Slide-Rule,” Construction News 37, no. 8 (February 21, 1914): 7; “Winslow Concrete Computing Slide Rule,” Construction News 39, no. 11 (March 13, 1915): 7.

“H. Webster Tomlinson: Architect, Chicago,” Construction News 23, no. 24 (June 15, 1907): 429.

50 For

information on these flats and apartment buildings, see the following issues of Construction News: 29, no. 26 (June 25, 1910): 442; 30, no. 5 (July 30, 1910): 83; 30, no. 12 (September 17, 1910): 210; 30, no. 16 (October 15, 1910): 26; 30, no. 18 (October 29, 1910): 14; 35, no. 22 (May 31, 1913): 14; 37, no. 3 (January 17, 1914): 12; 37, no. 18 (May 2, 1914): 8. See also American Contractor, July 2, 1910.

51 Hotel

Irving advertisement, Camp Meeting era, 1896, Lake Bluff History Museum, http://lakebluff.pastperfectonline.com/archive/ 6E5986B4-F72C-4827-9938-351094793903.

“Alphabet Stories—I: Hotel Irving,” Lake Forest–Lake Bluff Historical Society Newsletter, http://www.lflbhistory.org/sites/default/files/ pdfs/alpha-i.pdf.

53 Willard

and Irma Van Matre are buried together at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. Minnie and Annie Sherman, the Van Matres, and Tomlinson all owned parcels of land in Lake Bluff in the early 1900s, according to Lake County Deeds Department records.

“Art League Joins Fight to Limit Store Locations,” Chicago Tribune, October 18, 1912.

63 Miller, 64 Paul

F. Norton, “Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased),” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 17, no. 4, (1958): 602.

65 August

Maue, “History of Joliet Township, Will County, Illinois,” in History of Will County, Illinois (Topeka: Historical Publishing Company, 1928), http://history.rays-place.com/il/will-joliet.htm.

66 Elmer

C. Jensen, Henry Webster Tomlison, and George C. Nimmons, “Second Report on the Work of the Underwriters’ Laboratories,” American Architect 115, no. 2268 (June 11, 1919): 829.

67 The

Tomlinson House is currently two apartments, and one wonders if it was originally designed as such.

“This and That,” Lake Bluff Chat, September 2, 1911.

68 “Two

“Residence Built for the Misses Sherman,” Lake Bluff Chat, April 1, 1915.

69 “H.

Bungalows in One,” Chicago Tribune, July 26, 1931, A12. Webster Tomlinson: Architect, Chicago,” Construction News 23, no. 24 (June 15, 1907): 429.

70 Miller,

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

Chicago School of Architecture, 9.

BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY Brooks, Harold Allen, and Vincent Scully. The Prairie School. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. Cohen, Stuart Earl, and Susan S. Benjamin. North Shore Chicago: Houses of the Lakefront Suburbs, 1890–1940. New York: Acanthus, 2006. Condit, Carl W. Chicago: Building, Planning, and Urban Technology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973. Downey, Sarah. “Rebuilding an Architect.” Chicago Reader, November 11, 2017, https:// www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/rebuilding-an-architect/Content?oid=904121. “H. Webster Tomlinson: Architect, Chicago.” Construction News 23, no. 24 (June 15, 1907): 429. Hitchcock, Henry Russell. In the Nature of Materials: 1887–1941, The Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. “The House in the Wood.” Vick’s Magazine, May 1906, 21. Jensen, Elmer C., Henry Webster Tomlinson, and George C. Nimmons. “Department of Architectural Engineering: Second Report on the Work of the Underwriters’ Laboratories.” American Architect 115, no. 2268 (June 11, 1919): 829. Lamb, John M. The Architecture of Punishment: Jeremy Bentham, Michael Foucault and the Construction of Stateville Penitentiary, Illinois. Typed manuscript, 1990. Manson, Grant C. Frank Lloyd Wright to 1910: The First Golden Age. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1958. Peisch, Mark L. The Chicago School of Architecture: Early Followers of Sullivan and Wright. New York: Phaidon, 1964. Storrer, William Allin. The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalog. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Stuart, Laura. “Wright On!” OakPark.com, December 21, 2004, http://www.oakpark.com/ News/Articles/12-21-2004/Wright-On%21/. Tomlinson, Henry Webster. “A Chicago ‘Model Tenement.’” American Architect 95, no. 1733 (March 10, 1909): 81–82. ———. “The Small Flat Building: Features of Apartment House Planning in Chicago,” American Architect 96, no. 1774 (December 22, 1909): 268–71. Twombly, Robert. Louis Sullivan: His Life and Work. New York: Viking Penguin, 1986. Vliet, Elmer B., and Virginia Mullery. Lake Bluff, The First Hundred Years. Lake Bluff, IL: Elmer Vliet Historical Center, 1985.

AN INVESTIGATION

GENEALOGY JOSEPH TOMLINSON

DOROTHY TOMLINSON

DAVIDSON WEBSTER

JULIA ANN DEARBORN

1809–1892

1806–1877

1811–1844

1806–1882

JOHN H. TOMLINSON

ANNETTE A. WEBSTER

1827–1911

1835–1911

HENRY WEBSTER TOMLINSON 1869–1942

CARRY S. MERRIMAN 1871–1945

JOHN W. MERRIMAN

MARY H. MCFARLAND

1839 –1909

1843–1930

JOHN MERRIMAN

JANE E. DAGGATT

JAMES MCFARLAND

MARY MECONKEY

1805–1855

1806 –1842

1803–1850

1805–1891

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS COVER.

Courtesy of The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

ENDPAPERS. http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US1108480-0.png.

FIG. 1. Construction News 23, no. 24 (June 15, 1907): 429. FIGS. 2 a – b, 3. Courtesy Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections,

Northwestern University’s Libraries. Photographs by the author. FIG. 4. New York Times. Photograph by Yuichi Idaka. FIG. 5. Courtesy of The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. FIG. 6. United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Division,

HABS ILL , 22-ELM , 2–1, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/il0421.photos.061830p/. FIG. 7. Inland Architect and News Record 46, no. 1 (August 1905). FIGS. 8 a – b. Courtesy Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections,

Northwestern University’s Libraries. Photographs by the author. FIGS. 9–10. Courtesy Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections,

Northwestern University’s Libraries. Photographs by the author. FIG. 11. Courtesy of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. © 2018 FLLWFDN . FIGS. 12 a – b. Photographs courtesy of the Lake Bluff History Museum. FIGS. 13–17. Courtesy Lake Bluff Village Hall. FIG. 18. Inter Ocean (December 20, 1908): 34. FIG. 19. Vick’s Magazine (May 1906): 21. FIGS. 20–21. From the collection of the current owners of 710 East Prospect,

Lake Bluff, Illinois. FIGS. 22–23. American Architect 95, no. 1733 (March 10, 1909): 81. FIG. 24. American Architect 96, no. 1774 (December 22, 1909): 268–71. FIGS. 25–34. From the collection of the author. FIG. 35. Photograph courtesy of the Lake Bluff History Museum. FIG. 36. http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US1108480-0.png. FIG. 37. Google Maps, https://www.google.com/maps/place/304+Nicholson+St,

+Joliet,+IL+6043ten.

AN INVESTIGATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My heartfelt thanks go to Dr. Joseph Socki,

Ward Miller, executive director at Preservation

lecturer in art history, theory, and criticism at

Chicago and a longtime friend, who spent a

the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC),

good deal of time on the phone with me, letting

for his passion, inspiration, and encouragement.

me cross-check facts despite his busy schedule;

He supported my research on Henry Webster

Michael Croak, building codes supervisor at

Tomlinson, the architect of the house in which

the Village of Lake Bluff, who provided access

my family and I live.

to the only original Tomlinson plans I could

A conversation with Susan Benjamin of Benjamin Historic Certifications was a great starting point for this book. She was generous with her time and suggested possible databases, authors, and historians to consult. Tina Strauss, codirector of the Victorian Society in America Summer Schools, went out of her way to share her handwritten notes on Tomlinson. Correspondence with author and photographer Mark Hertzberg was especially helpful for understanding the unexecuted Miles House in Wisconsin, on which Cecil Corwin, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Tomlinson all worked. Special thanks to Margaret and Lee French and Katie and John Davis, who have lived in, loved, and cared for Tomlinson houses, maintaining important documentation on their residences. By extension, a special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. John Bryan for their help in restoring our home, once their daughter’s, to its current state.

locate; Lyndy Jensen at the Lake Bluff History Museum, who promptly replied to my many questions; Autumn Mather and Stephanie Fletcher at the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries of the Art Institute of Chicago, who were extremely helpful in locating microfilm and catalogued information; Paul Kruty, professor emeritus of architectural history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who shared important information on Tomlinson’s relationship to Walter Burley Griffin; and Rolf Achilles, adjunct professor in historic preservation at SAIC, for searching his own database for information pertaining to Tomlinson. The following individuals also lent their expertise to the scholarship of this paper: Arthur H. Miller, retired archivist and librarian for special collections at Lake Forest College; David Bagnall, curator of The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust; Vincent Michael, executive director of the San Antonio Conservation Society; Julia

Enormous thanks to David van Zanten, art

Bachrach of Julia Bachrach Consulting;

historian at Northwestern University, Evanston,

Anne Sullivan, associate professor in historic

Illinois, for his incredible memory of an

preservation at SAIC; Lesley Martin of the Chicago

exhibition at Northwestern on Wright, which

History Museum; and the Cornell University

also mentioned Tomlinson. My warm thanks

Alumni Association.

also go to the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections at Northwestern University’s Libraries in Evanston, Illinois; Tim Samuelson, a living landmark and cultural

I am extraordinarily grateful to Kim Coventry for shepherding this book through editing, design, and production.

historian, and the only person I communicated

My greatest appreciation and admiration go to

with who had actually researched Tomlinson;

my daughter, Darby Clarke, who photographed and edited all recent interior and exterior photos of our home, 618 Maple Avenue.

H ENRY WEBSTER TO MLINSON

ABOUT THE AUTHOR VANESSA BALBACH CLARKE worked in the design field and is currently

earning an MFA in painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her curiosity about the architect of her present home, combined with frustration over the lack of readily available information about him, led her to make Henry Webster Tomlinson the subject of a required paper for a course on the modern home. This book is the surprising result.

ABOUT THE BOOK HENRY WEBSTER TOMLINSON was a bright, earnest architect with lofty

expectations about the potential of architecture. He believed he could improve the quality of life of the less fortunate by building them equitable, flexible housing and improving safety for residents by helping define building codes. He was considered an expert in the new material of concrete, which he used in unique and innovative ways. To that end, he patented a slide rule to measure the thickness of reinforced concrete. Tomlinson was also involved in many early penitentiary and institutional designs. His only known original drawings are those of the Lake Bluff Village Hall in Lake Bluff, Illinois.

H. Webster Tomlinson

Articles inside

H. Webster Tomlinson