Graham, Anderson, Probst & White

Graham, Anderson, Probst & White was the largest architectural firm under one roof during the first half of the twentieth century.

In part from its connection to Burnham, the firm captured the majority of the big commissions from 1912 to 1936, including such iconic works as the Wrigley Building, Merchandise Mart, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Civic Opera House, Chicago Fed, and the former central Chicago post office.

Early on, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White became known for its classical taste and the elegance of its Beaux-Arts-inspired output, which Louis Sullivan decried as a stylistic throwback but which nonetheless withstood multiple generations of critics.

However, starting in 1923 with the firm's plans for the Merchandise Mart and the Straus Building, the practice soon began to move beyond the Beaux-Arts influence of Burnham and the City Beautiful movement to the bolder, starker Art Deco style with its streamlined forms.

One in particular was New Yorker Henry Hering, who created the sculptured pediment for the Civic Opera House; a variety of details for the Field Museum of Natural History, including a variation on the Erectheum porch; and the allegorical figures Day and Night for the Great Hall of the Chicago's Union Station.