Robert Seyfarth

Although his early independent projects directly reflected Maher's stylistic influences, as his own style developed Seyfarth's work became distinguished more as a distillation of prevailing revivalist architecture, characterized not by the frequent devotion to detail that typified the movement but by strong geometry, a highly refined sense of proportion, and the selective, discriminating use of historical references.

[5] The case for the use of historic references in modern architecture was made by no less than William Adams Delano (1874-1960), who was considered to be one among the "new generation of architects [who] shaped and developed American taste, producing a style leavened with erudite abstraction and sparing composition".

Advised to locate outside of the city, he settled with his wife Louise in Blue Island, which a couple of years earlier had begun to experience an influx of immigration from what was then known as the German Confederation.

Not only did he own and operate the local hardware store, but in 1874 he was a charter member of the Blue Island Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and in 1890 was one of the founders of the Calumet State Bank.

[27] Although it was to take him in a totally different direction, Chicago Manual Training School, with its focus on the industrial arts, was a logical choice for the secondary education of the oldest son of a hardware dealer, especially in an age when primogeniture was considered important.

Besides his classes in drawing Seyfarth studied mathematics, English, French, Latin, history, physics, chemistry, foundry and forgework, machine shopwork, woodwork, political economy and civil government.

The ride would have taken him directly over the Midway Plaisance of the World's Columbian Exposition, where he would have a clear view to the west of the great Ferris Wheel and to the east of the Beaux Arts majesty of the main body of the Fair.

Chicago was developing at a rate that astounded anyone who was paying attention to its growth, such that "one unfamiliar with the city would find ... fresh subject for astonishment, daily, in [its] ever-changing and ever-extending boundary lines.

Few times in history have ever presented so impressive a sight as this resistless wave of progress, its farthermost verge crushing down primeval obstacles in nature and desperate resistance from the inhabitants; its deeper and calmer waters teeming with life and full of promise more significant than has ever yet been known.

[44] The preface to the catalogue of the 1905 exhibition was devoted to what the noted architect Elmer Grey (1872–1963) called "Inventive and Indigeonous Architecture", a phrase which perfectly reflected Seyfarth's design for this particular house and may have been one of the reasons why images of it were included.

Notables among the list included Charles B. Atwood, Daniel Burnham, Dankmar Adler, Louis Sullivan, Howard Van Doren Shaw, William Le Baron Jenney and Frank Lloyd Wright.

He designed some of the woodwork and other decoration for the Samuel Nickerson House (1879–1883) on Erie Street in Chicago [52] (now the Driehaus Museum), and the interiors of the Hegeler Carus Mansion (William W. Boyington,1874–1876) in LaSalle, Illinois.

Henry Biroth was an active member of Chicago's large ethnic German community, and in 1887, Fiedler (with his partner John Addison) had designed a house for him in Blue Island.

According to H. Allen Brooks, professor emeritus of fine arts at the University of Toronto "His influence on the Midwest was profound and prolonged and, in its time, was certainly as great as was [Frank Lloyd] Wright's.

They went there to take advantage of the prosperity that had come to the city after the Great Fire of 1871, and in 1878 George was sent to apprentice with the Chicago architect Augustus Bauer (after 1881[71] in partnership with Henry Hill[72] who, with Arthur Woltersdorf would build St. Benedict Church in Blue Island in 1895[73]) by his parents who, as was not unusual at the time, needed to augment the family income with the earnings that this type of employment would provide.

[82] He came to Chicago in 1882 to act as an interior architect and as such was responsible for the opulent interiors of Potter and Bertha Palmer's fantastic castle[83] at 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive (built 1881-1885, demolished 1950,[84] Henry Ives Cobb (1859–1931) and Charles Sumner Frost (1856–1931) architects), and stayed to design several important projects for the city, including the Lincoln Park Conservatory (1890–1895) and the West Virginia Building and the Moving Sidewalk for the World's Columbian Exposition (1893).

He briefly enjoyed a professional relationship with Northwestern University in Evanstion, Illinois, where in 1909 (during Seyfarth's tenure in his office) he designed Swift Hall and the first Patten Gymnasium (demolished 1940).

These buildings were bold expressions of his unique design philosophy and were to have been integral parts of his master plan for the campus, which the board of trustees had commissioned through a competition in 1911 but failed to execute.

"[87] Maher didn't live to see what he had begun come to fruition, but during the Century of Progress in 1933 the Museum of Science and Industry opened in the newly restored building, a project which was funded largely with a $5 million gift from the philanthropist Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932), who was president of Sears, Roebuck and Company.

Seyfarth was likely drawn to establish his office there thru the influence of his Blue Island neighbor Benjamin C. Sammons (1866-1916), who was the president of the Bankers Club of Chicago and a long-time vice-president of the Corn Exchange National Bank.

One client of this class, Willoughby G. Walling[101] (1878–1938), of Winnetka, IL, is known to have mingled with European royalty[102][103] and with at least one President of the United States in his capacity as the acting director general of the Department of Civilian Relief and as Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee of the American Red Cross.

The same book also shows that Orasmus Beardsley was a member of various prestigious clubs, including The Chicago Athletic Association (where William Wrigley Jr. and L. Frank Baum were members) and the South Shore Country Club (now the South Shore Cultural Center), where he associated with the likes of Clarence Buckingham, John G. Shedd, John J. Glessner, Martin Ryerson, Clarence Darrow, Joy Morton and Willoughby Walling.

All of this notwithstanding, however, a careful analysis will show that Seyfarth served a broad-based clientele, and although he has a number of small houses to his credit the largest percentage of his work was done for what would be considered upper middle-class clients.

Here it was described as follows: "...These [Midwest country] houses almost uniformly give the impression of being built for people of refinement who take a keen interest in making their homes attractive, and who have to that end sought the advice of competent architects.

Seyfarth had designed a house for him at 230 Fairview Road in Glencoe in 1919[142] that appeared in The Western Architect the following year[143] (see image, left), and an addition to the Dartnell Corporation building at R avenswood and Leland Avenues in Chicago in 1932.

Although it was a designated local landmark,[147] the George Mahler house at 90 Ridge Road in Highland Park (1942) was demolished and replaced with a larger home, but its virtual twin still stands at 12857 S. Maple Avenue in Blue Island, having been built for William Schrieber in 1950, the year of Robert Seyfarth's passing.

The Hubbard/Brach house, which stood at 595 Sheridan Road in Winnetka, IL, was demolished in 2001 by a developer over the strong objections of local historians and the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.

– From a paper read by Root before the Chicago Architectural Sketch Club, January 3, 1887 and later published in Inland Architect.and "...I take it as self-evident that a building, quite devoid of ornament, may convey a noble and dignified sentiment by virtue of mass and proportion.

"[158] Seyfarth frequently designed outdoor living space that was under the protective roof of the house but exposed its occupants to the benefits of fresh air and sunlight (see gallery images 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 24, although some have been subsequently enclosed.)

One feature of the current age, the ubiquitous attached garage (the successful inclusion of which apparently continues to confound architects today), was frequently incorporated into the design of the main house with such skill one observer noted that "...Norman peasants must have been driving automobiles since the Conquest."

Photograph of a latticework porch by Robert Seyfarth on the front of a house he designed (likely the Bournique house at 421 [later 1509] Oakwood Av., Highland Park, IL [demolished]) which appeared in the June, 1916 edition of The Craftsman magazine. The article that accompanied the image had this to say about the design: The porch "...seems as perfect an architectural use for lattice as could be devised. There is a gracious hospitable informality about it that is most effective ... How delightfully simple are the design and proportion!" [ 1 ] This deft handling of proportion and well-considered use of ornamentation is a distinguishing quality of Seyfarth's work and one that was heralded by The Craftsman and others who advanced the cause of modern architecture: "No richness of material or cunning use of handiwork is able to redeem bad proportion; good proportion rises superior to detail and glorifies the humblest material." [ 2 ]
The three buildings on the right were owned by the Seyfarth family and stood on the south-west corner of Grove St. and Western Ave. in Blue Island, Illinois. The white building in the center of the photograph was the tavern that William Seyfarth operated after he came to Blue Island in 1848. [ 9 ] It originally stood on the corner, but was remodeled and relocated in 1880 when the building shown here on the corner was erected to house Edward Seyfarth's hardware store. [ 10 ] All three buildings were destroyed in the Great Blue Island Fire of 1896, which began in a shed behind the Bairischer Hof, the building to their immediate left. The Bairischer Hof survived the fire.
The Chicago Manual Training School building, 349-353 (now 1154) S. Michigan Avenue ( Solon Spencer Beman , architect - 1884 [ 17 ] ). After CMTS was acquired by the University of Chicago and moved to its Hyde Park campus in 1903 the building was occupied by Dearborn Medical College [ 18 ] and The University of Illinois College of Pharmacy. [ 19 ] It is no longer standing.
The World's Columbian Exposition under construction as seen looking east from the Illinois Central tracks at 61st St. [ 20 ] The tracks would be elevated by the time the Fair opened in 1893. [ 21 ]
Page 12 from the catalog of the Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of the Chicago Architectural Club (1903), showing Seyfarth's entry for a "Library". Seyfarth would later become a member of The Illinois Society of Architects, who by 1918 and thru 1928 [ 34 ] would sponsor the exhibition in conjunction with The Chicago Architectural Club and The Illinois Chapter of the American Institute of Architects , with the cooperation of the Art Institute of Chicago. [ 35 ]
August Fiedler (1843-1903)
George Washington Maher (1864-1926)
The Liederkranz Hall in Blue Island was designed by George Washington Maher, [ 46 ] and erected in 1897 at a cost of $8,500 to replace the club's building that had been destroyed by the Great Blue Island Fire of the previous year. It was dedicated on November 21, 1897 and was itself destroyed by fire on January 9, 1918.
The William Weber house, 12956 Greenwood Avenue, Blue Island, Illinois. George Washington Maher, architect (1898). Weber was president of the First National Bank of Blue Island (later Great Lakes Bank, now merged with First Midwest Bank [ 47 ] ) and of the local board of education. He also served as a member of the Cook County Board of Assessors [ 48 ] from 1898 to 1925, and six times as a delegate to the Republican National Convention .
Weber had a connection to Maher's work on several levels - aside from his own home he was a member of the Blue Island Liederkranz, and through his activities with the Republican County Central Committee [ 49 ] he had a close working relationship with Edgar J. Magerstadt, who in 1908 would use Maher to design the landmark home he built at 4930 S. Greenwood Ave. in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago. Weber was doubtless well-acquainted with the Seyfarth family.
Sanders School, Blue Island, IL. William Weber was president of the School Board when Maher designed this building in 1900 [ 50 ] during the time Seyfarth was in Maher's employ.
This chart depicts the professional relationships through employment and mentorship over several generations that helped to shape the architectural philosophy of Robert Seyfarth. Anyone with even a passing interest in the architectural history of the United States will immediately recognize many of the individuals whose names are included here - names that constitute a list of many of America's most distinguished architects and innovative thinkers of the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
The residence of George B. Dryden (1869-1959), 1314 Ridge Ave, Evanston, Illinois. George Maher, architect (1918 [ 68 ] ). Maher was not above providing a design for a building in a traditional style when the occasion called for it, and this example shows that his office was capable of executing well-designed work. In featuring this house in its January, 1920 issue The Western Architect magazine acknowledged that although the house was stylistically outside the realm of what Maher would normally be expected to provide, it noted that "He certainly maintains his faith in the "progressive" movement and will continue to work along such lines, believing, however, that no architect is capable of doing creative work who is not thoroughly well-grounded in the architecture of the past". This statement, if it accurately portrays Maher's philosophy, must have had a decided effect on Seyfarth's architectural development. [ 69 ] The house still stands. Along with its coachhouse, it is divided into six condominium units. [ 70 ]
This is the earliest known example of Seyfarth's work to appear under his own name other than his own house in Blue Island. It appeared in the May, 1905 issue of The National Builder magazine.
The Jessie Sykes Beardsley house, 1918 (shown here c.1920), Freedom Township, Ohio
This advertisement features the house at 1236 Asbury Avenue in Winnetka, Illinois , which was designed c. 1920.
That Seyfarth was not averse to appropriating the elements of one project to improve the design of another can be illustrated here using the Baroque doorhead and pilasters surrounding the front door of this house. It was used at least one other time - on the house at 2500 Lincoln Street (1925) in Evanston, IL., where the house this time was finished with red brick and Colonial revival in style.
Although un-attributed in this ad for the Arkansas Soft Pine Bureau, this is the Alexander Stewart in Highland Park, IL, which Seyfarth designed in 1913 (see gallery picture 10 below).
The house of noted author and journalist Bert Leston Taylor in Glencoe, IL . In her memorial to Taylor (B.L.T.), Eleanor Jewett had this to say "...Among his proudest possessions was his home in Glencoe, Ill, a house of comfortable proportions ... this type of house is one of the most attractive that the North Shore boasts. It is, on the surface, a homey home". [ 110 ] The photograph above is from her March, 1921 article, and first appeared in The Home You Longed For . It was also used in an ad for the Creo-Dipt Company. [ 111 ]
Advertisement for the Schick-Johnson Company that appeared in the December, 1910 edition of Architectural Record magazine. The company created the paneling for the Florentine Room, which Seyfarth designed for the north tower of the Congress Hotel in downtown Chicago. The building was designed by Clinton Warren and opened in 1893 as an annex to Adler and Sullivan's Auditorium Hotel (1889) to accommodate guests from the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1912 the Florentine Room was the site of discussions between Theodore Roosevelt and his opponents that resulted in the creation of Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party . [ 112 ]
The Dickinson house as it appeared in an advertisement for the Stewart Iron Works Co. in the February 1909 edition of House and Garden .
The second Robert Seyfarth house, 542 (now 1498) Sheridan Road, Highland Park, Illinois. 1911
The first John C. Aspley house, 230 Fairview, Glencoe, IL. 1919. Demolished
The George Mahler house, Highland Park, Illinois. c. 1942 (demolished)
The William Schreiber house, Blue Island, IL. 1950
Detail, front doorway of the Alexander and Sarah Colvin House, 5940 N. Sheridan Road, Edgewater, Chicago, IL. George Washington Maher, architect. 1909
The diagram above illustrates the difference between the amount of sunlight that penetrates into an interior space when an inverted dormer (top) is used compared to the use of a traditional dormer.