William Gray Purcell
William Gray Purcell (July 2, 1880 – April 11, 1965) was a Prairie School architect in the Midwestern United States.
In 1886 Gray arranged the purchase of three square miles of land surrounding an island on a lake in northern Wisconsin, in co-ownership with the recently widowed Nettie Fowler McCormick, also of Chicago.
Every following summer from 1887 until his death in 1901, Gray brought his family, friends, and associates to Island Lake Camp, as the isolated forest enclave came to be called.
In Chicago, where Purcell went frequently to visit his grandfather at The Interior offices, the work of Louis Sullivan continued to impress the young architect-to-be.
[2] While he was still enrolled in school, Purcell was hired by William E. Benson (1873–1915) to draw architectural designs for the historically African American village of Kowaliga, Alabama, which had goals of expanding their housing.
During a dinner party in Oak Park, Purcell met George Grant Elmslie, then the chief draftsman for Louis Sullivan.
Purcell's father, who was afraid of the effects of the region's weather on the health of his son, offered to send him on a year-long tour of Europe.
Purcell was keen to seek out the best contemporary design and, remembering a suggestion made by Elmslie he stopped in Holland to visit the architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage.
These contacts added to his growing desire to commence his own work and shortly after returning to the United States, Purcell moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to open an office in partnership with George Feick, Jr.
George Elmslie brought important business contacts that resulted in a growing number of commissions from former Sullivan clients.
Purcell continued to develop productive friendships with men who lived in small towns throughout the Midwest, which created a network of sympathizers who kept the firm advised of potential jobs.
Over the course of the partnership, Purcell & Elmslie became one of the most commissioned firms among the Prairie School architects, second only to Frank Lloyd Wright.
George Feick did not completely share the intense dedication of Purcell and Elmslie to the new architecture, and in 1913 left Minneapolis to rejoin his father's business in Sandusky, Ohio.
In 1925, Purcell met James Van Evera Bailey, a young architect who was an integral participant in both the design and construction process for four houses built during the Portland years.
Throughout the decade, Purcell had felt a progressive decline in his physical well-being and, finally seeking medical attention in 1930, was diagnosed as having advanced tuberculosis.
From the late 1930s to the mid 1950s, he developed a series of unpublished essays called "The Parabiographies" that were commission-by-commission accounts of experiences during his architectural practice.
These pages, together with many manuscripts discussing Sullivan and the "function and form" thesis, were sent for reading to George Elmslie who often added his own annotations.
The collection contains drawings, including plans, elevations and sections, for much of the firm's work, together with renderings, sketches, photographs and correspondence.
Letters, photographs and books from Purcell's maternal grandfather (William Cunningham Gray, 1830–1901) form part of the collection.
