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George Grant Elmslie (February 20, 1869 - April 23, 1952) was an American, though born in Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland.In this present day Aberdeenshire does not include Aberdeen City which is a Council Area in its own right....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, Prairie School
Prairie School

File:Habs flw oak park home.jpgPrairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States....
 architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 whose work is mostly found in the Midwestern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. He worked with Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan

Louis Henri Sullivan was an United States architect, and has been called the "father of modern architecture." He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago school , was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come...
 and later with William Gray Purcell
William Gray Purcell

William Gray Purcell was a Prairie School architect in the Midwestern United States. He partnered with George Grant Elmslie. The firm of Purcell and Elmslie produced designs for buildings in twenty two states, Australia, and China....
.

The architectural practice most widely known Purcell & Elmslie
Purcell & Elmslie

The American progressive architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School after Frank Lloyd Wright....
 consisted of three partnerships. The first, Purcell & Feick, was created at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1907 between Purcell and his Cornell School of Architecture classmate, George Feick, Jr.






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George Grant Elmslie (February 20, 1869 - April 23, 1952) was an American, though born in Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland.In this present day Aberdeenshire does not include Aberdeen City which is a Council Area in its own right....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, Prairie School
Prairie School

File:Habs flw oak park home.jpgPrairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States....
 architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 whose work is mostly found in the Midwestern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. He worked with Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan

Louis Henri Sullivan was an United States architect, and has been called the "father of modern architecture." He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago school , was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come...
 and later with William Gray Purcell
William Gray Purcell

William Gray Purcell was a Prairie School architect in the Midwestern United States. He partnered with George Grant Elmslie. The firm of Purcell and Elmslie produced designs for buildings in twenty two states, Australia, and China....
.

The architectural practice most widely known Purcell & Elmslie
Purcell & Elmslie

The American progressive architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School after Frank Lloyd Wright....
 consisted of three partnerships. The first, Purcell & Feick, was created at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1907 between Purcell and his Cornell School of Architecture classmate, George Feick, Jr. George Elmslie and Purcell had been friends since 1903, when Purcell worked for a short while in the office of Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan

Louis Henri Sullivan was an United States architect, and has been called the "father of modern architecture." He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago school , was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come...
, and Elmslie was an informal influence in the work of Purcell & Feick. In 1909, Elmslie joined the office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the name of the firm changed to Purcell, Feick, & Elmslie in 1910. Feick left the partnership in 1912, and the name of the practice became Purcell & Elmslie until being dissolved in 1921.

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
Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an United States architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works....
. Following the dissolution of his partnership with Purcell, Elmslie worked occasionally with various other architects, including Lawrence A. Fournier, William S. Hutton, Hermann V. von Holst
Hermann V. von Holst

Hermann V. von Holst was an United States architect practicing in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida, from the 1890s through the 1940s, best remembered for agreeing to take on the responsibility of heading up Frank Lloyd Wright?s architectural practice when Wright went off to Europe with Mamah Cheney in 1909....
 and William Eugene Drummond
William Eugene Drummond

William Eugene Drummond was a Chicago Prairie School architect....
, and produced a number of banks, train stations, commercial, and institutional buildings during the 1920s and 1930s.

A curious historical note: Elmslie claimed to have been born in 1871, and he carefully kept his true birth year a secret all his life except from a very few people. The apparent reason for this was due to his immigration status in 1885, when he joined his father John Elmslie in Chicago from his native Scotland. Had Elmslie divulged his true age, he would have been ineligible to enter the United States as a dependent family member.

See also

  • William Gray Purcell House
    William Gray Purcell House

    The Edna S. Purcell house was designed by William Gray Purcell & George Grant Elmslie for Purcell and his family in 1913. The dwelling is considered a masterpiece of Prairie School architecture....
    , a house designed by Purcell and Elmslie in Minneapolis, Minnesota
    Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Minneapolis is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota. The city lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, Minnesota, the state's Capital ....


Further reading


  • Gebhard, David
    David Gebhard

    David S. Gebhard was a leading architectural historian, particularly known for his books on the architecture and architect of California. He was a long-time faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was dedicated to the historic preservation of Santa Barbara, California architecture....
     (edited by Patricia Gebhard), Purcell & Elmslie: Prairie Progressive Architects, Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City 2006, ISBN 1423600053


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