ronment in which it was situated. The Chicago of the day was raw, vigorous, and forceful; the Chicago of the poet Carl Sandberg was symbolically manifest in Richardson’s design of the Marshall Field store .Richardson’s work was a powerful influence. This is notably so in the work of Stanford White and C.F. McKim, two of the designers responsible for the Great Hall of Penn Station, one of the last hurrahs of the old Beaux Arts style. Also certainly influenced by Richardson was Louis H. Sullivan, a giant of American architecture and a key link in the chain, which brought architecture forward to set the stage for the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Richardson’s thematic elimination of ornament in the Marshall Field store design inspired Sullivan to expand the principle in his design of the Auditorium Building in Chicago in 1888, one of the last grand masonry buildings in America . Still in use today, the structure provides a large auditorium, offices and a hotel. It features a two-storey plinth in front with an office tower in back. Great-grandson of Joseph Priestley, who discovered oxygen, Richardson was born at Priestley Plantation , Louisiana in 1838; his distinguished background continued from birth through Harvard University and study abroad. Plagued by nephritis throughout his career, however, he died in 1886 at the untimely age of forty-eight; yet by this time, his contributions had already secured him an important place among America’s foremost architectural designers. The Marshall Field Wholesale Store is a major landmark in this movement. Here a rhythmic pattern of masonry arches envelops a powerful steel skeleton. The overall design is sombre and dignified....
