Lawrence Buck
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Buck was a successful and influential Chicago
area residential and commercial architect
, artist and landscape painter, associated with the Prairie School
and the American Arts and Crafts Movement
.
. His father was William Henry Buck (1840 in Norway
– 1888 in New Orleans). The elder Buck was a landscape artist, specializing in sub-tropical landscape, genre paintings and sporting scenes which are highly prized by collectors. By the age of twenty, Lawrence Buck was working as a draughtsman and by the age of twenty-seven he had relocated to Birmingham, Alabama
, where he practiced architecture in partnership with John Sutcliffe. In 1889, Sutcliffe relocated to Chicago, Buck also moved there and continued their professional association.
, Dwight Perkins, Robert C. Spencer, and others, who had offices in Steinway Hall. Buck maintained an office in Steinway Hall from 1902 through the 1920s.
Buck worked both prior to and contemporaneously with the Prairie School architects and his work at times resembles theirs, but it is not limited to the Prairie Style aesthetic. He drew on a wide range of forms to create simple yet dignified buildings that have tremendous appeal, whether in a simplified Tudor, Arts and Crafts, English cottage, Prairie Style or Colonial revival mode. For example his 1909 house for Mrs. Helen Campbell in Palo Alto is designed in a modified Dutch Colonial style.
Architect Hermann V. von Holst
featured a number of noteworthy houses by Buck in his books surveying the work of Chicago area architects, as did fellow architect and architectural writer Charles E. White, Jr.
For von Holst, Buck created "Studies of Different Exterior Treatments of the Same Plan" showing variations that are Colonial, English Country, Italian Revival, Jacobean Revival and Georgian Revival. The Ladies Home Journal and House Beautiful
magazines published homes which Buck designed; architects and builders in many parts of the country used these plans liberally. Buck marketed and sold plans for his buildings which were then constructed in other parts of the country, such as the Campbell House in Palo Alto, California, and the Nelson Bonny House in Norwich, New York.
Buck collaborated with women designers in his residential work, notably Elizabeth Eleanor D'arcy Gaw (1860–1933) and Mary Mower who created interiors in the Arts and Crafts mode for his clients between 1901 and 1903. They formed what they called "The Crafters" group which was first located at 1013 Steinway Hall in Chicago, which also housed several of the Prairie School architects.
During 1907-1911, Buck worked in partnership with Edwin Besançon Clarke, an 1891 graduate of the University of Illinois. Some architectural historians speculate that Buck may have had a second office in Rockford, Illinois
, during this decade as there are at least ten houses in Rockford that have been identified as his work.
Buck was a member of the Arts Club of Chicago, North Shore Art League, and Ravinia Sketch Club. Buck died on August 17, 1929 in Ravinia, Illinois.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
area residential and commercial architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, artist and landscape painter, associated with the Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
and the American Arts and Crafts Movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
.
Early years and education
Lawrence H. Buck was born in 1865 in New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. His father was William Henry Buck (1840 in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
– 1888 in New Orleans). The elder Buck was a landscape artist, specializing in sub-tropical landscape, genre paintings and sporting scenes which are highly prized by collectors. By the age of twenty, Lawrence Buck was working as a draughtsman and by the age of twenty-seven he had relocated to Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, where he practiced architecture in partnership with John Sutcliffe. In 1889, Sutcliffe relocated to Chicago, Buck also moved there and continued their professional association.
Career
Buck was a member of a group of young progressive Chicago architects sometimes referred to as "The Eighteen", who were friends and colleagues of Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
, Dwight Perkins, Robert C. Spencer, and others, who had offices in Steinway Hall. Buck maintained an office in Steinway Hall from 1902 through the 1920s.
Buck worked both prior to and contemporaneously with the Prairie School architects and his work at times resembles theirs, but it is not limited to the Prairie Style aesthetic. He drew on a wide range of forms to create simple yet dignified buildings that have tremendous appeal, whether in a simplified Tudor, Arts and Crafts, English cottage, Prairie Style or Colonial revival mode. For example his 1909 house for Mrs. Helen Campbell in Palo Alto is designed in a modified Dutch Colonial style.
Architect Hermann V. von Holst
Hermann V. von Holst
Hermann V. von Holst was an American 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...
featured a number of noteworthy houses by Buck in his books surveying the work of Chicago area architects, as did fellow architect and architectural writer Charles E. White, Jr.
Charles E. White, Jr.
Charles E. White, Jr. was a noted Chicago area architect who for a time worked in the Oak Park studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and who, both before and after that time, had a successful and influential career as an architect and a writer on architectural subjects...
For von Holst, Buck created "Studies of Different Exterior Treatments of the Same Plan" showing variations that are Colonial, English Country, Italian Revival, Jacobean Revival and Georgian Revival. The Ladies Home Journal and House Beautiful
House Beautiful
House Beautiful is an interior decorating magazine that focuses on decorating and the domestic arts. First published in 1896, it is currently published by the Hearst Corporation, who purchased it in 1934...
magazines published homes which Buck designed; architects and builders in many parts of the country used these plans liberally. Buck marketed and sold plans for his buildings which were then constructed in other parts of the country, such as the Campbell House in Palo Alto, California, and the Nelson Bonny House in Norwich, New York.
Buck collaborated with women designers in his residential work, notably Elizabeth Eleanor D'arcy Gaw (1860–1933) and Mary Mower who created interiors in the Arts and Crafts mode for his clients between 1901 and 1903. They formed what they called "The Crafters" group which was first located at 1013 Steinway Hall in Chicago, which also housed several of the Prairie School architects.
During 1907-1911, Buck worked in partnership with Edwin Besançon Clarke, an 1891 graduate of the University of Illinois. Some architectural historians speculate that Buck may have had a second office in Rockford, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
, during this decade as there are at least ten houses in Rockford that have been identified as his work.
Buck was a member of the Arts Club of Chicago, North Shore Art League, and Ravinia Sketch Club. Buck died on August 17, 1929 in Ravinia, Illinois.
Selected work
- Entrance Gates, Lincoln ParkLincoln ParkLincoln Park is an urban park in Chicago, which gave its name to the Lincoln Park, Chicago community area.Lincoln Park may also refer to:-Urban parks:*Lincoln Park , California*Lincoln Park, San Francisco, California...
, Chicago, Illinois – (with John Sutcliffe) - Lawrence Buck House, Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois - 1904
- 454 West Iowa Street, Oak Park, IllinoisOak Park, IllinoisOak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...
– 1905 - Charles H. Reeves, Jr., House, Oak Park, Illinois (with Vernon Spencer Watson)
- Roycemore Private School for Girls, Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, IllinoisEvanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
(with Tallmadge and Watson) - H. G. Wasson House, Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
- 1907 - Grey House at "Four Mounds Estate", 4900 Peru Road, Dubuque, IowaDubuque, IowaDubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....
- 1908 - Max H. Penwell House, Pana, Illinois – 1908
- E. H. Ehrman House, Oak Park, Illinois – 1908
- Wigell House, 1010 North Second St., Rockford, IllinoisRockford, IllinoisRockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
– 1908 - Walter Boyle House, Rockford, Illinois – 1908
- Residence for J. S. Ely, Cedar Rapids, IowaCedar Rapids, IowaCedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city...
– 1908 - Nelson Bonny House, Norwich, New YorkNorwich (city), New YorkNorwich is a city in Chenango County, New York, United States. Surrounded on all sides by the Town of Norwich, the city is the county seat of Chenango County. The name is taken from Norwich, Connecticut. Its population was 7,355 at the 2000 census.Lt...
– 1908 (mirror image of "The House Beautiful" 1908, "An Inexpensive House", built in Oak Park in 1907) - Rachel McMullen House, 27332 Morris SE, Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
– 1908 - George McMullen House, 305 Morris, Grand Rapids, Michigan
- 1160 Bryant Street, Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
- 1909 - Lawrence Buck Residence, Ravinia, Illinois – 1911
- Elks Lodge, 210 W. Jefferson, Rockford, Illinois – 1912
- E. D. Moeng House, Columbia Avenue and the Beach, Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois - 1912
- "Walden" the Cyrus H. McCormick House, N. Mayflower Road, Lake Forest, IllinoisLake Forest, IllinoisLake Forest is an affluent city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The city is south of Waukegan along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded around Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in...
– 1915; associated architect - The Allendale School, 600 East Grand Avenue, Lake Villa, IllinoisLake Villa, IllinoisLake Villa is a village in Lake County, Illinois United States. The population was 5,864 at the 2000 census. Lake Villa lies within Lake Villa Township...
– 1919 (with landscape architect Jens JensenJens JensenJens August Jensen was an Australian politician and Minister for the Navy.Jensen was born in Ballarat, Victoria and educated at Ballarat, leaving school at 11. He became a rabbit-hawker and miner at Beaconsfield, Tasmania. In July 1885 he married Elizabeth Frances Broadhurst; she died in 1894...
) - Ellis Family Homestead, Pensacola, FloridaPensacola, FloridaPensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...