The Chicago School

At the turn of the century, Chicago was the centre of North American architecture. Jenny and Mundie developed the first metal-frame building, the Home Insurance Building, there in 1884-85; Louis Sullivan, who had trained with them, developed the first steel frame and reinforced concrete buildings- the Wainright Building in St. Louis in 1890 and the Guaranty Building in Buffalo in 1895- which could be built higher than before because the walls were not load bearing (and because the electric lift had been inverted in 1811). Sullivan used stone and terra cotta on the exterior, suspended by metal shelves bolted to the frame. He favoured terra cotta with simple details which complimented rather than completely covered the surface as in earlier heavily-detailed historicist styles. Thus the modern building was born.

John D. Atchinson was born in Monmouth, Illinois and studied at the Chicago Art Institute. Working in the office of Jenny and Mundie, he was involved in the planning of the world's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Atchinson left Jenny and Mundie in 1895 and began his own practice in Chicago, visiting Winnipeg in a professional capacity in the early 1900s. He opened a Winnipeg office in 1905, closing his American office the following year. Atchinson was foremost Chicago School architect in the city. He remained in practice in Winnipeg for about twenty years.