A Catalog of Louis Sullivan's Ornament 1881-1887

The ideals of Louis Sullivan underpin the revolutionary architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. As Sullivan's assistant, Wright spent many hours drawing and discussing the architectural ornament that was, for Sullivan, the clearest medium for the expression of his ideas.

This series of volumes is intended to visually present the majority of surviving ornament designed by and under the direction of Louis Sullivan. This first volume presents the ornament between 1881 and 1887. As subsequent volumes are added, it is my hope that the immersed reader will be able to discern propositions underlying the ornament, and detect the patterns and structures that developed into the Prairie architecture of Wright.

Michael O'Brien is an architect and the Associate Head of the Department of Architecture at Texas A&M University. He is the former William E. Jamerson Professor of Building Construction in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He is a native of Chicago and a graduate of North Dakota State University. Professor O'Brien has been a guest curator at the National Building Museum, an advisor and on-screen expert for the Discovery Channel, and has numerous publications and research reports on Industrializing the Residential Construction Site for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.