Art & Art History
Dwight Heald Perkins
Dwight Heald Perkins is an exhibition of the architectural designs of the late Dwight Heald Perkins, an important figure in the development of Chicago architecture. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1867, Perkins was involved with two of the greatest movements in the history of architecture. He was trained in the most prominent office in the City of Chicago during the original Chicago School of Architecture, and he was a developer and contributor to the Prairie School, whose designs influenced Chicago ’s architecture in the early 1900s. In his short career at the Chicago Board of Education, he revolutionized educational architecture with his schools. Lane Technical High School (1909), Bowen High School (1910) and Cad Shurz High School (1910) are examples from this early period, which typify the works that spurred Perkins to be credited with creating modern scholastic architecture. In 1912 Perkins received the Gold Medal Award and was named honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects for his design of the Cafe Brauer and the Lion House at the Lincoln Park Zoo. He practiced architecture until 1933; Evanston Township High School (1924) is among his significant later designs. Perkins, who died in 1941, was also highly influential in the creation of Chicago ’s Parks and Forest Preserves. His lifetime of work enhanced our urban environment and he offered us an example of architect as selfless civil servant. His body of work has been too long in the shadows and, as a consequence, too little known. Gallery 400 ’s exhibition honored Perkins as an architect with aesthetics, but also as a humanist concerned with the ideographic relationship of architecture to community and neighborhood.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Dwight Heald Perkins (1867-1941) was an American architect and planner. Perkins was born in Memphis, Tennessee and moved to Chicago with his family at a young age.
Perkins has worked for several architectural firms including Wheelock & Clay, Frederick Schock, and Burnham & Root. In 1893, he formed his own firm after receiving his first major commission, with help from Daniel Burnham, the Stevens Point, Wisconsin Normal School. In 1894 he was commissioned to design a new building for the Steinway Piano company. This building bore little resemblance to the work he would do later, often in the style that became known as “Prairie School” of architecture.
In 1905, Perkins was appointed Chief Architect for the Chicago Board of Education by Mayor Edward F. Dunne. He maintained a private practice with John L. Hamilton in addition to his service on the board. In 1911, with the addition of William K. Fellows, the firm of Perkins, Fellows, & Hamilton opened with offices in Chicago’s loop. Perkins left the firm in 1929 and joined what became Perkins, Chatten, and Hammond. He soon left in 1933.
Other works by Dwight Perkins firm include the Lincoln Park Zoo Lion House, the Alfred Nobel School, and many other residential homes. Perkins studied and taught architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1885. He died in Lordsburg, New Mexico in 1941.
EXHIBITION CHECKLIST
Dwight Heald Perkins
Untitled Blueprints, each approximately 38 x 45 in.
Courtesy Carl Schurz High School.
Perkins & Hamilton
Daily News Sanitarium, Lincoln Park, Details, Drawing # 100-128-7
Drafting linen, 33 x 42 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Daily News Sanitarium, Lincoln Park, Elevations, Drawing # 100-128-5
Drafting linen, 33 x 42 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Daily News Sanitarium, Lincoln Park, Plans, Drawing # 100-128-1
Drafting linen, 33 x 42 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Daily News Sanitarium, Lincoln Park, Sections & Details, Drawing # 100-128-6
Drafting linen, 33 x 42 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Perkins & Hamilton (W.P.A. tracings of originals)
Cafe Brauer, Lincoln Park, Elevations, Drawing #100-126-5
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Cafe Brauer, Lincoln Park, Entry Elevation Details, Drawing #100-126-10
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Cafe Brauer, Lincoln Park, Ground Floor Plan, Drawing #100-126-2
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Cafe Brauer, Lincoln Park, Lagoon Elevation Details, Drawing #100-126-9
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Cafe Brauer, Lincoln Park, Main & Gallery Plan, Drawing #100-126-3
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Cafe Brauer, Lincoln Park, Trans. Section, Drawing #100-126-7
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, 1st Floor Plan, Drawing #106-4-3 Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, Elevations, Drawing #106-4-6
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, Elevation Details, Drawing #106-4-10
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, Sections, Drawing #106-4-7
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Lincoln Park Zoo Lion House, Long. Sections, Drawing #100-88-9
Drafting linen, 28x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
Seward Park Fieldhouse, N & E Elevations, Drawing #108-3-5
Drafting linen, 28 x 36 in.
Courtesy Chicago Park District.
PRINT COLLATERAL
Postcard: Dwight Heald Perkins
MEDIA COVERAGE
Review: “Dwight Heald Perkins” Eric Emmett Davis, Chicago Chapter American Institute of Architects, April 1989, pp. 23-5.
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
Dwight Heald Perkins is supported by the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Art and Design’s College of Architecture, Art and Urban Planning.
Dwight Heald Perkins: Social Consciousness
and Prairie School Architecture
Catalog essay by Eric Emmet Davis
Gallery 400, School of Art and Design,
University of Illinois at Chicago, 1989
16 pp., 10 x 8.5 in., with black and white reproductions
This catalogue can be purchased for $5.00 plus shipping by calling Gallery 400 at 312 996 6114
PRESS RELEASE
Dwight Heald Perkins
Gallery 400
Chicago, IL
April 5–May 10, 1989
Opening Reception: April 5, 1989, 4–7 pm
An exhibition of the architectural designs of the late Dwight Heald Perkins, an important figure in the development of Chicago architecture, will be on display April 5 through May 10 in Gallery 400. 400 S. Peoria Street at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
The exhibition is free and open to the public. An opening reception will be held at Gallery 400 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 5.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1867, Perkins is among the group of Prairie School architects whose designs influenced Chicago’s architecture in the early 1900s. In his short career with the Chicago Board of Education, Perkins is credited with creating modern scholastic architecture. Lane Technical High School (1909), Bowen High School (1910) and Cad Shurz High School (1910) are examples from this early period.
In 1912, Perkins received the Gold Medal Award and was named honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects for his design of the Cafe Brauer and the Lion House at the Lincoln Park Zoo. He practiced architecture until 1933 and Evanston Township High School (1924) is among his significant later designs. Perkins, who died in 1941, also was influential in the establishment of the Chicago and Cook County forest preserves.