Sullivan & Terracotta

Born on September 3rd, 1856, Louis Sullivan is considered to be the father of modern architecture and the inventor of the modern skyscraper. He was a mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright and a prominent member of the Chicago School of architecture.

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Sullivan is also credited as the author of the statement "form follows function". He said "It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human, and all things super-human, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law."

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Sullivan's interpretation of this law, however, was fundamentally different than how current architects interpret it. He believed architecture has a social, democratic function that good architecture should formally reflect. This website focuses on how Sullivan gave form to terracotta ornament that reflected the social and democratic functions that ornament had to perform.