William E. Dunlap (1922-1973) Papers, 1921-1957

William E. Dunlap:

William E. Dunlap was born in Waukegan, Illinois, on March 25, 1922. He studied architecture as an undergraduate at the Armour Institute of Technology, later known as the Illinois Institute of Technology [IIT], from 1940 to 1943 and received a degree in architecture from the school in 1947. Dunlap continued his graduate study at the Institute under architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, planner Ludwig Hilberseimer, and aesthetician Walter Peterhans, until 1950. While a student, Dunlap contributed to the design of several IIT structures, including the Minerals and Metals Research Building and Alumni Memorial Hall. After teaching at IIT from 1949 to 1952 and following a brief period in private practice, Dunlap joined the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill [SOM]. Returning to Chicago in 1956, Dunlap continued with SOM and eventually became a partner in 1961. While at SOM, Dunlap was involved in notable projects such as the Robert R. McMath Solar Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, in Arizona and the Sears Tower development in Chicago, Illinois.

George Edson Danforth:

George Edson Danforth (b.1916) received a degree in architecture from IIT in 1947. In addition to his duties as a part-time instructor at IIT (1941-1953), he worked as a draftsman in the architectural office of Mies van der Rohe from 1939 through 1947. From 1949 until 1961, Danforth was in private practice. He formed a partnership with Daniel Brenner and H.P. Davis Rockwell in 1961, and remained as senior partner with the firm until his retirement in 1980. Commissions by the firm of Brenner, Danforth and Rockwell included the remodeling of the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries at The Art Institute of Chicago (1965-1968), and the north addition to the Speed Museum of Art in Louisville, Kentucky (1973).

Charles "Skip" Booher Genther:

Charles Skip Booher Genther (1907-1987) studied architecture at IIT in the 1940s with William Dunlap and George Edson Danforth. Upon graduation, he worked as an architect in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and later with the Chicago architectural firm of Holabird and Root. Genther left Holabird and Root in 1946 to form PACE Associates. The PACE firm collaborated with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe on many Chicago architecture projects, including several buildings on the IIT campus, and on numerous Illinois Tollway projects

The William E. Dunlap Papers documents the academic life of Dunlap and Illinois Institute of Technology [IIT] peers George E. Danforth and Charles Booher Genther, as well as Mies' emerging IIT campus throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. A glimpse of Dunlap's nascent professional career is also captured in a small group of project drawings that bear his contributions. Series I, Illinois Institute of Technology, Student Project Photographs, contains photographs of Danforth and Genther's thesis projects, along with some unidentified collages and brick and timber studies. Series VI also contains student work in the form of blueprint drawings.

Series II, Illinois Institute of Technology, Class Notes, consists of Dunlap's notes taken in various undergraduate and graduate level courses at IIT from 1942 to 1950, as well as some notes which may relate to Dunlap's tenure as an undergraduate instructor from 1949 to 1952. These notes document both rudimentary and advanced architecture classes; philosophy, art, and logic courses taught by Walter Peterhans, and lectures on planning given by Ludwig Hilberseimer.

Series III, Illinois Institute of Technology, Campus Photographs, includes photographs of drawings, construction views, and exterior and interior views of completed buildings. These photographs date from an early campus master plan of 1939 to the Physics Building of the mid-1950s, though development of the campus in the mid- to late-1940s is most heavily documented. Included are photos of the Minerals and Metals Research Building and Alumni Memorial Hall, in which Dunlap had been involved in the design process. Series IV, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Photographs and Papers, is comprised of project photographs and one speech reproduction entitled "A Tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright." These project photographs catalog Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's building and furniture projects, both built and unbuilt, from 1921 to 1953. Series V, Miscellaneous Photographs, contains photographs of Charles Eames chairs and installation views of the "Useful Objects" exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, New York, in 1947.

Lastly, Series VI, Architectural Drawings, includes blueprint and tracing paper student studies, as well as blueprints from architectural projects with which Dunlap was at least tangentially involved. The student drawings consist of floor plans, brick studies, and building material studies, some of which can be attributed to James Ingo Freed, Fred Alongi, and R. Brooker, though many are completely unmarked and unidentified. The architectural projects contain two IIT buildings the Central Electrical Vault and Boiler Plant and three projects of IIT alumnus and instructor A. James Speyer the Stanley G. Harris Jr. Residence, the Joel F. Sammett Residence, and the Lenore Tawney Apartment Remodeling.

SERIES I: ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, STUDENT PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHS. Projects are arranged according to student name, with miscellaneous and unidentified items at the end of the series.

SERIES II: ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CLASS NOTES. Arranged chronologically, with undated materials arranged alphabetically at the end of the series.

SERIES III: ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CAMPUS PHOTOGRAPHS. Photographs of IIT campus buildings arranged alphabetically by building name.

SERIES IV: LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE PHOTOGRAPHS AND PAPERS. Contains photographs of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's architectural projects, arranged alphabetically. Unidentified projects, furniture designs, personal photographs and papers are placed at the end of the series.

SERIES V: MISCELLANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS. Arranged chronologically.

SERIES VI: ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS. Divided into Student Projects and Architectural Projects, then arranged alphabetically by project name.

• Names
  • Dunlap, William E., 1926-1957.
  • Danforth, George.
  • Genther, Charles Booher, 1907-1987.
  • Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969.
• Subject
  • Armour Institute of Technology.
  • Illinois Institute of Technology.
  • Architects--United States--Archives.
  • Architecture--United States--20th century--Sources.

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The Ryerson and Burnham Archives hold the following related Illinois Institute of Technology collections:

Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer (1885-1967) Papers, 070383.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Collection, 1984.2.

Thomas R. Burleigh Collection, 1986.1.

Edward A. Duckett Collection, 1986.2.

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William E. Dunlap Papers, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago.

The William E. Dunlap Collection was a gift from the family of William E. Dunlap to The Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Architecture in 1998. Additional materials were donated to the Ryerson and Burnham Archives by the Dunlap family in the Spring of 2000.

This collection was processed by Sandra Steele in January 2002 and Nathaniel Parks in 2004. This finding aid was revised and expanded by Annemarie van Roessel in 2003 and Nathaniel Parks in 2004.

The Dunlap Papers were transferred to the Ryerson and Burnham Archives from the Department of Architecture at The Art Institute of Chicago in 2002.