Jarvis Hunt, architect

Jarvis Hunt is an architect of national importance.

• "The renowned Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt ... "
  -- New York Times, 1998
  
• "One of the country's greatest architects at the turn of the twentieth century."
  -- Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, 2007
  
• "A famous Chicago architect. ...
  Kansas City is fortunate enough to be blessed with three buildings designed by architect Jarvis Hunt."
  -- Buildings Magazine, 2003
  
• Jarvis Hunt has a building on the recent list of America's 150 favorite buildings: Kansas City Union Station.
  There is an important book about this station. See Spivak.
  
• Jarvis Hunt has a building on the recent list of 150 Great Illinois Places: Joliet Union Station.
  
• Jarvis Hunt had a national practice. He designed and built buildings in at least 15 states, from Vermont and New Jersey to Arizona and California.
  
• Jarvis Hunt won an Honorable Mention in the worldwide competition for the Tribune Tower.
  
• Jarvis Hunt is recognized for his work in several different types of commission:
  • Rail stations: Kansas City, Dallas, Oakland, and Joliet; plus small stations at Marshall and Mexico, Missouri; Chickasha, Oklahoma; Brownwood and Temple, Texas.
    Besides the three large union stations, these include stations specifically for the Union Pacific, the Chicago & Alton, the Rock Island, and the Santa Fe.
  • Buildings for the Armed Forces: Great Lakes Naval Training Station: the original complex of about 40 buildings.
  • Large commercial buildings:
    • five in Chicago of 10 stories or more (three extant)
    • buildings of 9 stories or more in Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, and St. Paul (all extant)
  • Clubs (in the Chicago area): Lake Shore Athletic Club, Saddle and Cycle Club, and Chicago Golf Club (in Wheaton)
  • Country estates:
    Walden, the Cyrus McCormick estate in Lake Forest;
    Thornhill, the Joy Morton estate in Lisle (now the Morton Arboretum);
    Arbor Lodge, the J. Sterling Morton estate in Nebraska City;
    Loramoor, the James Hobart Moore estate in Lake Geneva
  • City and suburban residences:
    Dr. Harry Bernhardt Cottage (bungalow), Oak Park
    Comstock residence, Evanston
    Havermeyer Cottage, Riverside
    St. Paul's Episcopal Rectory, Riverside
    Homer Stillwell residence, Kenwood
    Golf club cottages, Wheaton (some now valued over one million dollars)
• Many of Jarvis Hunt's works were published and/or illustrated in the architectural press; see the list of works.
• Jarvis Hunt has been recognized for his creative use of decorative brick in commercial buildings. See Condit re Kelley Maus; Architectural Record re the Rector Building; and especially the Southern Pacific Building in Houston.

Jarvis Hunt also plays a significant role in the history of city planning in America.

• Jarvis Hunt was one of the leaders of the City Beautiful movement in Chicago, from at least 1904 -- well before the publication of the Plan of Chicago -- to at least 1918.
  • "The initial proposal to expand [Michigan Avenue] into a grand shore drive along Grant Park, with landscaped dividing islands as well as parkway strips, was made by architect Jarvis Hunt at a meeting with the South Park Commissioners in 1904. This proposal became a central feature of Burnham's plan for the downtown arteries ... ."
    Carl W. Condit, "Chicago 1910-29 Building, Planning, and Urban Technology," University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1973, page 53, note 3.
    
  • In the early stages of the plan to connect Michigan Avenue to the North Side via a Pine Street bridge, Jarvis Hunt played a leading role. He served (pro bono) on civic committees to study the alternative of bridge or tunnel, to choose the route, and to appraise the affected private properties.
    
  • As late as 1918, Jarvis Hunt continued to serve on The Architects Committee for the North Michigan Avenue Development.
    
  • It was also Jarvis Hunt who brought forward the idea of straightening the Chicago River where it bowed to the east between 18th Street and the Loop.
    "Clark and Trainer ... in 1913 ... formed the Michigan Avenue Trust Estate to purchase the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Washington Street ... Their architect was Jarvis Hunt, a visionary who shared Clark's interest in urban planning. In 1912 Hunt had presented the plan to the Chicago Real Estate Board that resulted in the straightening of the Chicago River south of Van Buren Street. Straightening the river, Hunt believed, would ease congestion in the South Branch and facilitate drainage in the area."
    Miles L. Berger, "They built Chicago," Chicago, Bonus Books, 1992, page 176
  
  
• Union Station in Kansas City is the supreme landmark building of that city (which is now larger than St. Louis, Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh).
  • Jeffrey Spivak's 1999 book, "Union Station, Kansas City," is devoted entirely to this building complex and its role in the history of Kansas City.
  • Jarvis Hunt was "An outspoken proponent of the City Beautiful movement." -- Kansas City Public Library
  • William H. Wilson's 1964 book, "The City Beautiful Movement in Kansas City," devotes one of its eight chapters to "Jarvis Hunt and his Union Station."
  
  

Golf.