ARCHITECT

Louis Sullivan

1856 - 1924

Photo of Louis Sullivan

Icon of person Louis Sullivan

Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism." He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School. Along with Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture." The phrase "form follows function" is attributed to him, although the idea was theorised by Viollet le Duc who considered that structure and function in architecture should be the sole determinants of form. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Louis Sullivan has received more than 1,131,157 page views. His biography is available in 53 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 52 in 2019). Louis Sullivan is the 17th most popular architect (down from 15th in 2019), the 190th most popular biography from United States (down from 171st in 2019) and the 2nd most popular American Architect.

Louis Sullivan is most famous for his design of the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building in Chicago, Illinois.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.1M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 72.15

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 53

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 17.70

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 1.79

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ARCHITECTS

Among architects, Louis Sullivan ranks 17 out of 518Before him are Khufu, Albert Speer, Walter Gropius, Oscar Niemeyer, Zaha Hadid, and Frank Lloyd Wright. After him are Francesco Borromini, Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Apollodorus of Damascus, and Otto Wagner.

Most Popular Architects in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1856, Louis Sullivan ranks 7Before him are Nikola Tesla, Sigmund Freud, Philippe Pétain, George Bernard Shaw, Woodrow Wilson, and J. J. Thomson. After him are Archduchess Gisela of Austria, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Napoléon, Prince Imperial, Robert Peary, Emil Kraepelin, and Georgi Plekhanov. Among people deceased in 1924, Louis Sullivan ranks 7Before him are Vladimir Lenin, Franz Kafka, Giacomo Puccini, Anatole France, Woodrow Wilson, and Joseph Conrad. After him are Alfred Marshall, Gabriel Fauré, Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, Carl Spitteler, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and George Mallory.

Others Born in 1856

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 1924

Go to all Rankings

In United States

Among people born in United States, Louis Sullivan ranks 190 out of 20,380Before him are Jane Fonda (1937), Sigourney Weaver (1949), Robert Redford (1936), James Madison (1751), Gregory Peck (1916), and Scatman John (1942). After him are Mary Cassatt (1844), Leonard Bernstein (1918), Jeffrey Epstein (1953), Mel Gibson (1956), George Lucas (1944), and Brigham Young (1801).

Among ARCHITECTS In United States

Among architects born in United States, Louis Sullivan ranks 2Before him are Frank Lloyd Wright (1867). After him are Richard Meier (1934), Buckminster Fuller (1895), Robert Venturi (1925), Minoru Yamasaki (1912), Philip Johnson (1906), Peter Eisenman (1932), William Le Baron Jenney (1832), Charles Eames (1907), Adrian Smith (1944), and Nicholas Negroponte (1943).