Dankmar Adler

Dankmar Adler
Temple Isaiah, Chicago, designed by Adler, c. 1910
Born	(1844-07-03)July 3, 1844 Stadtlengsfeld, Thuringia, Germany
Died	April 16, 1900(1900-04-16) (aged 55) Chicago, Illinois
Occupation	Architect

Dankmar Adler (July 3, 1844 – April 16, 1900) was a German-born American architect.

Adler was born in Stadtlengsfeld, Germany; his mother died when he was born. He came to the United States with his father Liebman, a rabbi, in 1854. Dankmar first landed in Detroit with his father, who took up residence in Detroit as the Rabbi of Congregation Beth-El (whose Detroit temples had been constructed by congregation member Albert Kahn, and their current temple was designed by Minoru Yamasaki), before moving to Chicago. Adler had some elementary level education in the City of Detroit and Ann Arbor, before leaving school to become a draftsman. Adler was involved with the Union Army during the Civil War, serving in the Chattanooga and Atlanta Campaigns during the war doing engineering work.

Adler served in the Union Army during the Civil War with the Battery M of the 1st Illinois Artillery.

After the war, he worked as an architect in Chicago. He worked first with Augustus Bauer and next with Ozias S. Kinney. Adler formed a partnership with Edward Burling in 1871; they created more than 100 buildings together before ending the partnership.

After he began his own firm, Adler hired Louis Sullivan as a draughtsman and designer in 1880; Sullivan was made a partner in the firm in 1883.

Adler's partnership with Sullivan was short-lived; due to a slump in their architectural practice brought on by the Panic of 1893, and Adler's desire to bring his two sons into the firm, there arose a rift with Sullivan, the result of which was that Adler left the partnership to join an elevator firm as engineer and salesman. After a short period, Adler returned to architecture, in partnership with his two sons, but never regaining the prominence he had with Sullivan.

Adler was not only an architect but also a gifted civil engineer who, with his partner Louis Sullivan, designed many buildings including influential skyscrapers that boldly addressed their steel skeleton through their exterior design: the Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York, the (1894–1972) and the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri.