George Washington Maher | |
---|---|
Born |
Mill Creek, West Virginia, U.S. |
December 25, 1864
Died | September 12, 1926 Douglas, Michigan |
(aged 61)
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Architect |
George Washington Maher (December 25, 1864 – September 12, 1926) was an American architect during the first-quarter of the 20th century. He is considered part of the Prairie School-style and was known for blending traditional architecture with the Arts & Crafts-style.
According to architectural historian H. Allen Brooks, "His influence on the Midwest was profound and prolonged and, in its time, was certainly as great as was [Frank Lloyd] Wright's. Compared with the conventional architecture of the day, his work showed considerable freedom and originality, and his interiors were notable for their open and flowing...space".
Maher was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1916.
George Maher was born in Mill Creek, West Virginia, but, as a small boy, moved with his parents, Pennsylvania-born Sarah Landis and French-born chemist Theophile Maher, family to New Albany, Indiana, where he attended public elementary school. While in his early teens the family moved to Chicago.
At the age of 13 he was apprenticed at the Chicago architectural firm of Augustus Bauer and Henry Hill. In 1887 he joined the office of architect Joseph L. Silsbee, in Chicago's Lakeside Building, as a draftsman where he worked with Frank Lloyd Wright and George Grant Elmslie. While working for Silsbee, Maher had first-hand experience in designing residences in the Shingle Style, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Colonial Revival. He was inspired by the work of Henry Hobson Richardson. In 1888 Maher formed a partnership with Charles Corwin which lasted for only a brief time before he began his own practice. Maher married Elizabeth Brooks in 1893 and moved to Kenilworth, Illinois.