Solon S. Beman
Solon Spencer Beman (born October 1, 1853 in Brooklyn , † April 23, 1914 ) was an American architect . Among other things, he built the industrial city of Pullman for George Mortimer Pullman .
Life
Beman began his professional career at the age of 14 with Richard Upjohn , in whose office he worked for 11 years. In 1877 he started his own business. When he was 26 years old, he designed a first house for George Mortimer Pullman in New Jersey . He was then commissioned to redesign Pullman's house on Prairie Avenue in Chicago . Pullman was apparently so pleased with Beman's work that he eventually commissioned him to build the town of Pullman, where the workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company would live. Nathan Barrett was to design the surrounding landscape .
The city of Pullman comprised around 1,300 apartments, the Hotel Florence, various public buildings and Pullman's factory.
In the center of this city was the train station on 111th Street. One lake, Lake Vista, was in front of the large clock tower, which was lined with lawns on which low trees grew. The Lake Vista was supposed to collect the condensation produced by the steam engine drive of the equipment in Pullman and also serve as a mirror surface for the bell tower. After it was filled in, Cottage Grove Avenue was built on the site of this lake.
111th Street was paved and laid out as a maple avenue. It led in a south-westerly direction towards Lake Calumet. In this lake was an island, Athletic Island, which was equipped with sports facilities and grandstands from which one could watch the regattas on the lake. On the site of what is now Cottage Grove and part of what is now 111th Street, Barrett had one of several round flower beds laid out, which in several places broke through the straight lines of the city. Cottage Grove originally connected 107th Street, which was also one of the round flower beds, to the main entrance of the Arcade Building. The path was serpentine.
In addition to the public green spaces, Pullman also had house gardens. Each of the row houses in which the workers were housed had a small front garden. A variety of crops were grown in Pullman, at the end of 112th Street by Lake Calumet. By 1892 over 100,000 flowering plants were being produced each year.
The facility changed drastically after the Pullman strike in 1894 and especially after Pullman's death in 1897. In addition to replenishing Lake Vista, Arcade Park was eliminated, narrow, winding paths were replaced with Cottage Grove Avenue, and landscaping came to an end. So far, no attempts have been made to honor Barrett's landscape planning through reconstruction, whereas the historical buildings of Bemans are now classified as worth preserving.
Beman worked mainly in the Queen Anne style , but used bricks instead of wood as building material. He tried to loosen up the façades of the terraced houses through varied designs and to avoid symmetries; the main building, however, was laid out symmetrically: the bell tower in the middle and pavilions at the end of the long facade of the main building divided this large structure, which was reflected in Lake Vista. The administration building reflected the architectural peculiarities of French buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Pullman factory buildings were provided with numerous windows and skylights and painted brightly inside so that as much natural light as possible could be used and the ventilation of the halls was ensured.
Other buildings by Bemans were the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Dearborn Station, etc. Beman, who was friends with Mary Baker Eddy , built not only train stations, factories, theaters and country estates but also more than twelve churches for followers of Christian Science . His son Spencer Solon Beman also became an architect.
Although highly praised by his contemporary Louis Sullivan , Beman is no longer very well known. Many of his buildings have not been preserved.
Web links
- Buildings by Bemans at www.chicagoarchitecture.info
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Solon S. Beman at www.thechicagoloop.org
- ↑ a b Planning the Town at www.pullman-museum.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Beman, Solon S. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Beman, Solon Spencer |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American architect |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 1, 1853 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 23, 1914 |