IRVING JOHN GILL: THE BIRTH OF AMERICAN MODERNISM

Abstract

The story of the life and the fi rst stages of the work of the American architect Irving John Gill, which led to the emergence of modernist architecture “on the very edge of America,” in Southern California, is presented. The author describes in detail the infl uences that the architect experienced in his work and which, in their totality, led him to the creation of the principles of new architecture and new style. The infl uence on their formation of the Chicago school is emphasized, in particular his work in the workshop with Adler and Sullivan, and the theoretical ideas of Louis Sullivan. The principles of Gill’s architecture are compared with the principles of the architecture of European modernism that appeared ten years later, as set forth by Walter Gropius.