Purcell & Elmslie (P&E) was the most widely known iteration of a progressive American architectural practice. P&E was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School, after Frank Lloyd Wright.[1] The firm in all iterations was active from 1907 to 1921, with their most famous work being done between 1913 and 1921.[1]
History
The firms consisted of three partnerships: Purcell and Feick (1907–10); Purcell, Feick, and Elmslie (1910–12), and Purcell and Elmslie (1913–21). Elmslie had joined the Minneapolis-based firm in 1907, at the request of Purcell.[2] The architects were commissioned for work in twenty-two states, participated in the competition for the National Parliament Buildings in Canberra, Australia, and prepared plans for a large institutional church, or Y.M.C.A., in Hunan, China.
The two principals of the firm, William Gray Purcell (1880–1965) and George Grant Elmslie (1869–1952) both eventually received Fellowships in the College of the American Institute of Architects.[1]George Feick Jr. who was son of George Feick, an Ohio contractor, was the original partner with Purcell. Purcell and Feick had been students together at Cornell University. They rejoined to tour in Europe together during 1906-1907 and then came to Minneapolis to open their partnership. The firm had offices in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis.[1] A number of works by each of the partnerships are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]
Two or three works in the NRHP-listed Bismarck Cathedral Area Historic District, roughly bounded by Hannifan and N 1st Sts., Aves. C and A West Bismarck, ND (Purcell, Feick & Elmslie), NRHP-listed,[3] specifically the Prairie School residences at 120 Avenue A West, at 610 Raymond Street, and at 402 Avenue B West. The Patrick E. Byrne House (120 Avenue A West) was built in 1912; the Timothy R. Atkinson House (402 Avenue B West) was built c.1910.[4]: 2, 12, 14, 18
Madison State Bank, Madison, Minnesota, built 1913, razed 1968
Works by Purcell & Elmslie
One or more works in College Hills Historic District, roughly bounded by Colombia Rd., Amherst Dr., Bowdoin Rd., Corporate Limit, University Bay, and Harvard Dr. Shorewood Hills, WI (Purcell and Elmslie), NRHP-listed[3]
Brooks, H. Allen (editor), Prairie School Architecture: Studies from "The Western Architect", University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo 1975; ISBN0-8020-2138-7
Brooks, H. Allen, The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest Contemporaries, University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1972; ISBN0-8020-5251-7
Gebhard, David (edited by Patricia Gebhard), Purcell & Elmslie: Prairie Progressive Architects, Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City 2006, ISBN1-4236-0005-3
Hammons, Mark, "Purcell and Elmslie, Architects," in Art and Life on the Upper Mississippi: Minnesota 1900, University of Delaware Press, 1994 ISBN0-87413-560-5.
