RCHITECTURE

 

Peirce Anderson

Featured Architect

Photographs

Architecture

WILLIAM PEIRCE ANDERSON was born to parents Hugh and Hannah Louisa Peirce on February 20, 1870. Young Anderson moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when his family converted to Mormonism, but returned to New York to attend the Riverview Military Academy in Poughkeepsie.  He continued his education at Harvard,completing undergraduate work in 1892. He then continued with 2 years of postgraduate studies in electrical engineering.  Anderson entered the Atelier Paulin in Paris in 1894 to prepare for the entrance examination at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, where he studied from 1897 until 1899.  After travelling abroad in Italy, France and Spain, Anderson joined the firm of D.H. Burnham and Company.

Anderson had interviewed in Burnham's office in 1894 where Daniel had encouraged him to pursue studies in architecture at the Ecole. Anderson joined the firm in 1900. His first assignment was the new Marshall Field & Company store at State Street and Randolph. From 1908 until 1912 he was Burnham's Head of Design. After Daniel Burnham's death in 1912, he was assigned a similar position in the newly formed Graham Burnham and Company. In 1917 he was made partner in charge of design at the firm of Graham Anderson, Probst and White. He died in 1924, survived by his sister, Mary Louisa. No Architect, more than Anderson, worked longer or more consistently to translate Daniel Burnham's classic vision to reality. From the Field Museum, to the foot of LaSalle Street, to Union Station, Anderson's work changed the face of Chicago. His Marshall Field Clock is loved by all.

The Chicago Loop