ELMER C. JENSEN (1870-1955)
Jensen's formal education ended with seventh grade, which he supplemented with some night school classes in drawing. Declaring he liked to draw and wanted to be an architect, at age fourteen he began to work as an errand boy in William LeBaron Jenney's firm and rose to join the partnership in 1905. He achieved important positions in the profession: he was elected Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and served as president of both the Illinois Society of Architects and the Chicago Chapter of AIA. As of 1952 he had worked 68 years with Jenney and the successor partnerships.
Jensen's interest in travel may have been due to his parents, Danish immigrants; perhaps it was also influenced by Jenney, a graduate of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris. Jensen's travel sketches were first published in the journal Inland Architect in 1894. The same year he exhibited five drawings from his France and Belgium travels in the annual exhibition of the Chicago Architectural Sketch Club. In response to a National Cyclopedia of American Biography survey question (1939) about "special tastes and gifts; and recreations" Jensen wrote "Love nature and the beautiful - Drawing and painting..."
- "Old Houses. Lyons. 6/17/88" [France].
- Unidentified location, n.d..
PETER J. WEBER (1863-1923)
Cologne native Weber attended the Technische Hochschule at Charlottenburg (Berlin) while working at the successful Berlin architectural firm Kayser and von Grossheim 1886-1889. Shortly after finishing his schooling in May 1889 he left Germany for a new project in Buenos Aires but the project ended due to a military coup. He then opted to travel across the United States, stopping in Chicago, where he found employment in Daniel Burnham's firm to work on buildings for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Continuing in Burnham's firm he worked on the Fisher and Silversmith Buildings and the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank. He entered private practice in Chicago in late 1900. Locally, he designed several buildings for Ravinia Park and the former Central Market Furniture Building on south Wabash.
Before he departed for South America Weber made numerous tours throughout Europe recording his impressions in sketchbooks. In the Uffizi he was captivated by the drawings for decorative sculpture and paintings by the Florentine artist Bernardino Poccetti (1548-1612). Similarly, he was attracted to the elaborate doorway cartouches and engaged sculptures of German Baroque and Rococo palaces.
- "Pocetti / Firense / Ufficien," n.d..
- Study of capitals and cupola, n.d..
- "Brühl 8/10/82" [Schloss Augustusburg, Germany].