ALFRED P. SHAW (1895-1970)
Shaw was born in Boston and studied architecture at the Boston Architectural Club. After his early employment in Boston with Maginnis and Walsh and Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, he came to Chicago to work for Graham, Anderson, Probst and White (GAPW) where he contributed to the design of the Civic Opera House and the Merchandise Mart. Beginning in 1937 he established a series of partnerships: Shaw, Naess and Murphy 1937-1947; Shaw, Metz and Dolio 1947-1959; and ended his career in partnership with his son Patrick. The various partnerships produced a vast array of projects: the first McCormick Place, Robert Taylor Homes, numerous hi-rise apartment buildings along the lakeshore, and schools for the Chicago Board of Education. Shaw was awarded Fellow American Institute of Architects in 1944.
This sheet of drawings is taken from a portfolio of Shaw's artwork assembled by his widow Rue Winterbotham Shaw the year after his death. The portfolio includes views of the French countryside drawn 1917-1918 while Shaw served in the Army; copies of several of his renderings for GAPW; and prints of his Boston drawings commercially published by Foster Brothers. In a newspaper article about the Foster Brothers reproductions the vignettes were characterized "by much delicacy of touch and a nice feeling for architectural dignity."
- "Nouailles July 18 '14" [L'&$233;glise Saint-Lucien, Noailles, France].
- "Mont St. Michel July 26, 1914."
- Unidentified location, n.d.
- "Harquency July 20 '14" [France].
CHRISTOPHER JOHN CHAMALES (1907-1993)
Born in Chicago and a life-long resident of the city, Chamales attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his senior year at MIT he received the scholarship to the Fontainebleau School of Fine Art (1930), then was awarded the traveling fellowship from MIT while earning his master's degree in architecture, completed in 1933. After brief periods of employment with Holabird & Root, Raymond Loewy, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chamales set up his own practice Christopher Chamales, Architect and City Planners in 1945. He was best-known for city plans for Des Plaines, the Wisconsin cities of Cable and Greendale, and for work at both Meigs Field and O'Hare International Airport.
- "Cefalu 1933" [Sicily].
BERTRAM A. WEBER (1898-1989)
Although son of renowned Chicago architect Peter J. Weber, Bertram did not grow up desiring to be an architect; instead, he pursued a liberal arts course at Northwestern University but during a summer job in his father's architectural firm he learned to draw by copying classical orders and details from Vignola. Now attracted to the practice of architecture, he attended MIT, graduating in 1922. After a summer tour of England and France, he entered the office of Howard van Doren Shaw. After his father's death in 1923 he joined with his father's partner to form White & Weber. From 1936 to 1973 he operated his own office, then his son John joined the practice. In all these partnerships Weber designed residences, churches, and hospitals located primarily in Chicago's northern suburbs.
In Weber's oral history he praised his father's skills in drawing and instruction during his brief apprenticeship: "He had hands that could just move with a pencil or pen. He taught me the rudiments of drafting and design and how to think about it."
In his oral history he commented on his traveling fellowship: "I walked myself to a frazzle, going to museums and all that stuff." Included in this sketchbook are a number of rubbings of mosaics in the Cappella Palatina in Palermo's Palazzo Reale.
- "Stonehenge June 28 '22".