page_title: George W. Maher
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: George W. Maher / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Patten Gymnasium entrance
context_page_description: George Washington Maher was an American architect during the first-quarter of the 20th century. He is considered part of the Prairie School-style and was known for blending traditional architecture with the Arts & Crafts-style.
  According to architectural historian H. Allen Brooks, "His influence on the Midwest was profound and prolonged and, in its time, was certainly as great as was [Frank Lloyd] Wright's. Compared with the conventional architecture of the day, his work showed considerable freedom and originality, and his interiors were notable for their open and flowing...space".
  Maher was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1916.
context_section_description: George Maher was born in Mill Creek, West Virginia, but, as a small boy, moved with his parents, Pennsylvania-born Sarah Landis and Virginia-born chemist Theophile Maher whose father had immigrated from France, to New Albany, Indiana, where he attended public schools. While in his teens the family moved to Chicago, although the exact date isn't known.
  The 1880 federal census records the Maher family as still living in New Albany. In 1883 a city directory shows George Maher living in the Chicago area and working for the Chicago architectural firm of Augustus Bauer and Henry Hill. In 1887 he joined the office of architect Joseph L. Silsbee, in Chicago's Lakeside Building, as a draftsman where he worked with Frank Lloyd Wright and George Grant Elmslie. While working for Silsbee, Maher had first-hand experience in designing
  residences in the Shingle Style, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Colonial Revival. He was inspired by the work of Henry Hobson Richardson. In late 1888 Maher started his own practice and then in late 1889 formed a partnership with Cecil S. Corwin which lasted for only a brief time before he resumed his own practice. Maher married Elizabeth Brooks in 1893 and moved to Kenilworth, Illinois.
caption: Patten Gymnasium entrance (demolished)
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