Jarvis Hunt designed and oversaw construction of the new Chicago Golf Club clubhouse in 1912 and 1913; he previously led extensive work to transform the original farmhouse on the Wheaton property to be Chicago Golf Club's original clubhouse on that site. Today's clubhouse is Mr. Hunt's 15th listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
"On motion of Mr. Revell, duly seconded, it was voted that the thanks and appreciation of the members be extended to … Mr. Jarvis Hunt for his efficient helpfulness and generous services in connection with the work done during the past year on the Club's grounds and buildings." (Chicago Golf Club board minutes, December 17, 1910)
Jarvis Hunt, nationally prominent architect, was born in Weathersfield, Vermont on August 6th, 1863. He was a nephew to New York architect, Richard M. Hunt and artist William Morris Hunt. Richard Hunt was the first American to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a force in Beaux-Arts style architecture throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. Jarvis Hunt was educated at Harvard University and continued his coursework at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Because of his education and connection with his uncle, Jarvis Hunt was known to favor more traditional Beaux-Arts styles. This style can be seen in several of his works such as the National Bank of Commerce Building in Kansas City, Missouri and the railroad terminal in Joliet, Illinois.
His career in Chicago took off with his role as architect for the winning design of the Vermont State Pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. After that, Hunt established himself as an architect in Chicago. His office was in operation for nearly thirty-five years following the Exposition. In 1901, Hunt worked on the Kansas City Union Station with fellow architect Charles Bohasseck. This project allowed the two architects to work side by side and form a partnership. This partnership was then known as the firm Hunt & Bohasseck. Over the years to follow, Hunt and his firm built a large portfolio throughout the Midwest including residential, commercial, transportation stations and more. Hunt’s most significant Chicago projects included the Saddle and Cycle Club, Lake Shore Athletic Club, Great Lakes Naval Training Center (39 original buildings), Michigan Boulevard Building, and 900 N. Michigan Avenue. Chicago and Hunt had a great relationship between 1904 and 1918, as he was considered one of the leaders of the City Beautiful movement.
Chicago was not the only place in which Hunt was able to make a statement. Throughout the United States, Hunt was known for his train station designs such as Kansas City Union Station, Joliet Station, Dallas Union Station, and Sixteenth Street Station in Oakland, California. His train station designs are thought to be his most famous and impactful in his architectural career. All were completed in the Beaux-Arts style, with vast central halls and triple-arched windows on the main façade (recessed behind a colonnade at Dallas Union Station) reminiscent of other more famous stations of the period designed by Daniel Burnham (Union Station in Washington DC) and Warren & Wetmore (Grand Central Station, New York).
"On motion of Mr. Revell, duly seconded, it was voted that the thanks and appreciation of the members be extended to … Mr. Jarvis Hunt for his efficient helpfulness and generous services in connection with the work done during the past year on the Club's grounds and buildings." (Chicago Golf Club board minutes, December 17, 1910)
Jarvis Hunt, nationally prominent architect, was born in Weathersfield, Vermont on August 6th, 1863. He was a nephew to New York architect, Richard M. Hunt and artist William Morris Hunt. Richard Hunt was the first American to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a force in Beaux-Arts style architecture throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. Jarvis Hunt was educated at Harvard University and continued his coursework at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Because of his education and connection with his uncle, Jarvis Hunt was known to favor more traditional Beaux-Arts styles. This style can be seen in several of his works such as the National Bank of Commerce Building in Kansas City, Missouri and the railroad terminal in Joliet, Illinois.
His career in Chicago took off with his role as architect for the winning design of the Vermont State Pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. After that, Hunt established himself as an architect in Chicago. His office was in operation for nearly thirty-five years following the Exposition. In 1901, Hunt worked on the Kansas City Union Station with fellow architect Charles Bohasseck. This project allowed the two architects to work side by side and form a partnership. This partnership was then known as the firm Hunt & Bohasseck. Over the years to follow, Hunt and his firm built a large portfolio throughout the Midwest including residential, commercial, transportation stations and more. Hunt’s most significant Chicago projects included the Saddle and Cycle Club, Lake Shore Athletic Club, Great Lakes Naval Training Center (39 original buildings), Michigan Boulevard Building, and 900 N. Michigan Avenue. Chicago and Hunt had a great relationship between 1904 and 1918, as he was considered one of the leaders of the City Beautiful movement.
Chicago was not the only place in which Hunt was able to make a statement. Throughout the United States, Hunt was known for his train station designs such as Kansas City Union Station, Joliet Station, Dallas Union Station, and Sixteenth Street Station in Oakland, California. His train station designs are thought to be his most famous and impactful in his architectural career. All were completed in the Beaux-Arts style, with vast central halls and triple-arched windows on the main façade (recessed behind a colonnade at Dallas Union Station) reminiscent of other more famous stations of the period designed by Daniel Burnham (Union Station in Washington DC) and Warren & Wetmore (Grand Central Station, New York).
Hunt has received considerable national attention and admiration for his body of work. His projects were widely published when they were completed in architecture and design periodicals including Architectural Record, Inland Architect, House Beautiful, Western Architect, and Brickbuilder. Hunt’s obituary in the Chicago Tribune stated that he was a “prominent Chicago architect” and listed the Chicago Golf Club clubhouse among his most significant works.[1] Perhaps his most substantial commission was Kansas City Union Station, which “won the praises of railway managers, architectural critics, and the railroad journals for its dignified and monumental façade and its innovations in moving passengers to and from trains.”[2] Kansas City Union Station has also been listed as one of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 150 favorite buildings in America. In addition to the train station, Hunt also designed two other buildings in the city (Kansas City Star Building and Commerce Trust Building), all of which have been widely celebrated including in a 2003 article in Buildings Magazine that proclaimed, “Kansas City is fortunate enough to be blessed with three buildings designed by architect Jarvis Hunt.”[3]
Jarvis Hunt not only was an architect but also took pride in his passion for golf. This passion, however, was more than just a hobby. Hunt qualified for the 1904 Olympics Golf Team but did not compete in the actual event. He took his passion for the sport and designed two clubhouses, both through the influence of his friend, Charles Macdonald, including one at National Golf Links of America (where he was a founding member) and Chicago Golf Club (where he was also a member). The clubhouse that Hunt designed at the National Golf Links of America looks over the Peconic Bay in Southampton, New York. The eclectic design for the Chicago Golf Club was inspired by Hunt’s experience at the Columbian Exposition.
In addition to the Chicago Golf clubhouse, Hunt also designed several homes in the area around the club in Wheaton, Illinois. These homes were designed and constructed from the late 1800s through the 1920s. The early homes or “cottages”, as they were known, were commissioned by and constructed on land owned by members of the Wheaton family (the town’s founding family) and rented out to Chicago Golf Club members in the summer months. Eventually these homes were purchased and became year-round residences. Hunt also completed several private commissions for wealthy residents (including several Chicago Golf members) in Wheaton. Among the many homes Hunt designed were a Colonial style home for his friend and Chicago Golf Club founder C. B. Macdonald (named Ballyshear), a large Tudor Revival house designed for Arthur and Carolyn Ely (known as the House of Seven Gables and moved in 2017), and his own home, a Spanish Colonial Revival mansion located on the east side of Chicago Golf Club, completed in 1898 and expanded in 1913.[4] While several of these Hunt designed homes have been demolished over the years, many like the House of Seven Gables and C. B. Macdonald’s home still remain due to the efforts of local preservation-minded residents.
In 1927, Hunt retired from practicing architecture. He passed away on June 16, 1941 in St. Petersburg, Florida and was survived by his son Jarvis Hunt, Jr. as well as a daughter, Mrs. George McMurtry. Although a talented and well-known architect in his time, Hunt’s legacy has been overshadowed by other architects of the era including his uncle, Richard Morris Hunt and fellow Chicago based architects Daniel Burnham, John W. Root, and Louis Sullivan. Like his uncle, Hunt’s major public commissions were deeply rooted in the Beaux-Arts tradition; his designs for tall buildings followed the Chicago School influences of Root and Sullivan; and, like Burnham, Hunt was a proponent and driving force behind the City Beautiful movement at the turn of century. He even developed his own plan for beautifying and improving the City of Chicago in 1917 that included a string of islands along the lakefront, an extensive subway system, and a radical plan for a new elevated monorail. Hunt also submitted plans for the reorganization of the railway terminals in the city.[5]
Little has been studied and published about the life and work of Jarvis Hunt, which is likely because his personal papers and drawings have yet to be discovered, if they still exist. What is known about Hunt comes largely from the extant buildings that he designed throughout his architectural career. His portfolio of work contains a wide range of building types and styles completed over the course of thirty-five years. While Jarvis Hunt’s significance is evident through his body of work, his true legacy and place in architectural history remains to be discovered.[6]
[1] “Jarvis Hunt Dies on Florida Visit; Noted Architect.” Chicago Daily Tribune. June 17, 1941, 20.
[2] Peter Hansen. “Give the People a Monument.” Trains. April 1999, 62.
[3] Building Magazine, 2003.
[4] Goldsborough, “From the White City to Modernity.”
[5] “Jarvis Hunt Offers Radical Traction Plan.” Chicago Daily Tribune. Mar. 2, 1917, 8.
[6] Significant research has been conducted on Jarvis Hunt by Bob Goldsborough, who generously provided information and excerpts from his unpublished biography of Hunt to the author of this National Register nomination.
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