Gill, Irving John

Gill, Irving John (1870–1936). American architect. He trained under Sullivan and worked with Wright before setting up on his own in 1893. His early buildings owed much to the Arts-and-Crafts, Shingle, and vernacular styles, but he began to experiment with concrete construction from 1907, perfecting a system by 1912, and by 1915 inventing an insulation core to concrete panels to elminate condensation and heat-loss. His Laughlin House, Los Angeles (1907), employed concrete construction, while his Dodge House, Los Angeles (1914–16—demolished), and Horatio West Court, Santa Monica (1919), were in a crisp, cubic style owing nothing to period precedent, and were remarkably advanced for their time, showing that Modernism was manifest in the USA at least as early as in Europe, and in Gill's case his buildings look as though they ought to date from the 1920s, so he was unquestionably a pioneer of Modern Architecture and of building using concrete.

Bibliography

Gebhard (1965);
Hines (2000);
Kamerling (1979);
Kaplan (1987);
McCoy (1975);
Pierson & and Jordy (1970–86);
Starr (1973)