Laying the Foundation: 1920s-40s
While studying architecture and design in Paris during the late 1920s, Louis Skidmore met some of the architects who were planning the Century of Progress Exposition scheduled for 1933 in Chicago. Through his connections, Skidmore was appointed the chief architect for the exposition and hired Nathaniel Owings, his brother-in-law, to help him design the layout and buildings for the entire site.
After the exposition was over, the two men went their separate ways, but they joined together again in 1936 to establish a design firm in Chicago. Named Skidmore and Owings, the company began to draft designs for corporate clients they had met during the Century of Progress Exposition. By the end of the year, the firm had grown large enough for the partners to hire three employees to help with drafting new designs. In 1937 the firm opened an office in New York City, primarily to assist the American Radiator Company in designing a new office building. Using their corporate contacts and emphasizing the experience they had gained from the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, the two men won the contract to design the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. In 1939 engineer John Merrill joined the firm as partner, and the name was changed to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
By the early 1940s, the firm had developed its own architectural style, emphasizing clean lines and functional designs. It secured its most important contract during this time--the design of part of the facilities used in the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee--which catapulted the firm into national prominence. Skidmore and Owings also articulated the guiding principles upon which the firm's architectural designs would be based; these included group projects, innovative designs, social change, and "showmanship." By promoting these principles the firm grew rapidly, and after the war ended Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was selected to build such prestigious buildings as Lever House in New York City, the H.J Heinz plant in Pittsburgh, and Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco.