Irving Kane Pond
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Irving Kane Pond (May 1, 1857 – September 29, 1939) was an American architect, college athlete, and author. Born in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
, Pond attended the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
and received a degree in
civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
in 1879. He was a member of the first University of Michigan football team and scored the first
touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...
in the school's history in May 1879. After graduating from Michigan, Pond moved to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
where he worked as an architect from 1879 to 1939. He began his architectural career as a draftsman in the offices of William LeBaron Jenney and worked as the head draftsman in the office of Solon Spencer Beman during the construction of the planned Pullman community. In 1886, Pond formed the Chicago architectural firm
Pond and Pond Pond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond. Overview Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irr ...
in partnership with his brother Allen Bartlitt Pond. The Pond brothers worked together for more than 40 years, and their buildings are considered to be among the best examples of
Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
architecture in Chicago. The Ponds gained acclaim as the architects of
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...
'
Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Hull House, named after the original house's first owner Charles Jerald Hul ...
, and three of their buildings have been declared
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
s—the Hull House dining hall, the
Lorado Taft Midway Studios The Lorado Taft Midway Studios are a historic artist studio complex at South Ingleside Avenue and East 60th Street, on the campus of the University of Chicago on the South Side of Chicago. The architecturally haphazard structure, originating as ...
, and the Frank R. Lillie House. Pond became a
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) is a postnominal title or membership, designating an individual who has been named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Fellowship is bestowed by the institute on AIA-memb ...
in 1900 and served as president of the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
from 1910 to 1911. Pond was also a leader in the Chicago arts community in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was one of the founders of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony and a member of the Chicago Literary Club from 1888 to 1939. Pond was also a published author of fiction, poetry, and essays on art and architecture. He was also a frequent contributor to architectural journals and wrote for ''
The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review an ...
'' and
Gustav Stickley Gustav Stickley (March 9, 1858 – April 15, 1942) was an American furniture manufacturer, design leader, publisher, and a leading voice in the American Arts and Crafts movement. Stickley's design philosophy was a major influence on American ...
's '' The Craftsman''. In 1918, he published the book ''The Meaning of Architecture'' summarizing his views on the role of architecture in the broader spectrum of the arts.


Early years and education

Pond was born in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
in 1857. He was the son of Elihu Pond and Mary Barlow (Allen) Pond. His father was a member of the
Michigan State Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Constitution of Michigan, Mi ...
, warden of the
Michigan State Prison Michigan State Prison or Jackson State Prison, which opened in 1839, was the first prison in Michigan. After 150 years, the prison was divided, starting in 1988, into four distinct prisons, still in Jackson: the Parnall Correctional Facility whi ...
for two years, the first president of the Michigan Press Association and the editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, the ''Argus'' of Ann Arbor. Growing up in Ann Arbor, Pond lived in a house on the current site of the
Michigan Union The Michigan Union is a student union at the University of Michigan. It is located at the intersection of South State Street and South University Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The building was built in 1917 and is one of several unions at the ...
, a building he later designed. His next door neighbor as a child was the noted legal scholar, Thomas M. Cooley. Cooley encouraged the young Pond, who aspired to be an artist, by presenting him with his first art book and by commissioning Pond to draw a set of cartoons of the Cooley family. Pond attended the public schools in Ann Arbor before enrolling at the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
. Pond was an engineering student at the University of Michigan from 1875 to 1879 and took architecture classes taught by Chicago architect William LeBaron Jenney. Six years later, Jenney gained fame for designing Chicago's metal-framed
Home Insurance Building The Home Insurance Building was a skyscraper that stood in Chicago from 1885 to its demolition in 1931. Originally ten stories and tall, it was designed by William Le Baron Jenney in 1884 and completed the next year. Two floors were added in ...
. In 1934, Pond wrote an article challenging the popular assertion that the Home Insurance Building was the first steel-framed skyscraper. While attending the University of Michigan, Pond was a member of the first Michigan Wolverines football team. On May 30, 1879, the team played its first intercollegiate football game against Racine College at White Stocking Park in Chicago. The ''Chicago Tribune'' called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies." Pond scored the first touchdown in University of Michigan history in the match. He scored the touchdown midway through "the first 'inning'." According to Will Perry's history of Michigan football, the crowd responded to Pond's plays with cheers of "Pond Forever." Pond graduated from Michigan in 1879 with a degree in civil engineering.


Architect


Early career

In 1879, Pond moved to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
to pursue a career as an architect. He worked as a draftsman in the offices of his former teacher, William LeBaron Jenney, and worked as the head draftsman in the office of Solon Spencer Beman during the construction of the planned Pullman community. While working with Beman, Pond was an ardent supporter of the Pullman planned community, he later acknowledged the resentment of Pullman residents that the town was anachronistic and represented some form of medieval barony. Some of Pond's earliest works as an independent architect were for clients in his home town of Ann Arbor and nearby
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
. As early as 1882, he designed "a modest but commodious home of stone and brick" on South State Street for Dr. Victor C. Vaughan. Pond later pointed to the designs of the old mantels in the Vaughan house which "foreshadowed his future works." He also designed Ann Arbor'
Ladies Library Association Building
(1885) and the West Physics Building for the University of Michigan, built in 1887 and destroyed by fire in 1967. In 1887, he renovated the Detroit Opera House, increasing the seating capacity to 2,100 and relocating the auditorium to the main floor. In 1886, Pond and his brother Allen Bartlitt Pond (1858–1929) formed their own architectural firm in Chicago under the name
Pond and Pond Pond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond. Overview Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irr ...
. The brothers continued to operate the firm for more than 40 years, and their buildings are considered to be among the best examples of
Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
architecture in Chicago.


Hull House and settlement house movement

The Pond brothers gained their greatest acclaim as the architects for
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...
's
Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Hull House, named after the original house's first owner Charles Jerald Hul ...
. Their father's work as warden of the state prison had sparked an interest in social reform and the
settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...
movement. Allen Bartlitt Pond was the assistant superintendent of the Armour Mission, an educational and healthcare center, when Jane Addams came to Chicago in January 1889 looking for a building in which to open a new settlement house. The two became friends and were riding in a carriage when Addams saw an old two-story brick house on Halsted Street. Addams took a lease on the house, which she named Hull House after its original owner, and hired the Ponds to put the old house into shape. Between 1890 and 1907, the Ponds were the architects for the Hull House as the project expanded rapidly. The first building they designed for Hull House was the Butler Art Gallery. Built in 1891, the Butler Gallery was situated on the same lot as Hull House. It consisted of a reading room, an exhibition hall that was "the last word in design and lighting for those days," and a studio above. Numerous other building projects followed, including the original coffee house and gymnasium in 1893, the Children's Building in 1895, remodels and additions to the original building in 1895 and 1899, the Jane Club in 1898, a new Coffee House and Hull House Theater in 1899, the Hull House Apartments and Men's Club in 1901 and 1902, the Woman's Club (Bowen Hall) in 1904, the Boys' Club in 1906 and the Mary Crane Nursery in 1907. The Pond brothers were affectionately known by residents of the Hull House complex as Allen the "deep Pond" and Irving the "wide pond." One of Addams' biographers wrote that the "Pond brothers did it all, harmonized everything," and described the scene when Irving Pond attended Addams' memorial service in 1935:
Irving K., at Jane Addams memorial services in the Hull House Court, when Doctor Gilkey said, 'if you seek her monument look around you,' looked round also with tears in his eyes but pride in his heart; the visible memorial to Jane Addams was also a visible memorial to the Ponds.
The only surviving building from the Ponds' Hull House complex is the 1905 dining hall, a simple Craftsman style building that was designated as a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in the 1960s. The Ponds also designed club houses and settlement houses for other social reform organizations, including th
Chicago Commons
settlement house building (1901), th

(1901), and the City Club of Chicago building (1910). The City Club building, noted for its "gently curving limestone arch that ties together the windows of the second floor," is today operated as the John Marshall Law School. When the City Club building opened in 1910, it was considered a symbol of the reform movement:
The new building embodied the soaring expectations of the reform movement, as well as providing the material comforts of a middle-class social club. Its two-story dining-lecture hall, complete with balcony and private eating chambers, accommodated over two hundred for the weekly luncheon talks on social and political issues of the day. ... Architect and club member Irving K. Pond declared that 'every line of the building illustrated some phase of the uplift movement.'


Eagle's Nest and related activities

Pond was also a leading member of the Chicago arts community in the late 19th and early 20th Century. In 1898, Pond was one of the founders of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony near Oregon, Illinois.Lorado Taft Campus
, NIU Historical Buildings: Lorado Taft Field Campus Historical Significance, ''Northern Illinois University''. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
Pond and eleven others, including his brother Allen Pond,
Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860 – October 30, 1936) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Part of the American Renaissance movement, his monumental pieces include, ''Fountain of Time'', ''Spirit of the Great Lakes'', and ''The ...
, Hamlin Garland, Ralph Clarkson, Horace Spencer Fiske, leased a plot of land on a steep ridge with "craggy rocks" and gnarled cedars overlooking the Rock River. The Pond brothers designed the home that was built for the colony, and the group spent their summers at the colony with other sculptors, painters, writers, architects, naturalists and kindred spirits. The artists colony became integrated with the Oregon community, and the Pond brothers undertook several significant architectural projects in the Oregon area: *'' Oregon Public Library''. In 1908, the city of Oregon built a new public library based on a design by Pond and Pond and with funding from
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...
. The Ponds' design has been described as having a "commodious and pleasing" interior with an exterior of white brick and Elizabethan-Gothic architecture. One of the unusual features of the design was a two-story art room in which artists from Eagle's Nest displayed their works and offered instruction to local residents. *'' The Soldier's Monument''. In 1916, the city commissioned a monument that included sculpture by
Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860 – October 30, 1936) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Part of the American Renaissance movement, his monumental pieces include, ''Fountain of Time'', ''Spirit of the Great Lakes'', and ''The ...
and an elaborate marble
exedra An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architecture, architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ''ἐξέδρα'' ('a seat ou ...
by Pond and Pond. *''Lowden Residence''. The residence of Frank Lowden, Governor of Illinois from 1917 to 1921, was another
Pond and Pond Pond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond. Overview Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irr ...
design. The house is located several miles south of Oregon on the Sinnissippi Farm. In 1907, Pond was also one of the founders with Hamlin Garland of the Cliff Dwellers Club (originally known as the Attic Club and later the Little Room), a private club in Chicago for professionals engaged in the fine arts and performing arts. In its early years as the Little Room, the group was described as "an exclusive organization consisting of creative individuals of like temperament joined together for relaxation." Pond served as president of the Cliff Dwellers from 1934 to 1935.


Professional organizations

In recognition of his contributions to architecture, Pond became a Fellow of the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
in 1900 and served as president of the American Institute of Architects from 1910 to 1911. He also represented the U.S. government and the AIA at the International Congress of Architects at Rome and Venice in 1911, delivering addresses at both. He was also a founder of the Chicago Architectural Club and served as president of the Illinois Society of Architects.


Notable commissions

:Unless otherwise mentioned all were designed by
Pond and Pond Pond and Pond was an American architecture firm established by the Chicago architects Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlitt Pond. Overview Working in the Arts and Crafts idiom, the brothers gained renown for elaborately detailed brickwork and irr ...
Pond's best known buildings include three National Historic Landmark structures located in Chicago — the Hull House dining hall the
Lorado Taft Midway Studios The Lorado Taft Midway Studios are a historic artist studio complex at South Ingleside Avenue and East 60th Street, on the campus of the University of Chicago on the South Side of Chicago. The architecturally haphazard structure, originating as ...
, and the Frank R. Lillie House (1904). Other notable Pond designs include th
Freer House
(1898) in Ann Arbor, th

building (1906–1907) in Chicago, the federal building in
Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Kankakee River, as of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley, IL MSA, Kan ...
, th
Michigan Union
(1919) built on the site of Pond's boyhood home in Ann Arbor, the Purdue Memorial Union (1924) at
Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...
, th
MSU Union
in
East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...
, th
Kansas Memorial Union
at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
, the Park Ridge Public Library, th
Michigan League
in Ann Arbor, the Omaha Apartments in Chicago, the Kent Building in Chicago (1902), and the Toll Building in Chicago (1908).


Architectural style and philosophy

As early as 1892, Pond became known as one of the "earliest modernizers in architecture." The
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
, where Pond's papers are housed, said of the firm: "While Pond and Pond were best known through their work for social service organizations, they designed a wide range of buildings — social, religious, educational/academic, residential, governmental, and civic — mainly in the Chicago area and the Midwest. They were known for detailed brickwork, asymmetrical massing, and distinctive decorative detail, producing fine examples of Arts and Crafts and early modern architecture." In 1905 a 15-page article in the ''
Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. Its editor in chief is Josephine Minutillo. ''The Record'', as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important ...
'' by Pond and illustrated by his designs was published. Pond described his views in it about architecture as an art:
Architecture is an art, and as an art, it does not consist simply in piling up forms, old or new, but is a means of expression. ... If architecture is an art and art consists in the expression of life, then that is neither architecture nor art which merely reproduces, even in new combinations, the old forms because they were once the accepted forms. That is a phase of archaeology and is unworthy of living architecture. ... However, the old ideas are not to be spurned and the old forms are not altogether to be cast aside when they contain the spark of life ...
Pond's article was viewed by some as a criticism of those in the
Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...
who overemphasized the horizontal over the vertical. In this regard, Pond wrote:
In architectural composition, as in music, order is comprehended in rhythm. Rhythm is expressed in the flow of part into part, of mass into mass, in the appearance and reappearance of certain proportions which are made to exist between the subordinate masses and between these masses and the dominant mass; between all the parts of the perfect whole. Without order there is no architecture; without rhythmic composition no vital architecture can be. That is the highest architecture in which rhythmic action of the structural forces becomes apparent. Vertical forces in action, by the law of gravity, tend to work in right lines; horizontal forces, acted upon by this same law tend to work in curves. ... It is not enough that the rhythmic movement be in horizontal direction only, but there must be a rhythmic flow vertically as well. The result of these combined movements should be that of unity -- simple in its effect though complex in its harmonies.


Role in the Chicago school

In the ''AIA Guide to Chicago'', the Ponds are identified as part of the "circle of young architects", including
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
, that was responsible for "transforming the concepts of the Arts & Crafts movement into the indigenous Prairie School." Pond was a contemporary, and in some ways rival, of Wright in the Chicago architectural scene of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Both were members of the Chicago Architectural Club and served as judges and participants in the Club's annual competitions. One biographer of Wright noted that Wright was insulted when the American Institute of Architects in 1912 commissioned a study of midwestern "progressive architecture" and instructed the investigators to examine the work of Louis Sullivan and Pond, but not including Wright. In a letter to
Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a ...
, Wright expressed his dislike for the "truly-old" Pond:
Yesterday someone told me that truly-old I.K. Pond took exception to your 'Sticks and Stones' because you weren't a 'practicing architect.' What 'practicing architects' know anything at all of architecture anyway, -- even if they could write about it? Certainly not he. He's a dried herring, hanging beneath the eaves or Architecture.
While progressive in his approach to architecture, Pond was not as revolutionary as others in the Chicago school of his day. Architect Stuart Cohen, FAIA, noted that, while the Pond brothers' architecture departs from traditional architectural styles, they "did not break radically from such stylistic forms" but sought instead "to create a modern American architecture without rejecting architectural stylistic traditions, but simplifying them through the emphasis of geometry and the inherent quality of building materials and construction." In 2009, Pond's autobiography, written in the two years before his death, was published by Hyoogen Press through the efforts of Chicago architect David Swan. At the time of the autobiography's release, architecture historian
Robert Bruegmann Robert Bruegmann is an historian of architecture, landscape and the built environment. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a specialist on the Chicago school of architecture. Bruegmann is best known for his research on t ...
opined that the Pond brothers "have remained relatively obscure because they didn't fit in with narratives that wished to see Chicago architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a prelude to European modernism of the 1920s." Nevertheless, Bruegmann noted that "Chicago architecture was always a great deal more than that" and expressed his satisfaction that the publication of Pond's autobiography "should go a long way toward bringing back into focus one of America's most interesting and important architectural practices."


Author

Pond was a noted author and member of the Chicago Literary Club from 1888 to 1939. He was the club's president from 1922 to 1923. Many of his works of fiction, poems and papers on art and architecture were published by the club, including "A Strange Fellow: A Story with an Immoral" (1889), "The Mystery of the Light" (1891), "The Pleasures of Travel (1894), "Can Architecture Become Again a Living Art?" (1895), "The Whale - A Study: The Historic School of Jonah" (1897), "The Poetry of Motion: and Other Matters" (1899), "A Few Meloncholy Reflections and Lively Anticipations of Misdeeds to Come" (1905), "A Side Light on Architecture" (1906), "Art and the Expression of Individuality" (1911), "Architecture: Its Origins and Illusions" (1914),"Poems" (1917), "Here Lies the Way" (1918), "Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On." "The Stones of Venice" (1919), "A Day Under the Big Top: A Study in Life and Art" (1924), "On Believing and Leaving" (1928), "Toward an American Architecture" (1930), "Hold Your Horses: The Elephants Are Coming!" (1931), "What Is Modern Architecture?" (1933), "Just One Thing After Another" (1934), and "Do Children Think?" (1938). Pond was also a frequent contributor to architectural journals and wrote for ''
The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review an ...
''. In 1910, he published an essay in
Gustav Stickley Gustav Stickley (March 9, 1858 – April 15, 1942) was an American furniture manufacturer, design leader, publisher, and a leading voice in the American Arts and Crafts movement. Stickley's design philosophy was a major influence on American ...
's '' The Craftsman'', advocating an architectural style embodying the American spirit and idealism. In 1918, he published the book ''The Meaning of Architecture''. In 1908, Pond's 13-page article on the architecture of telephone exchange buildings, illustrated by the designs of Pond and
Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago school (architecture), Chicago ...
, also appeared in ''Architectural Record''. ;Books by Pond * ''The Meaning Of Architecture: An Essay In Constructive Criticism'' (1918) * ''The College Union'' (1931) * ''Big Top Rhythms: A Study in Art and Life'', written and illustrated by Pond (1937) * ''A Strange Fellow, and other Club Papers'', written and illustrated by Pond (1938) * ''The Autobiography of Irving K. Pond'', written in the 1930s and published posthumously (2009)


Later years

Pond was a bachelor until age 72. Through most of his life, his closest friend was his brother Allen Pond. In 1918, he wrote the following in the dedication to his book, ''The Meaning of Architecture'':
This book is dedicated to my brother -- my lifelong companion and partner Allen Bartlit Pond. Through his sympathy and understanding, in the light of his clear thought, and under his inspiration I have been better able to follow those paths of individual, professional and civic endeavor in which a rare ancestry bade us walk.
After his brother died in 1929, Pond married Katherine N. de Nancrede, who was 47 years old, at a ceremony in Ann Arbor. Pond said at the time, "It's the first time I ever did it, and I thought I ought to be pardoned because of my youth." Pond was also an amateur acrobat and remained a physical fitness buff all of his life. At the time of his wedding in 1929, the ''Associated Press'' reported that he is "almost as well known for his present athletic agility as for his architectural accomplishments. A part of his daily routine is to turn handsprings and flipflops and do other strenuous exercises." He drew applause when, on his 80th birthday, he grabbed his bare knees with both hands and performed a backflip. A photograph of Pond's feat was published in ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' magazine in June 1937.Life, June 14, 1937, p. 28
/ref> Though he was some 25 years older than his wife, Pond outlived her. She died in 1935, and Pond died four years later in September 1939 while traveling in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
The cause of death was reported as a stomach ulcer. He was age 82 when he died, and he asked that his remains be cremated and sent to the University of Michigan.


Gallery of buildings designed by Pond and Pond

File:Michigan Union (architectural drawing).jpg, Michigan Union File:Chicago Commons.jpg, Chicago Commons File:Hull House Coffee Room.jpg, Hull House Coffee Room File:John G. Shanklin House.jpg, John Shanklin House, Evansville, Indiana File:Northwestern University Settlement House.jpg, Northwestern University Settlement House File:Residence of Prof. J.W. Thompson.jpg, Residence of Prof. J.W. Thompson File:Hull House Women's Club building.jpg, Hull House Women's Club File:W.F. Dummer Residence, Coronado.jpg, W.F. Dummer Residence, Coronado, California


References

;Notes


External links


Irving Kane Pond's American Circus Collection
at
The Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our wor ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pond, Irving 1857 births 1939 deaths 19th-century players of American football 19th-century American architects Michigan Wolverines football players Presidents of the American Institute of Architects Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Chicago school architects People from Ann Arbor, Michigan Deaths from ulcers University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American architects