William Bryce Mundie
The Unsung Father of the Skyscraper

	William Bryce Mundie was born April 30, 1863 in Hamilton, Ontario, to recent immigrant parents, from Scotland. He schooled at the Hamilton Collegiate Institute, and articled to be an architect thereafter. In 1884, he arrived in Chicago, and was immediately hired by Major William LeBaron Jenney. His first assignment was to be the Project Architect of the Home Life Insurance Building. The Jenney practice admitted him into partnership in 1891, the practice’s name becoming Jenney and Mundie. Upon Major Jenney’s death, the practice became known as Mundie and Jensen.

Manhattan Building, Rendering by William Bryce Mundie	His exceptional hand in drawing and delineation, his native sense of artistry and design, and practical knowledge gained from his stone mason father, led Mundie to win many awards in design competitions. Though not a Charter Member, Mundie became President of the Chicago Architectural Sketch Club and its successor, the Chicago Architectural Club. Eventually, he conceived of entire ‘academic programs of study’ for this group, which was a means of schooling architects prior to university based degree programs. He was a prolific writer, though few of his works were published beyond his student proteges’ reach. He continually sought out buildings under construction or demolition, meticulously sketching construction details.

Saint Andrews Links, William Bryce Mundie, Artist	A social pillar of Chicago society, Mundie was active in many local, seemingly contradictory organizations: he was active in the Illinois Society of Architects, yet became the President of Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, going on to become the First Vice President of the AIA nationally. A Canadian of Scottish lineage, he was active in both the Illinois Saint Andrew Society and the Canadian Club of Chicago; yet also an honored Life Member of the Union League Club of Chicago, an organization that requires American citizenship. He was an artist of landscapes painted in oil colors, while his American colleagues labored over watercolor esquisse studies.

Wendell Phillips High School, Jenney and Mundie, Architects	The Chicago Board of Education appointed Mundie as their Architect in 1898, given the mandate to “clear the Bureau of any of the help found undesirable to him”. The largest project of Mundie’s oversight was Wendell Phillips High School. In the the era immediately following the Iroquois Theatre tragedy, Mundie gave detailed reports to the Board on current fire precautions and means of egress, citing Austin High School – a four story building built without fire escapes.

Left: Great West Life Bldg, Right: Union Trust Building, Winnipeg, Manitoba, John D. Atchison Architect	The practices of Jenney, then Mundie produced a veritable cornucopia of talent. The graduates of this practice who became local – including Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan – are well known. Still others went afar, exporting the concept of the Chicago School ‘skyscraper’ to other cities. One notable example is John D. Atchison: born in 1870 in Monmouth, Illinois, he opened his own practice in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1904. Atchison was known as the most prominent member of Winnipeg’s “Chicago School” of architects, he imparted the knowledge gained from his time at Jensen and Mundie onto his new hometown. Atchison was a prolific designer of Winnipeg’s most prominent “skyscrapers”, including the Great West Life Building, the Union Trust Tower, and the Hamilton Building.

Ludington Building, Chicago, Illinois, Jenney and Mundie, Architects	William Bryce Mundie purportedly wrote a book describing the history of the skyscraper, based on his own first hand knowledge and self obtained photographic collection of buildings being demolished, Mundie being a precursor to Richard Nickel, of sorts.

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William Bryce Mundie The Unsung Father of the Skyscraper

William Bryce Mundie
The Unsung Father of the Skyscraper