"The years 1890-1930 marked the great age of public and commercial architecture in the United States, and Graham, Anderson, Probst and White were among its leaders. Their work covered the full spectrum of urban buildings, all of it done at the highest level. Professor Sally Chappell has done full justice to their outpouring of high civic design. Among monographic works on the architectural product of single offices, hers stands in the front ranks."           ---Carl Condit "The largest architectural firm of its day, produced consistently beautiful, serviceable, and efficient work which still continues to nourish public pride and civic spirit. Chappell helps all of us understand why an architecture that set out to be neither polemical nor avant-garde remains vital today in engendering urban civility and private enterprise."           ---Leland M. Roth "A sprightly, authoritative story of Chicago going up". Sally A. Kitt Chappell, a professor at DePaul University, has produced a definitive, analytical and deftly structured history of the firm during its most productive years Chappell consistently goes beyond the cosmetics of architecture. Fascinating bits of history are woven into the narrative [in] clear prose."           ---Paul Gapp, Chicago Tribune 4/27/92 "Building the City Beautiful" Sally A. Kitt Chappell has written an absorbing history.[her] illuminating study underlines the resilience of Beaux — Arts planning principles, which skilful designers such as Peirce Anderson (who had studied in Paris) were able to manipulate to provide satisfactory solutions for such new building types as railway stations, merchandise marts and power stations. However, in the process, as the author observes, Burnham's vision of the American city was transformed by his younger disciples. Burnham's view was of an orderly, hierarchical city that would be dominated by stately civic monuments. By the 1920s and 30s, the most memorable buildings in Chicago were no longer the city hall, the public library, and the art museum, but the downtown commercial towers — the palaces of commerce. The chief image of the city was no longer its parks and boulevards but its skyline."           ---Witold Rybczynski, London Times Literary Supplement 11/20/92 "Chicago's Aristocrats: Buildings that Reveal Regal Style. I suppose I've walked by the Wrigley on most days for 30 years and never have tired of its polished charm. Like the Statue of Liberty, the Wrigley is a queen with a welcoming arm in the sky — and a ceremonial foot on the street besides. In some eyes, it's a creamy wedding cake but most of us know it as brilliantly right for its gateway site on Michigan Avenue, north of the bridge. The title and the price are heavy, but the book is more than just a nostalgic run of yesterday. Chicago architecture has a strong stream of conservatism, even if it isn't fashionable to say so, and Chappell makes the case."           ---M.W. Newman, Chicago Sun-Times 8/9/92