A civil engineering graduate of the University
of Michigan, Irving Kane Pond (1857- 1939) gained his first architectural
experience in the Chicago offices of William Le Baron Jenney and Solon S.
Beman. At the latter's firm, he worked on the initial design of the new
company town of Pullman, gaining invaluable experience with brick detailing
and craftsmanship.
In 1885, he formed an architectural partnership with his brother Allen B.
Pond (1858 - 1929). Many of the firm's buildings were related to social
services, an outlook perhaps inspired by their father's role as warden of
the State Prison at Jackson, Michigan. They designed several social
settlement houses (Jane Addams' Hull-House and Northwestern), as well as
numerous educational buildings, both in Chicago (American School for Home
Correspondence and the John Marshall Law School) and out of state (student
unions at Purdue University and the University of Michigan).
The firm's innovative architecture is notable for its exceptionally
well-detailed craftsmanship, as well as its influence on turn-of-the-century
architectural modernism. Pond & Pond's buildings also rank among the city's
best examples of Arts & Crafts-style architecture.
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