Description

architect

Bacon was born in Watseka, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1885. He began his architectural career in the office of Chamberlain and Whidden in Boston, MA and then for a short time worked for McKim, Mead and White in New York. He won the Rotch Traveling Scholarship in 1889 and spent two years in Europe, traveling to France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. There, he became a devoted student of Greek art and architecture. Upon his return to the US, Bacon returned to McKim, Mead and White and became McKim’s chief design assistant. In 1892 he represented the firm on the construction site of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1897, Bacon formed a partnership with James Brite, a colleague from the office with whom he had traveled in Europe. The partnership lasted until 1903, when Bacon began to practice exclusively under his own name. His works include railway stations, bank buildings, churches, libraries, bridges and college buildings. His final and most famous work was the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In May 1923, just one year before his death, the American Institute of Architects awarded Bacon its gold medal in a ceremony on the steps of the memorial.