By Ron Becker, Class of 2019
The Chicago Cultural Center has opened the newly refurbished G.A.R. rooms, including the rotunda which features a 40-foot stained glass dome. The dome was designed by Charles Coolidge; the colors were selected by the Tiffany Company. It was fabricated by the widely acclaimed Chicago firm of Healy & Millet. Who were Healy and Millet? In short, they were a pair of twenty-somethings who came to Chicago, fresh out of school, to open a decorative arts company that became highly regarded and internationally renowned.
George Louis Healy was born in Paris, France, on December 29, 1855. His father was the noted portrait painter George Peter Alexander Healy; his mother was an Englishwoman, Louisa Phipps. His father, while having many commissions on both sides of the Atlantic, chose Chicago as his home base. He died in Chicago in June 1894 and is buried in Evanston. Louisa died in February 1905. George Louis enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the fall of 1873, and after completing his studies in 1879 came to Chicago.
Louis Julian Millet was born on June 20, 1855, in New York City, where he was educated. His father was Emile Millet, a Frenchman, and his mother was Anna, a West Indian. His father was a musician and a life-long friend of Viollet-le-Duc, the noted architect and architectural writer. In 1874, Louis Millet began his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs.
Also, in 1874, Louis Henri Sullivan arrived in Paris, where he gained admission to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He quickly became dissatisfied with the school and dropped out after a few months. While there, Sullivan met and became friends with Healy and Millet; the three “hung out together.” When Millet finished his studies in 1879, he came to Chicago possibly at the urging of either or both Healy and Sullivan.
Healy and Millet joined forces in Chicago and forged a partnership that led to the creation of the firm Healy & Millet in 1880. They marketed their services to the wealthy citizens of Chicago but also collaborated with architects, notably with Louis Sullivan and George Maher. The firm prospered and in 1884 moved to a larger location on Wabash Avenue in Chicago.
Among their notable works with Louis Sullivan were the stained-glass windows in the Auditorium Building and the stencils on the trading floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange. They also did interior decoration at Union Station in St. Louis, Missouri. They achieved international acclaim with an exhibit at the Paris 1889 Exposition Universelle. The firm was dissolved in 1899.
Stained- Glass Windows from the Auditorium Building
Detail of stencils for the trading floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building
Detail of decoration in the Grand Hall, Union Station, St. Louis, Missouri
After living with his widowed mother until her death, Healy was known to have traveled widely in Europe. He died in Nice, France, on December 30, 1940, the day after his 85th birthday. He was buried there.
Millet continued working after the dissolution including additional collaborations with Sullivan. He also became an educator, first teaching at the Art Institute in 1886 and at the Institute’s Chicago School of Architecture in 1889. In 1893 that program merged with the Armour Institute of Technology. Millet was dean of the school. He retired in 1918 and died in Chicago on September 2, 1923, and was buried here.
Whether with their own works or their execution of others, Healy and Millet have created landmark projects that add to the beauty of Chicago.
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Art Institute website credits Louis Sullivan with the design of the trading room stencils. Which is it – Sullivan or Healy & Millet?
Thanks so much, Ron, for this most interesting research, certainly useful for all the Treasures tour docents.
Nice work, Ron. Didn’t realize Healy was the son of the acclaimed portraitist.
Thank you very much!
Thank you for this timely research, Ron. An important takeaway for me was that these gentlemen had a working relationship with George Maher. Our Kenilworth tour features several of the 40-some buildings by Maher in that small village, some of which have original art glass windows. A new challenge will be to determine which of those are the work of Healy & Millet.
Fascinating article and marvous photos.
As your sponsor in 2019, and remembering how much extra research you did for Historic Treasures. I am not surprised.
Thanks for this. There is lots of good detail. But one small correction. According to Tim Samuelson, the colors of the dome were selected by Tiffany but the design was by Coolidge.
Thanks for fixing the article.
Great content. Very interesting. And the photos you chose to include were a feast for the eyes.
Interesting article and great pictures!
April issue of Chicago Magazine gives design credit to Tiffany. He and his firm get many full credits when they were only partially involved.
In the words of Tim Samuelson: Tiffany and Co designed the stained glass for the dome. But they did not get the contract to do the fabrication and installation. That contract went to Healy and Millet.