Background
Peirce Anderson was born on February 20, 1870 in Oswego, New York, United States. He was a son of Hugh and Hannah Louisa (Peiree) Anderson.
Peirce Anderson was born on February 20, 1870 in Oswego, New York, United States. He was a son of Hugh and Hannah Louisa (Peiree) Anderson.
He received an academic education at Harvard College, and after he graduated at the age of twenty-two, went to Baltimore to enter John Hopkins College for a post-graduate course in Electrical Engineering. He passed the entrance examination at the first attempt, and in 1894 became a member of the Atlier Paulin. He continued study there four years, and received his diploma in 1899.
Anderson went to Chicago to confer with Daniel Burnham, then at the height of his fame. An excellent judge of men, Mr. Burnham advised him to take up architecture. Returning to the U. S. the following year, he went directly to Chicago to enter the office of D. H. Burnham 8 Company. Skilled in draftsmanship, he was soon made Chief Designer, and continued in that post until Mr. Burnham’s decease. In 1903 he accompanied Mr. Burnham to the Philippine Islands, laid out the summer capital of Baguio, and prepared plans for the development of Manila.
Following Mr. Burnham’s death in 1912, Anderson joined Ernest Graham (see) in organizing the firm of Graham, Anderson 8 Company to carry on the work of the office. Later this was superseded by Graham, Anderson 8 White, with the late Edward Probst and Howard Judson White (see) new members of the firm. In the busy years that followed, the drafting staff at times numbered as many as two hundred men, while Mr. Anderson continued as head of the Department of Design. It is difficult to assign specific buildings as entirely his design, as no doubt many of them were planned by capable assistants; however, during the long period Mr. Anderson was in charge of and responsible for all the work of the office, it is safe to say that the follow¬ing buildings in Chicago were definitely his in concept and design; the Gas Company Building; Insurance Building at La Salle and Adams; Continental and Commercial Bank and Office Building; Stevens Building; Butler Brothers Warehouse; Wrigley Tower and Annex; Federal Reserve Bank and Office Building; Illinois Merchants Bank and Office Building; Union Station 1924; Building; Strauss Building, the latter completed after Mr. Anderson’s decease. He was also particularly identified with the planning and execution of many of the firm’s outstanding work in other cities. Among these the Union Station at Washington, D. C., begun in 1902 and completed six years later was con¬sidered his greatest achievement in architecture. Other notable buildings were the General Post Office at Washington; Frisco Terminal at New Orleans; Office Building at 80 Maiden Lane, New York; Equitable Building, New York; Federal Reserve Banks at Detroit and Oklahoma City, and the Union Trust Building, Cleveland, one of his last executed works.