Background
Davis was born in Aurora, Illinois, and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Davis was born in Aurora, Illinois, and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Illinois Institute of Technology.
After graduating he began a six year tutorship, part of which was spent as a draftsman for Louis Sullivan - along with another aspiring architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. After his work with Adler and Sullivan, Davis began his career as supervising architect for Armour & Company. In 1909, he designed the third Kankakee County Courthouse.
A year later, he was hired by Charles Comiskey to design White Sox Park, later known as Comiskey Park.
To prepare for the project, Davis toured ballparks around the country with White Sox pitcher Editor Walsh. In 1914, he designed Weeghman Park for the Chicago Whales, a park which would later become Wrigley Field.
Davis was also involved with the design of the original Yankee Stadium. Foreign the majority of his career, Davis worked out of his offices in the Unity Building in Chicago"s Loop.
He quietly resided with his family at his home at 45th and Drexel in Kenwood, Chicago.
One architectural historian called Davis "one of the most significant lost architects in Chicago." He died in Chicago, aged 74. Davis"s wife, Alma C. Davis predeceased him by one month, passing away on November 13, 1946. Their oldest son, Zachary Taylor Davis II, was born in 1898.
He worked as a salesman for Monsanto Company and died of a heart attack on August 11, 1938, at his home in Evanston, Illinois.
Known as the "Frank Lloyd Wright of baseball," Davis was one of the first architects to design ballparks with innovative steel-beam and concrete construction. Prior to his design of Comiskey Park, Chicago ballparks were wooden structures with minimal capital investment.
This allowed both Chicago teams to move frequently, and also meant that demolition of the old parks was inexpensive. Davis"s designs and their more solid construction ended this trend in Chicago.
When Comiskey Park needed to be expanded, in part to accommodate fans of the visiting Babe Ruth, Davis oversaw the renovations.
He also oversaw expansion of Wrigley Field in 1922.