Ernest R. Graham (architect)

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Ernest Robert Graham (August 22, 1868 – November 22, 1936) was an American architect who helped shape Chicago’s skyline. He was born in Lowell, Michigan, the son of Robert William and Emma Elizabeth (Post) Graham. He began his career with Burnham and Root in Chicago and later worked for D. H. Burnham & Co. He contributed to the design of the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

Graham co-founded the firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, which continued Daniel Burnham’s practice. He designed or helped plan many major buildings, including the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Equitable Building in New York. In Chicago, his projects included the Merchandise Mart, the Wrigley Building, the Field Building (now the LaSalle Bank Building), the Field Museum reconstruction, Shedd Aquarium, Union Station, the old Chicago Main Post Office, the Pittsfield Building, the State Bank of Chicago Building, and the Civic Opera House.

He also designed notable buildings in other cities, such as the Equitable Building, Chase National Bank, and 80 Maiden Lane in New York; Union Station and the General Post Office in Washington, D.C.; and the Union Trust, Union Station, and Terminal Tower in Cleveland. He married Carlotta Vonwagonen Hull in 1893; she died in 1923. He married Ruby Fitzhugh Powell Leffingwell in 1925 in England and adopted her son, William E. Leffingwell. Graham died in Chicago on November 22, 1936, at age 68.