# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/louis-sullivan
# Generated: 2026-08-31T14:40:33.927Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/louis-sullivan"
name: "Louis Sullivan"
slug: "louis-sullivan"
description: "He gave the skyscraper its theory — that a tall building should look like what it does, not like a dressed-up temple — and the slogan still taught in every studio: form follows function."
tagline: "American architect (1856-1924)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/LouisSullivan.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Architects"
  slug: "architects"
profileType:
  name: "Architect"
  slug: "architect"
birthDate: "1856-09-03"
deathDate: "1924-04-14"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           54.68
  momentum:             0
  historical:           24.08134
  currentAttention:     3.821428571428572
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 92
tags:
  - name: "Architects"
    slug: "architects"
  - name: "Architect"
    slug: "architect"
  - name: "Architecture"
    slug: "architecture"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
    slug: "americas"
  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q243240"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Louis%20Sullivan"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%84%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B3_%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "لويس سوليفان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%83%D1%96%D1%81_%D0%93%D1%8D%D0%BD%D1%80%D1%8B_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD"
    title: "Луіс Гэнры Саліван"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%83%D1%96%D1%81_%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%80%D1%8B_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD"
    title: "Луіс Генры Салівен"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%83%D0%B8%D1%81_%D0%A5%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%80%D0%B8_%D0%A1%D1%8A%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD"
    title: "Луис Хенри Съливан"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Henri_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Henri Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9B%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%B9%CF%82_%CE%A3%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%B1%CE%BD"
    title: "Λούις Σάλλιβαν"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%84%D9%88%DB%8C%DB%8C_%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "لویی سالیوان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A1_%D7%A1%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%91%D7%9F"
    title: "לואיס סאליבן"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%BC%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%AB%D5%BD_%D5%80%D5%A5%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%AB_%D5%8D%D5%A1%D5%AC%D5%AB%D5%BE%D5%A1%D5%B6"
    title: "Լուիս Հենրի Սալիվան"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Henry_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Henry Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D9%84%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B3_%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://bs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan"
    title: "Louis Sullivan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Louis Henry Sullivan was born September 3, 1856, and became the defining architect of the Chicago School, the movement that reimagined what cities could look like after steel made height possible. He mentored Frank Lloyd Wright and shaped the Prairie School architects who followed. Along with Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, he forms what's called "the recognized trinity of American architecture." His phrase "form follows function" distilled older ideas and bent them toward the new scale of the skyscraper, arguing that a building's skin should express its purpose rather than mimic the past. He died April 14, 1924; two decades later, in 1944, he became the second architect to receive the AIA Gold Medal posthumously.