MERRILL, JOHN 1896-1975

ARCHITECT

Founder of SOM

In 1939 John Ogden Merrill joined architects Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings to found Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), one of America's foremost architectural firms. Best known for designing large office buildings, the firm was noted for its sophisticated, artful handling of big buildings for big institutions and businesses and for its use of glass and metal-curtain walls.

Training

Merrill was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1896. He attended the University of Wisconsin from 1915 to 1917, when service in World War I interrupted his studies; he served as an officer in the army until 1919. After the war he transferred to the architecture school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated in 1921. He worked in various offices and a short time for the Federal Housing Authority. In 1939 he joined Skidmore and Owings in their partnership.

Architect of the Manhattan Project

In 1942 Merrill moved to Tennessee to take charge of designing the secret buildings at Oak Ridge. The firm designed a town for 75,000 people who worked on and supported the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb. He supervised the work on the buildings at Oak Ridge until 1945, when he moved to the firm's Chicago offices. Having become an expert in the technology of buildings and building codes, he directed a major revision of the building code for Chicago from 1947 to 1949.

SOM and Corporate America

While Merrill retired from the firm in 1948, SOM continued to build its reputation for high-quality construction using innovative designs. SOM perfected the artistry of soaring skyscrapers. The Sears Roebuck Tower (1974), the world's highest building, is considered SOM's finest work to date. SOM is also known for other corporate and institutional designs, including the entire campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy (1962) in Colorado Springs.