Charles Sumner Frost

Charles Sumner Frost (May 31, 1856 – December 11, 1931) was an American architect. He is best known as the architect of Navy Pier and for designing over 100 buildings for the Chicago and North Western Railway.

Biography

Born in Lewiston, Maine, Frost was first a draftsman in Boston, and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1876. While working in Boston he worked for the firm of Peabody and Stearns from 1876 to 1881. He moved to Chicago in 1882, when he began a partnership with Henry Ives Cobb. Together, they established the firm Cobb and Frost, which was active from 1882 to 1898. After the partnership ended, he worked alone. Frost married Mary Hughitt, a daughter of Marvin Hughitt, the President of the Chicago and North Western Railroad, in 1897. On January 1, 1898, he partnered with his brother-in-law, Alfred Hoyt Granger, to form the firm of Frost and Granger. Frost and Granger were known for their designs of train stations and terminals, including the now-demolished Chicago and North Western Terminal. Frost designed 127 buildings for the Chicago and North Western Railroad alone.

After Frost and Granger dissolved in 1910, Frost continued to work independently, designing such structures as the Navy Pier Auditorium. Frost was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He retired on December 31, 1928, and died on December 11, 1931, in Chicago.

Notable buildings

Old Chicago and North Western Terminal c. 1912, soon after its completion

Union Depot, 201 South Main Street, Leavenworth, Kansas, 1888 (with Cobb) Chicago and North Western Railway Lake Front Depot, Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1889, demolished 1968 Adams Memorial Library in Wheaton, Illinois, 1891 The Second Union Station, Omaha, Nebraska, 1891 Western Bank Note Building in Chicago in 1891 Fond du Lac Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Depot, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, 1891 Chicago and North Western Railway depot, Milwaukee Avenue, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1893 Maine State Building, 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition

Old Law Building, Madison, Wisconsin 1893 Chicago and North Western Railway depot, Belle Plaine, Iowa 1894 Richard T. Ely House in Madison, 1896 Chicago and North Western Railway depot, North West and West 5th Streets, Carroll, Iowa, 1896 Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company Passenger Depot, 127 South Spring Street, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, 1900 (Frost & Granger) Lake Bluff station, Lake Bluff, Illinois, 1904 (Frost & Granger) Chicago and North Western Depot, Railroad Street, Reedsburg, Wisconsin, 1905 (Frost & Granger) Chicago and North Western Railway station, Main Street, Breda, Iowa, 1907 (Frost & Granger) Chicago and North Western Railway depot, Antigo, Wisconsin, 1907 (Frost & Granger) St. Luke's Hospital Complex in Chicago, 1908 (with Granger), 1439 S. Michigan/1440 S. Indiana Chicago and North Western Railway Power House, Chicago, 1909 (Frost & Granger) Chicago and North Western Terminal, 1911 (with Granger) Electric Railway Chambers, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1912 Minneapolis Great Northern Depot, 1913 Chicago and North Western Railway station, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, 1914 Navy Pier Auditorium in Chicago, 1916 Railroad and Bank Building, 176 East 5th Street, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1916 Chicago and North Western Railway Ore Dock Office, Ashland, Wisconsin, 1916 Chicago and North Western Railway passenger station, Springfield, Minnesota, 1916 Union Depot, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1917 Chicago and North Western Railway depot, Eagle River, Wisconsin, 1923