Celebrating 12 Years Online 1997-2009
Welcome to the Arthur U. Gerber homepage! Gerber was a prolific and eclectic architect. His architectural legacy is not well-known these days and this web site hopes to provide information on Gerber and his contributions to society across three states. His buildings still continue to serve hundreds of thousands of commuters annually.
Gerber on the National Register of Historic Places-Six Times!
Arthur Gerber was a Chicago-based architect with five building currently on the National Register of Historic Places. His many commercial buildings reflected styles popular during his most creative era, from about 1910-1930, including Prairie and Beaux Arts along with charming renditions of English Tudor and Mission Style train stations. He lived most of his life in Evanston, IL, with offices in Chicago. Gerber's buildings on the National Register of Historical Places are located mostly in Illinois, specifically Chicago (included in the Bryn Mawr Historic District), Skokie (Dempster Street Station), Villa Park (Villa Avenue Station), Wilmette (Linden Avenue Station), Highland Park (Briergate Station), and one in Indiana, his Beverly Shores station.
Dempster Street Station-Gerber's Jewel-Restored!
The Works of Arthur Gerber-Train Stations
This section of the Arthur Gerber homepage showcases his existing stations, some of them still in active service, others preserved but in different uses today, and sadly, a few are neglected and awaiting restoration. Others show Gerber buildings now gone. Lots of JPEG images so it may take some time to load using dial-up modem access.
Not Just Train Stations-Gerber's Other Designs
Gerber didn't just design train stations, as the pictures in this section clearly show. His projects also included commercial buildings, railroad towers, and impressive civil engineering skills in building bridges.
To put Gerber's work in the proper context, it's important to understand the role played by business leader Samuel Insull in creating and assembling an empire of utility and transportation companies centered around Chicago. Gerber was an employee of the vast Insull empire of power companies, rapid transit lines, and electric interurbans that linked many Midwestern cities.
This website welcomes comments or corrections. However, to reduce the volume of spam to my e-mail address as shown below from automated, web-address harvest programs please put the two parts of my e-mail address together. The address is "silphium" (at) "comcast.net."
Contents Copyright (c) Tom Burke.