08 May newly discovered photographic images of louis h. sullivan colloborator, interior designer louis j. millet
May 8, 2026
in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized
louis j. millet (1856–1923) was a highly respected educator, founder of an industrial art school, and interior designer in the united states. famous for his stained glass artistry, millet worked on projects with louis sullivan and george w. maher, and collaborated with portraitist george healy at the interior design firm healy & millet, which specialized in interior decoration, floor tiling, and wood mantels. millet received national acclaim for his decorative work, frescoes, and stained glass creations.
one outstanding example of his work is the fireplace surround made for the patrick j. king house, now exhibited at lacma. millet and healy shared a long friendship, having studied together in paris during the 1870s before becoming business partners after moving to chicago in 1879.
from 1886 to 1918, millet taught at the school of the art institute of chicago and led its department of decorative design. in 1893, he founded the chicago school of architecture, which offered multidisciplinary studies in industrial arts and coursework both at the art institute of chicago and the armour institute of technology. millet served in academic roles at these institutions, including as dean.
among his many achievements, millet patented a prism light design and created both a thistle window and a mosaic fireplace surround featuring a thistle motif for the patrick j. king house’s great room.
between 1901 and 1903, millet undertook one of his largest commissions at the mississippi state capitol in jackson, mississippi. working under subcontract from the chicago contracting firm w.a. and a.e. wells, he produced a broad array of stained and decorative glass windows, such as opalescent windows for the grand staircase and skylights for the chamber domes.
other notable works by millet include stained glass for sullivan’s auditorium building and theater (now part of the musée d’orsay’s permanent collection and displayed at the paris world’s fair of 1889), the thistle window from the james a. patten house, and the dome at the chicago cultural center. he also designed entrance windows for watkins incorporated headquarters, stained glass windows at hackley library in muskegon, michigan, and the healy-millet dome in the grand army of the republic hall at the chicago cultural center, in collaboration with george healy. the building features another dome with stained glass by louis comfort tiffany.
millet’s other significant projects included friezes at union station in st. louis, stained glass windows at first christian church in cedar rapids (1913, with windows preserved after the church was demolished), and frescoes at the national farmer’s bank of owatonna with louis sullivan. he contributed stencil decorations designed by louis h. sullivan for the chicago stock exchange trading room, now part of the art institute of chicago’s collection. additionally, millet crafted stained glass windows for oak hall in vicksburg, mississippi (a maher project), stencil designs for the schiller building’s theater interior for louis h. sullivan, and a stained glass window for james j. hill’s house on canada street in lowertown (later installed in louis w. hill’s house at 260 summit avenue).
further works include a fireplace surround (1901) for the patrick j. king house in chicago, now housed at lacma, church windows at 931 lake street in oak park, illinois, and decoration and painting at mcvickers theatre (opened march 30, 1891), designed by adler & sullivan, along with decor, terra cotta, plaster, curtains, and steelwork provided by other firms.
millet also designed a stained glass memorial window at forrestville school on forty-fifth street in chicago, commemorating teachers and students lost in the 1903 iroquois theater fire. installed on the third-floor landing, the window lists victims’ names and shows a young girl shielding a lamp’s flame; it was dedicated in may 1905. additional works include windows at second presbyterian church in chicago.
