John Augur Holabird, FAIA, was trained as an engineer, graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1907, with further study at the Washington Barracks Engineers School in 1909. By 1913, he completed study at the École des Beaux-Arts. His father, William Holabird, had formed the architectural firm Holabird & Roche in Chicago in 1883, and the younger Holabird joined the firm in 1914. Following the deaths of William Holabird and Martin Roche in the late 1920s, John Holabird and John Wellborn Root Jr., who also joined the firm in 1914, became the name partners of Holabird & Root. The firm became known for buildings in the art deco style, particularly Chicago skyscrapers, including 333 North Michigan Avenue, the Palmolive Building, the Chicago Daily News building, the Chicago Board of Trade, and the Henry Crown Field House, as well as the North Dakota State Capitol. Holabird was a member of the Chicago Planning Commission, a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago, and was a designer of the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, 1933–34. The Chicago History Museum houses collections of both Holabird & Roche and Holabird & Root.
CFA Service:
1940–1945