Harry Hale Waterman (1869-1948) honed his skills as a young draftsman in the offices of Joseph Lyman Silsbee, working alongside several ambitious draftsmen that would later revolutionize architecture, including Frank Lloyd Wright, George Grant Elmslie, and George W. Maher.  Waterman soon built his own house in Morgan Park and started an independent architecture practice, designing and building a flurry of buildings around the Ridge.  

Waterman’s early work show a young architect striving to push architecture forward with his simple and elegant designs.  Throughout his career, his designs are unique and never dull.  Although he had practiced with the polestars of the Prairie School, Waterman was content to design just a handful of Prairie-style homes, instead focusing on French Norman and other architectural styles of the times. Waterman lived only briefly in Morgan Park, but continued to build some of his finest designs on the Ridge sporadically throughout his long career.

The “Unique in Any Style” exhibit at Ridge Historical Society will show the varied designs of Waterman, particularly as documented through photographer Mati Maldre’s 4×5 Deardorff view camera.  Waterman’s life, clients, and legacy is explored in the context of the communities of Beverly Hills and Morgan Park.