Philip Brooks Maher (1894-1981) was the only son of the very prominent Prairie School architect George Washington Maher. Philip's ancestors originally came to the Chicago area when Philip's grandfather moved his large young family from New Albany, Indiana after the Great Chicago Fire in pursuit of gainful employment in the rebuilding effort. Philip's father, George, was apprenticed at the age of 13 at the architectural firm of Bauer and Hill. After later working at J. L. Silsbee, George established his own firm in 1888 and went on to design many well-known Chicago-area buildings such as the Assembly Hall in Kenilworth, Patten Gym, and Swift Engineering Hall at Northwestern University, as well as many private homes.
Philip's mother Elizabeth Brooks Maher was the daughter of Alden Brooks, a portrait artist. She also trained as a painter and exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Philip was a true child of Chicago, growing up in Kenilworth, a suburb north of Chicago that his father had a major role in developing. Like many families of their station in life during that era of no air conditioning, the boy spent summers at the family cottage in Douglas, Michigan where his father farmed fruit trees. At the age of 20 years, he apprenticed in his father's architectural firm for a short time before being called into World War I. After the War, he stayed in France six months more to sketch many buildings in the grand architectural styles of Europe. His father was also known to have made many pen and ink drawings of buildings of architectural influence on his own trip to Europe shortly before Philip was born, and Philip would have been influenced by these as he was growing up. After returning from military service in World War I, Philip studied architecture at the University of Michigan.
On December 20, 1921. at the age of 27, Philip married Madeleine Michelson, the daughter of Albert A. Michelson, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Physics (in 1907.) They made their home in Kenilworth, Illinois.
He joined his father's architectural firm in 1921 and was admitted to the American Institute of Architects in 1924. The firm was renamed G.W. Maher & Son.
Philip became head of the firm at the age of 32 when his father passed away in 1926. This must have been a stressful time for Philip, thrust into management with little warning and a short time later starting the design work on the major commission at 626 North Michigan Avenue. Three years later, the building he designed using French Second Empire styling opened for occupancy. With his mother's aesthetic eye and his father's technical training, Philip had come into full bloom in his own right.
Philip designed more buildings on North Michigan Avenue than any other architect except Holabird & Root, but most have been demolished. One of his buildings still remaining is the Farwell Building, another City of Chicago Landmark building located in the next block at 664 North Michigan Avenue (the former home of the Terra Museum of American Art.) Other buildings of his design included the Jacques Building, the Blackstone Shop, and the Decorative Arts Building, as well as 1260 and 1301 North Astor Street, but these have all been torn down.
His designs blended a Continental sensibility with the Art Deco forms of a new architectural age. With Philip's Parisian-inspired style, the boulevard must have had quite the continental air at the time.
Along with most architects of his day, Maher's career was constricted by the difficulties of the Depression and war years. Even into his 80's he could be found seated at the grand piano playing Rachmaninoff or a cool boogie-woogie. "Phips was dapper and had a dry sense of humor," recalls a friend, "and he loved to reminisce about building the Woman's Athletic Club. This building was really the love of his life."
