(b Mill Creek, WV, 25 Dec 1864; d Douglas, MI, 12 Sept 1926). American architect. He began his architectural training in 1878 in Chicago with the firm of Bauer & Hill and later joined the office of J. L. Silsbee (1845-1913), where he met George Elmslie and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1888 he went into private practice with Charles Corwin; the partnership broke up in 1893 when Maher began a year of travel and study in Europe. On his return, he established an independent practice in Chicago. His search for a modern, non-historic style led to the John Farson House in Oak Park, IL (1897). Its monumentality, formal symmetry, broad simple surfaces, rich materials and vaguely classical details are all hallmarks of Maher's personal style, to which he would return throughout his career. Except for the period 1904-8, when he responded to the Austrian and English movements, in particular the work of J. M. Olbrich and C. F. A. Voysey, Maher's work shows little internal development.
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