Dankmar Adler demonstrates his mastery of acoustics…

Dankmar Adler demonstrates his mastery of acoustics in his plans for Chicago's Central Music Hall, completed in 1879.

Adler's mother died when he was born; he had come to the United States in 1854 with his father Liebman, a liberal rabbi.

Adler had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, thereafter practicing as an architect in Chicago, from 1866 onward, working first with Augustus Bauer and next with Ozias S. Kinney.

Adler had formed a partnership with Edward Burling in 1871; they had created more than one hundred buildings together before ending the partnership in 1879.