176 architects to the nation
aia searched intently for another means to make the Chicago project
an exception to the prevailing practice of the Supervising Architect s
Office. With the Chicago project, Congress set a precedent. When
funds were appropriated for the building, a provision was made
directing the secretary of the treasury to establish a  Chicago
Department under the Supervising Architect s Office. The secretary
was also directed to hire a Chicago architect to prepare designs for
the building. While these directives may have warmed the hearts of
the members of the aia, the aia noted the limit on funds for drafts-
men and expert services and declared that the architect would receive
little else but glory.42 The view of the American Architect was more
positive. It felt that the arrangement formed  a precedent for future
Government work. The appointment of a Chicago architect would
guarantee a building:
constructed with full knowledge of our local materials, methods,
etc. . . . Also everyone hopes and expects that as an example of de-
sign it will do much toward putting the Government architecture
on a thoroughly artistic and satisfactory basis and be at the same
time a model to which the city and profession may point with
pride.43
With this precedent established, rumors began to fly through-
out Chicago that Henry Ives Cobb (1859 1931) would be selected ar-
chitect of this building (the building designed by Cobb is shown in
figure 6.1). A native of Massachusetts, Cobb was a prominent archi-
tect in Chicago and an intimate of Potter Palmer. He had been ar-
chitect of the Fisheries Building at the World s Columbian
Exposition, one of the few fair buildings other than Adler and
Sullivan s Transportation Building that was not designed in the
classical mode. He had also designed other buildings at the fair, in-
cluding the Indiana State Building, the Indian Building, the  Streets
of Cairo, and the Marine Cafe. With his firm of Cobb & Frost,
he was also architect of buildings at the University of Chicago,
the Newberry Library, and many other buildings throughout the
Midwest.44
In late 1895, Congressman James Franklin Aldrich of Illinois rein-
troduced the McKaig Bill. The Aldrich Bill, a virtual duplicate of the
McKaig Bill, made its way through the congressional system. By
the end of 1896, the House committee reported favorably on the bill.
The Senate had taken no action. The aia s efforts, through its