D.

Coder Taylor (1913­2000)

Dates of Interview:

June 4, 5, 6, 1985

Location of Interview:
Taylor's home in Glenview, Illinois

Interviewer:
Betty J. Blum

Length of Transcript:
165 pages
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Biographical Summary
D. Coder Taylor was born in 1913 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He studied architecture at the Washington University in St.
Louis and, later, at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, where he received his degree in architecture in
1935. He began his career with his uncle, R. Harold Zook, who had a flourishing residential practice in the Chicago
suburbs. Taylor left to serve in the military and returned to Chicago to join Holsman, Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor,
where he worked until he founded the firm Yost & Taylor with L. Morgan Yost in 1952. In 1960, Taylor organized
Coder Taylor & Associates. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1969.
He died in Evanston, Illinois, in 2000.

Interview Highlights
Taylor speaks about his education and training at Carnegie; the Century of Progress International Exhibition, 1933-34;
Taylor's first job with Harold Zook; competitions; Holsman, Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor; mutual ownership;
community development trusts; collaborating with Mies van der Rohe; bankruptcy and resignation from Holsman,
Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor; partnership with L. Morgan Yost.

Perspective view of the DuPage County Courthouse, DuPage, Illinois, 1937.

R. Harold Zook, architect; rendered by D. Coder Taylor. Department of Architecture, The Art Institute of Chicago.