auntleroy." This appears to have been chiefly a criticism of late-Victorian European and American architecture that "took refuge in systematic plagiarism, caricatures and parodies of classical buildings which still spoil the appearance of our cities." Sullivan's autobiography is explicit in its criticism:
We have Tudor for colleges and residences; Roman for banks, and railway stations and libraries,-- or Greek if you like--some customers prefer the Ionic to the Doric. We have French, English and Gothic, Classic and Renaissance for churches. In fact we are prepared to satisfy, in any manner of taste. Residences we offer in Italian or Louis Quinze. We make a small charge for alterations and adaptations. . . . Our importations are direct. We have our own agents abroad.
Despite Sullivan's advocacy for American style and method and despite his undoubted influence on a distinctively American architecture--he was Frank Lloyd Wright's mentor--there is compelling evidence that his work demonstrates European influence. For one thing, Sullivan briefly studied architecture in Paris (1874) at Ecole des Beaux Arts, then traveled to Rome and Florence before returning to the U.S. in 1876. Bush-Brown contends that "his later work amply indicates that his French education taught him composition." Over the next fifteen years, Sullivan's design style evolved within a fairly classical tradition, away from although not entirely divorcing itself from excessively ornate decoration, and taking into acco
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