They All Fall Down Richard Nickel's Struggle to Save America's Architecture

"Richard Nickel, whom I had the delight of knowing during his all too brief life, is one of the unsung heroes of Chicago architecture. He was not an architect himself, nor a designer. He simply took pictures, but what pictures! He was, for want of a better description, one of the most sensitive of architectural photographers. More than that, his life-and ironically, tragically and poetically, his death-were fused to Chicago architecture. How he died tells us how he lived: for the beauty in the works of Sullivan, Wright and the others. His story is one that must be told." -Studs Terkel, author "He was completely understanding of architecture and genius and of the quality of the work he was dealing with. He was single-minded in his pursuit and dedication to quality in history, art and architecture. That is an increasingly rare quality." -Ada Louise Huxtable, former New York Times architecture critic "Richard was an excellent photographer-sensitive and intelligent, and a very good craftsman". -John Szarkowski, former Director, Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York "Richard Nickel was one of those who saw architecture, and who passionately and skillfully pursued its portrayal. He was one of a very small number, and to make his work known would be a fundamental service to architects, students, and teachers as well as to the art of architecture." -Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., architectural historian

Richard Cahan spent years researching Richard Nickel’s photographs, documents, and letters, interviewing Nickel’s family and friends, and visiting the Louis Sullivan buildings that so attracted the photographer. Cahan graduated from the University of Illinois. He worked as a reporter and editor for several weekly and daily newspapers and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines. In 1981 he wrote the book Landmark Neighborhoods of Chicago. He presently is the picture editor for the Chicago Sun-Times. He lives in Skokie, Illinois, with his wife, Catherine, and children, Elie, Claire, and Aaron.