Louis J. Millet (1856-1923) was an educator, industrial art school founder, and interior designer in the United States. [1] He was a celebrated stained glass artist. [2] He worked on Louis Sullivan [2] and George W. Maher [3] [4] projects and went into business with portraitist George Healy at the interior design firm Healy & Millet offering services including interior decoration, floor tiling, and wood mantels. [5] Millet was nationally known for his decorative work, frescoes, and stained glass. [6]
Millet and Healy were friends who studied in Paris together during the 1870s and became business partners after moving to Chicago in 1879. [5]
Millet taught at the Art Institute of Chicago’s school from 1886 until 1918 and directed its department of decorative design. [6] He founded the Chicago School of Architecture in 1893, where multidisciplinary studies in industrial arts were offered with coursework at the Art Institute of Chicago and Armour Institute of Technology. Millet held academic posts at both institutions. [5] Millet was the school's dean. [7]
Millet patented a design for a prism light. [8]
Millet made a thistle window for the Patrick J. King House's great room [9] aa well as a similarly themed mosaic fireplace surround with thistle design.
From 1901 to 1903, Millet worked on perhaps his largest career commission at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi. Subcontracted to the Chicago contracting firm of W.A. and A.E. Wells (with headquarters in the Monadnock Building), Millet created a rich palette of stained and decorative glass windows, including the brilliantly colored opalescent windows in the Grand Staircase and the skylights for the chamber domes.
