# Dankmar Adler — The Autobiography of an Idea character guide

> Dankmar Adler in The Autobiography of an Idea by Louis H. Sullivan.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Adler

**First appearance:** 0011-xi-chicago

## Snapshot

The engineer-partner who will anchor Sullivan's practice, standing for the hard-headed, calculating side of a life the young man suspects is only another kind of dream.

## Who they are

Adler enters Sullivan's orbit as the practical counterweight to his own soaring imagination — the world of Intellect pinned to 'a reed shaken by the wind,' set against the primordial, procreant power of Instinct that Sullivan believes sleeps and dreams beneath all our shrewdness. Around the same time Louis is discovering music at Patrick Gilmore's Jubilee, the single trained voice, the Anvil Chorus, a new consciousness of beauty. Adler represents the solid, organizing force that will let Sullivan build.

## In the story

### [XIII: The Garden City](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_autobiography_of_an_idea_se/chapters/xiii-the-garden-city)

Adler is presented as a strong, intelligent, and welcoming figure, though Louis does not immediately see him as part of his future.

### [Retrospect](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_autobiography_of_an_idea_se/chapters/xv-retrospect)

Mentioned as Adler did not care much for travel, leaving Louis to travel extensively for the firm.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_autobiography_of_an_idea_se/characters/dankmar_adler
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_autobiography_of_an_idea_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_autobiography_of_an_idea_se/characters