Anker S. Graven was born in 1891 in Menomonie, Wisconsin, the son of Scandinavian immigrant parents. Graven earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from the University of Illinois in 1917, apparently worked for an architect in Cleveland for several years, and then set up his own firm in Chicago in 1925. He specialized in motion picture theaters and among his most prominent commissions were the Fisher Theater in Detroit; the Minnesota Theater in Minneapolis; and, the Keith-Albee Palace Theater, Rochester, New York. In later years his firm was known as Graven & Magyer. The building at 1300-06 South Michigan Avenue is the only structure by the architect identified by the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, the City of Chicago’s comprehensive survey of potential landmark structures built before 1945. Other buildings by Graven in Chicago include the seven-story Starck Piano Company Building, 234 South Wabash Avenue, of 1927, and the 25 story Lawyers Building, 100 North LaSalle Street, built in 1929.