Brunner was known as much for his urban planning theories as for his buildings. After a public-school education he studied in Manchester, England, returning to work briefly in New York. He then entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1879. After several years of work in George Post's New York office, Brunner traveled abroad for a year in 1884. He returned to practice on his own, winning his first major competition in 1898 with his plans for Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC. His later projects included buildings for Barnard College, Denison University, and Columbia University as well as several major municipal structures in Cleveland Ohio. As a city planning adviser, he worked with Cleveland, Albany New York, and Baltimore MD. He donated much of his time to the Academy to prepare plans for the large municipal art center (never built) which occupied the NAD at the turn of the century. Brunner died of pneumonia.
