Gus Webb Character Analysis in The Fountainhead

Toohey picks Gus Webb to work with a group of established architects to remodel the Stoddard Temple into a “home for subnormal children.” Toohey appreciates Webb’s crass honesty, and slowly shifts from championing Keating for architectural commissions to praising Webb’s modern aesthetic. Webb, like Lois Cook, is aware that Toohey picks him for his mediocrity and he has made his peace with that. He does not deceive himself like Keating does.

Gus Webb Character Timeline in The Fountainhead

The timeline below shows where the character Gus Webb appears in The Fountainhead. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...group of architects that Toohey chose: Keating, Gordon L. Prescott, John Erik Snyte, and Gus Webb. They use a mishmash of traditional styles to build it. The A.G.A. realizes that Toohey... (full context)

...and makes him wait until he finishes. Then, he makes a phone call to Gus Webb. When Toohey finally turns to Keating, he gives him the check Wynand had given him... (full context)

...best example of this style is a building designed for a brush company by Gus Webb. Keating is hurt that Toohey picked Gus Webb as an example when Keating, too, has... (full context)

...patient. They say there’s a “We Don’t Read Wynand” movement, which is run by Gus Webb, and is raising public sentiment against Wynand. Homer Slottern says he and some fellow advertisers... (full context)

...to recover quickly from that failure, while Keating’s reputation had not. Nowadays, Toohey praises Gus Webb’s modern architecture in his columns, and Keating is considered old-fashioned. The A.G.A. is considered an... (full context)

...change that is coming is too vicious for him to confront. He knows that Gus Webb and Gordon L. Prescott are such poor architects that it is hard for even Keating... (full context)

...why Toohey no longer wants to associate himself with him and instead only praises Gus Webb. (full context)

...field from men who would become irreplaceable” and to clear the way for the “Gus Webbs of the world.” He explains that this is why he’d fought so hard against Howard... (full context)

...most efficient exhibit of planning ingenuity and structural economy.” He’d tried Gordon Prescott and Gus Webb for the job, but they couldn’t do it. He says Keating is all about “plush,... (full context)

...about the Cortlandt Homes, citing Keating as the architect and Gordon L. Prescott and Gus Webb as associate designers. He goes to the construction site and sees that the first building... (full context)

...Keating thinks that “Nobody [is] responsible. There [is] no purpose and no cause.” Toohey added Webb and Prescott as associate designers just to give them some position in the project, and... (full context)

...of doing it [himself].” When the prosecutor asks Keating why he objected to Prescott’s and Webb’s ideas, Keating says he was afraid of Roark. (full context)