Daniel Burnham

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Daniel Burnham
 September 4, 1846
Born
Henderson, New York, United States
June 1, 1912 (aged 65)
Died
Heidelberg, Germany
Nationality American
Practice Burnham and Root
Reliance Building, Flatiron Building,
Buildings
Union Station (Washington, D.C.)
Plan of Chicago, World's Columbian
Projects
Exposition

Court of Honor and Grand Basin — World's Columbian Exposition

Burnham's plan for central Chicago

Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect
and urban designer. He was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in
Chicago.

Burnham took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of
cities, including Chicago, Manila and downtown Washington, D.C. He also designed several
famous buildings, including the Flatiron Building of triangular shape in New York City, Union
Station in Washington D.C., the Continental Trust Company Building tower skyscraper in
Baltimore (now One South Calvert Building), and a number of notable skyscrapers in Chicago.
Contents
 1 Biography
o 1.1 World's Columbian Exposition
o 1.2 City planning and "The Plan of Chicago"
o 1.3 Influence
o 1.4 Memorials
 2 Notable commissions
o 2.1 Philippines
o 2.2 Chicago
o 2.3 Detroit
o 2.4 Pittsburgh
o 2.5 Washington, D.C.
o 2.6 Cincinnati
o 2.7 Others
 3 In popular culture
 4 References
 5 External links

Biography
Burnham was born in Henderson, New York and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His parents brought
him up under the teachings of the Swedenborgian Church of New Jerusalem,[1] which ingrained
in him the strong belief that man should strive to be of service to others.[2] After failing
admissions tests for both Harvard and Yale, and an unsuccessful stint at politics, Burnham
apprenticed as a draftsman under William LeBaron Jenney. At age 26, Burnham moved on to the
Chicago offices of Carter, Drake, and Wight, where he met future business partner John
Wellborn Root (1850–1891).

Masonic Temple Building in Chicago

Burnham and Root were the architects of one of the first American skyscrapers: the Masonic
Temple Building[3] in Chicago. Measuring 21 stories and 302 feet, the temple held claims as the
tallest building of its time, but was torn down in 1939. Under the design influence of Root, the
firm had produced modern buildings as part of the Chicago School. Following Root’s premature
death from pneumonia in 1891, the firm became known as D.H. Burnham & Company.

World's Columbian Exposition

Burnham and Root had accepted responsibility to oversee design and construction of the World's
Columbian Exposition in Chicago’s then-desolate Jackson Park on the south lakefront. The
largest world's fair to that date (1893), it celebrated the 400-year anniversary of Christopher
Columbus' famous voyage. After Root's sudden and unexpected death, a team of distinguished
American architects and landscape architects, including Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted,
Charles McKim and Louis Sullivan, radically changed Root's modern and colorful style to a
Classical Revival style. Under Burnham's direction, the construction of the Fair overcame huge
financial and logistical hurdles, including a worldwide financial panic and an extremely tight
timeframe, to open on time.

Considered the first example of a comprehensive planning document in the nation, the fairground
was complete with grand boulevards, classical building facades, and lush gardens. Often called
the "White City", it popularized neoclassical architecture in a monumental and rational Beaux-
Arts plan. The remaining population of architects in the U.S. were soon asked by clients to
incorporate similar elements into their designs.

City planning and "The Plan of Chicago"

Main article: Burnham Plan

Initiated in 1906 and published in 1909, Burnham and his co-author Edward H. Bennett prepared
"The Plan of Chicago", which laid out plans for the future of the city. It was the first
comprehensive plan for the controlled growth of an American city, and an outgrowth of the City
Beautiful movement. The plan included ambitious proposals for the lakefront and river and
declared that every citizen should be within walking distance of a park. Sponsored by the
Commercial Club of Chicago,[4] Burnham donated his services in hopes of furthering his own
cause.

Plans and conceptual designs of the south lakefront[5] from the Exposition came in handy, as he
envisioned Chicago being a "Paris on the Prairie". French-inspired public works constructions,
fountains, and boulevards radiating from a central, domed municipal palace became Chicago's
new backdrop. Though only parts of the plan were actually implemented, it set the standard for
urban design, anticipating future need to control unexpected urban growth, and continued to
influence the development of Chicago long after Burnham's death.

City planning projects did not stop at Chicago though. Burnham contributed to plans for cities
such as Cleveland (the Group Plan), San Francisco, and Manila and Baguio in the Philippines,
details of which appear in "The Chicago Plan" publication of 1909. His plans for the redesign of
San Francisco were delivered to City Hall on April 17, 1906, the day before the 1906 earthquake.
In the haste to rebuild the city, the plans were ultimately ignored. The Plan for Manila never
fully materialized, except for a shore road, which became Dewey boulevard, now known as
Roxas boulevard and various neo-classical government buildings around Luneta Park, which
very much resembles a mini version of Washington D.C.

In Washington, D.C., Burnham did much to shape the 1901 McMillan Plan, which led to the
completion of the overall design of the National Mall. The Senate Park Commission, or
McMillan Commission, established by Michigan Senator James McMillan, brought together
Burnham and three of his colleagues from the World's Columbian Exposition—architect Charles
Follen McKim, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and sculptor Augustus Saint-
Gaudens. Going well beyond Pierre L'Enfant's original vision for the city, the plan provided for
the extension of the Mall beyond the Washington Monument to a new Lincoln Memorial and a
"pantheon" that eventually materialized as the Jefferson Memorial. This plan involved significant
reclamation of land from swamp and the Potomac River, and the relocation of an existing
railroad station on the site, which was replaced by Burnham's own design for Union Station.[6]
As a result of his service on the McMillan Commission, in 1910 Burnham was appointed a
member and the first chairman of the United States Commission of Fine Arts, helping to assure
the implementation of the McMillann Plan's vision. Burnham served on the commission until his
death in 1912.[7]

Influence

Much of his work was based on the classical style of Greece and Rome. In his 1924
autobiography, Louis Sullivan, one of the leading architects from the Chicago School but one
who had enjoyed difficult relations with Burnham over an extended period, criticised Burnham
for what Sullivan viewed as his lack of original expression and dependence on Classicism.[8]
Sullivan went on to claim that "the damage wrought by the World's Fair will last for half a
century from its date, if not longer"[9]—a sentiment edged with bitterness, as corporate America
of the early 20th century had demonstrated a strong preference for Burnham's architectural style
over Sullivan's.

Burnham and Bennett's plan for San Francisco

Burnham is famously quoted as saying, "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's
blood and probably will not themselves be realized." This slogan has been taken to capture the
essence of Burnham's spirit.[10][11]

A man of influence, Burnham was considered the preeminent architect in America at the start of
the 20th century. He held many positions during his lifetime, including the presidency of the
American Institute of Architects.[12] Other notable architects began their careers under his aegis,
such as Joseph W. McCarthy. In 1912, when he died in Heidelberg, Germany, D.H. Burnham
and Co. was the world's largest architectural firm. Even legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright,
although strongly critical of Burnham's Beaux Arts European influences still admired him as a
man, eulogized: "(Burnham) made masterful use of the methods and men of his time... (as) an
enthusiastic promoter of great construction enterprises... his powerful personality was supreme."
His firm continues its work today under the name Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, which it
adopted in 1917.

Memorials

Tributes to Burnham include Burnham Park and Daniel Burnham Court in Chicago, Burnham
Park in Baguio City in the Philippines, Daniel Burnham Court in San Francisco (formerly
Hemlock Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street), the annual Daniel Burnham
Award for a Comprehensive Plan (run by the American Planning Association),[13] and the
Burnham Memorial Competition held in 2009 to create a memorial to Burnham and his Plan of
Chicago.[14] Collections of Burnham's personal and professional papers, photographs, and other
archival materials are held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Notable commissions
Philippines

Burnham's Plan for Manila

 Manila
 Baguio
  Provincial Capitol Building in Bacolod, Negros Occidental

Chicago

 Union Stock Yard Gate

 Kent House
 Rookery Building
 Monadnock Building (northern half)
 Reliance Building
 Fisher Building
 Heyworth Building
 Marshall Field and Company Building
 Union Station
 Boyce Building, on the National Register of Historic Places[15][16]

Detroit

 Dime Building
 Ford Building
 Majestic Building

Pittsburgh

 Union Trust Building 1898 (337 Fourth Avenue - Not the 1917 structure of the same
name on Grant Street)
 Pennsylvania Union Station 1900-1902
 Frick Building 1902
 McCreery Department Store (now offices - 300 Sixth Avenue Building) 1904
 Highland Building 1910 (121 South Highland Avenue)
 Henry W. Oliver Building 1910

Washington, D.C.

 Union Station
 Postal Square Building
 Columbus Fountain
Fayette Building
Uniontown, Pennsylvania

Cincinnati

 Fourth & Walnut Center

 Union Savings/Bartlett Building [17]
 Tri-State Building [18]
 Fourth National Bank Building[19]

Others

 Flatiron Building, New York City

 Citizens Bank Financial Center, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

 Wyandotte Building, Columbus, Ohio

 Columbus Union Station of 1897
 Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library, Kenosha, Wisconsin.
 Ellicott Square Building, Buffalo, New York
 Pennsylvania Railroad Station, Richmond, Indiana
 Cleveland Mall with Arnold Brunner and John Carrère, (1903)
 Union Station, El Paso, Texas
 First National Bank Building (now Fayette Building), Uniontown, Pennsylvania, (1902)
 John Wanamaker department store (now Macy's), Philadelphia
 John Wanamaker department store, New York City
 Selfridge & Co. Department Store, Oxford Street, London
 Gimbels Department Store 1910, New York City
 Filene's Department Store 1912, Boston
 Terminal Arcade, Terre Haute, Indiana
 First National Bank Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 Duluth Civic Center Historic District, Duluth, Minnesota
  Merchants Exchange Building (San Francisco)
 Pearsons Hall of Science, Beloit, Wisconsin
 Miners National Bank Building - now Citizens Bank Building, Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania
 Land Title Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 El Granada, CA
 The Fleming Building, Des Moines, Iowa
 Starks Building, Louisville, Kentucky, (1912)
 100" Telescope, Mount Wilson Observatory, California, (1917)
 Continental Trust Company Building, Baltimore, Maryland, (1901), southeast corner
South Calvert and East Baltimore Streets, damaged during Great Baltimore Fire of Feb.
1904, but inspected and steel structure with masonry exterior found sound and later
interior reconstructed.

In popular culture
 Make No Little Plans - Daniel Burnham and the American City[20] is the first feature
length documentary film about noted architect and urban planner Daniel Hudson
Burnham, produced by the Archimedia Workshop. National distribution in 2009
coincided with the centennial celebration of Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's 1909
Plan of Chicago.
 The Devil in the White City, a non-fiction book by Erik Larson, intertwines the true tale
of two men: H.H. Holmes, a serial killer famed for his 'murderous hotel' in Chicago, and
Daniel Burnham.
 In the role-playing game Unknown Armies, James K. McGowan, the True King of
Chicago, quotes Daniel Burnham and regards him as a paragon of the Windy City's
mysterious and magical past.
 In the episode "Legendaddy" of TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother, the character Ted,
who is professor of architecture, describes Burnham as an "architectural chameleon."
 Burnham is memorialized with the mixed use project in San Francisco, One Daniel
Burnham Court.

References
Notes

1. The New Church, a Swedenborgian Faith

2. Carl Smith, The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American
City, p. 56
3. "Masonic Temple, Chicago". Old Chicago in Vintage Postcards. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
4. "The Commercial Club of Chicago: Purpose & History". Retrieved 2008-06-04.
5. American Memory Digital Item Display - 2007660861
6. Movie: "Make No Little Plans"
7. Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine
Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 541.
 8. Sullivan, Louis, The Autobiography of an Idea, Press of the American Institute of
Architects, Inc, 1924 p. 320-21
9. Sullivan, Louis, The Autobiography of an Idea, Press of the American Institute of
Architects, Inc, 1924 p. 325
10. Abbot, Willis J. "How Chicago Is Making Its Vision of Civic Splendor a Reality Is Told
by Man Who Led in Project That Proves Economic Value of 'Mere Beauty' : Story of
Commercial City's Education in Aesthetics Recited by Charles H. Wacker : Chicago Plan
Commission's Former Head Shows How Transformation Has Been Wrought - Ideal
Improvements, Once Pictured, Became Visible Goals of Community Endeavo - Were
Even Taught In Schools." Christian Science Monitor, 18 January 1927; page 8.
11. Moore, Charles. "Daniel H. Burnham, Architect, Planner of Cities." Boston, Houghton
Mifflin, 1921; Volume 2; Chapter XXV "Closing in 1911-1912;" Page 1921.
12. "AIA Presidents". American Institute of Architects. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
13. "National Planning Awards". American Planning Association. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
14. "Design Competition and Exhibit". Chicago chapter of the American Institute of
Architects. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
15. "Illinois - Cook County". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
16. Randall, Frank Alfred; John D. Randall. History of the Development of Building
Construction in Chicago. Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
p. 286. ISBN 0-252-02416-8. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
17. http://cincinnatihistorichomes.com/architectural-treasures-of-the-queen-city-part-ii/
18. http://cincinnatihistorichomes.com/architectural-treasures-of-the-queen-city-part-ii/
19. http://cincinnatihistorichomes.com/architectural-treasures-of-the-queen-city-part-ii/
20. "Daniel Burnham Film". The Archimedia Workshop. Retrieved 2009-04-06.

Bibliography

 Moore, Charles (1921). "XXV "Closing in 1911–1912"". Daniel H. Burnham, Architect,

Planner of Cities, Volume 2. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin. p. 1921.
 Larson, Erik (February 2003). The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness
at the Fair that Changed America. New York, New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-
609-60844-4.
 Stolze, Greg (February 2002). Unknown Armies. St Paul, MN: Atlas Games. ISBN 1-
58978-013-2.
 Burnham, Daniel H., and Edward H. Bennett, Plan of Chicago, the Commercial Club,
Chicago MCMIX
 "Daniel Burnham". Chicago Landmarks. Retrieved September 21, 2004.
 "Daniel Hudson Burnham". Chicago Stories. Archived from the original on August 21,
2004. Retrieved September 24, 2004.
 Jameson, D. "Daniel Hudson Burnham". Artists Represented. Retrieved December 14,
2005.
 "Today In History: September 4". American Memory. The Library of Congress. Retrieved
September 24, 2004.

External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Burnham.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Daniel Burnham

 Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at The Art Institute of Chicago

 Burnham, Beaux-Arts, Plan of Chicago, & Fairs
 Daniel Burnham at DMOZ
 Booknotes interview with Erik Larson on The Devil in the White City, September 14,
2003.

 WorldCat
 VIAF: 73928913
 LCCN: n81090343
 ISNI: 0000 0000 8153 7707
Authority  GND: 121067696
control  SUDOC: 08684508X
 BNF: cb123579632 (data)
 ULAN: 500019474
 RKD: 247496

Categories:

 American architects
 Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
 American urban planners
 Artists from Chicago, Illinois
 People from Henderson, New York
 American expatriates in the Philippines
 American Swedenborgians
 Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago)
 1846 births
 1912 deaths
 Western Association of Architects
 World's Columbian Exposition
 Presidents of the American Institute of Architects