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THE ARCHITECTURE OF JOHN WELLBORN ROOT
AND DANIEL HUDSON BURNHAM
JORGE L. CURRAIS
MARCH 14, 1975
AE- 682 AM. HISTORY
MR. PHILLIP WIESLY
Slide Numbers INTRODUCTION
This paper is intended as a brief review of the
work of Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root,
architects of ChicaPo from 1870 to 1912. In order to
1 understand the designs of both of these men, it is
essential that we first take a quick look at their
early lives and training.
John Wellborn Root was born in the town of
Lumpkin, Georgia on January 10, 1850. He was the first
child of Sidney and Mary Root. From the start, he
loved music and drawing; and he was fortunate in
having thp talent for both. At the outbreak of the
Civil War, Root was taken to England by his father's
business partner. During his high school years in
England, J. W. Root's talents flourished He became
an excellent pianist and organist; but his love of
art and drawing won over music.
In June of 1866, he passed the entrance ex-
aminations for Oxford University, but he never enrolled.
Instead, he returned to the United States and enrolled
Slide Numbers
in the University of the City of New York. He
graduated third in his class, with a Bachelor of
Science and Civil Engineering in 1869. During that
same year, he entered the firm of Renwick and Sands
as an unpaid apprentice, but he found little satis-
faction or anything of positive value during his short
stay. In 1870 he worked in the office of J. B. Snook.
At the age of twenty, he became Snook's superintendent
of construction.
Daniel Hudson Burnham was born on September 4,
1846 in Henderson, New York; the sixth of seven'children
of Edwin and Harriet Burnham. His family moved to
Chicago in 1855, where his father opened a wholesale
drue business with William Sears. Daniel was a Door
student in high school and his only talent was in art.
He RraduatPd in 1865. In 1867, he failed both the Yale
and Harvard entrance examinations. He never had any
college training or degree. In 1868, He entered the
firm of Loring and Jenney, but stayed on for only a
few months. He then went on to Nevada in search of gold.
That same year he unsuccessfully ran for the State
Legislature. He returned to Chicago in 1870 and tried
to become a druggist and later, a plate glass sales-
man.
CHICAGO IN THE 1870's
A little background information on what was
happening in Chicapo at this time. The city had seen
Slide Numbers
an incredible growth in twenty years. Businesses of
all kinds were booming.
The architecture of the 1870's was not very im-
pressive. The entire city was composed of three of
four story buildings for commercial use and two story
buildings for residential areas. The construction of
90% of the buildings was wood, and even the very few
buildings that had brick outer shells had wood struc-
tural members.
It was mainly due to this Preat amount of wood
construction in such a confined area, that the Chicago
Fire of 1870 devastated the entire city. The fire raged
for two entire days. Immediately after the fire, temp-
orary wood frame buildings were erected and Chicagoans
started out in the hard task of re-building the city.
Only three buildings of any worth existed in Chicago
before 1870 St. James Church, Eames Residence, by
Richard Upjohn was lost in the fire, and the marshall
Field Residence by Richard M. Hunt.
It was due to this calamity that Chicago was re-
born. From the ashes came an entirely new and expressive
form of architecture. The high cost of lani, the inven-
tion of the elevator, the steel frame, and the fire-
proofing of buildings were all elements that combined
in the creation of the hi-h-rise office building. The
calamity was also responsible for challenging a great
number of architects from all Darts of the nation to
come and rebuild Chicago. Amongst these men was John
Wellborn Root.
Slide Numbers THE FIRST MEETING and THEORIES ON ARCHITECTURE
In 1872, P. B. Wight of Carter, Drake and Wight,
extended an invitation to Root to come to Chicago. He
came and joined the firm as head draftsman. The job
was not very demanding, but tie experience was in-
valuable.
It was a few days after Root entered the firm,
that D. H. Burnham became a draftsman for them. From
the first meeting they were friends and soon the pot-
ential of the combination Root's design qualities
and Burnham's persuasive powers and organization -
was apparent to both. On the nineteenth of September,
1873 the partnership of Burnham and Root was formed.
It was later in that same year that the financial crisis
known as the Danic of 1873 occurred.
During these hard, early years, both Burnham
and Root had part-time jobs in other architectural
firms. In addition, Root played the organ for the First
Presbyterian Church. Their first commission was the
F. A. Riddle House on Ashland Avenue, but it led to
very little in terms of success and new commissions.
In fact, after four years of practice,the net profit
of the firm was only two thousand dollars. During these
years, both partners were very interested in archi-
tectural history and spent much of their time in studying
and discussing the "styles". Root always leaned to-
wards the romantic styles, while Burnham liked classical
architecture. Root was especially impressed with H. H.
Slide Numbers
Richardson's Marshall Field Warehouse and Richardsonian
Romanticism in general. But Root was never a "style"
follower, as can be seen by some of his ideas on archi-
tecture:
"Periods and styles are all well enough,
but you may be sure that whenever in the
world there was a period or style of archi-
tecture worth preserving, its inner spirit
was so closely fitted to the age wherein
it flourished, that the style could not be
fully preserved, either by people who immed-
iately succeeded it, or by us after many years.
On the same buoject of styles:
"A style has never been made by copying
with the loving care of a ary-as-dust some
proceeding style. Styles grow by the care-
iul study of all conditions which lie about
each architectural problem, and thus while
each will have its distinct differentiation
from all others, Droad influences of climate,
of national habits and institutions will in
time create the type and this 1i Lne only
styie worth considering. Une can never succeed
in erecting tor our complex purposes a house
which is a perfect specimen of a given style,
unless Lne client is willing to undergo
some physical discomfort Lo further this end,"
When asked if he ever found any details or designs in
books, Root answered in this fashion:
"Nothing found in a book will add a feather's
weight to a really good design if iu be
bodily transferred, or indeed transferred
with anything of literal translation." 3
Root loved to design ouildinzs of beauty, He knew when
to ornament a building and when to let a plain wall
remain:
"In a drawing every plain surface or mould-
Slide Numbers
ing seeris much less interest than when
built or cut. Nature steps in here, and
nature's uecoratiuns of sunshine and shadow,
her warm glow of ever beautiful colors,
varied and enriched by rain and wind, are
always lovely, while our decorations often
fall short oi loveliness... If, however, the
mind is surcharged with brilliant inspirations,
consistent, truthful, poetic, free rein may
be given to it. Loss of siiiplicity does not
follow when a design is enriched; it follows
only when the u;esgn is falsely enriched."*
Burnham was an administrative genius. He created
opportunities for ine designer, he got the jobs, and
handled the clients. He was in charge of handling the
office workers he hired and fire them, Burnham
negotiated with the contractors and supervised the jobs.
But more important, he was the arriving force behind
Root. Root haa little ambition, while Burnham wanted
their irrm to be the leader in the profession. He had
the initiative, the enthusiasm, and the strength of will.
In the designing aspects, Burnham was the stimulus
and check of Root's design. Many times Root needed a
"hint" before he could design and almost always burnnam
supplied it. He was very skillful in laying out buildings.
He would design three or four floor plans and ground
plans. Then both partners would go over them and decide
which was nest. Burnham was also an excellent critic,
and Root took him seriously enough to change many of
his design elements due to his comments.
On all the buildings of Burnham ana Root, the
latter was the designer; but burnnam played an impor-
tant part in uhe designing of many buildings including:
The Monadnock, Tre Insurance Exchange, The Woman's
Temple, Tre Muntezuma Hotel, and St. Gabriel's Churcn.
Slide Numbers All of the residences were designed by Root. The
external form's of their coiiiercial structures reflect
Root's idea of the demand of sunc a structure:
"In Chicagu, all conditions climatic,
atmospheric, commercial, and social; de-
mand for the external aspect of a building,
the simplest and most straight-forward
expression." 5
It was the creation of these high-rise commercial
structures that made Burnham and Root famous. Three
times in their history they designed the highest struc-
ture in the world. Alung with builaings by Adler and
Sullivan, and H. H. Richardson, they imde the birth of
a new architecture iree from the trammels of precedent.
3 THE 1870's
Tne only important commission the firm received
at this time was the John Sherman Resiuence. Built on
a lot with a seventy-five foot front, at the corner of
21st street and Prairie Avenue, this residence was re-
garded by Louis Sullivan as one of the best designed
houses in Chicago, possessing : "A certain allure or
style indicating personality,"'b It shows, in an earlier
form, the entrance porch which became an important ele-
ment in later designs. This porch is essential to the
Chicago dwelling, as it protects in-comers from the
inclement weather. The high pitch of the roof was un-
ique for a residence of that time. The colors of the
materials used in the construction of the house were,
due to the influence of Ruskin's observations; that
color in nature existed independently of form.
Slide Numbers
He used a variety of hues from warm to cold red brick,
huff bandstont, dark olue granite, and black slate,
alone with red and buff terra-cotta chimney tops.
In plan, the house has some minor flaws: the
hallway that leads to the dining room is too long, the
rooms are too compartmented, and the stairs are on a
minor and delayed, if not hidden, axis. Still, one good
thing came out of this commission and that was D. H.
Burnhan's marriage to sherian's daughter. The house
also gave the firm recognition and new commissions.
During the lo70's Burnham and Root played no
role in commercial architecture. In fact, architects
in Chicago found little direction until uhe end of this
decade. With the arrival of W. L. B. Jenney's Leiter
Building in 1879, a new rationalism arrived. An emphasis
on structure ana straight-firwaru design emerged, lacrgte
influenced by tne stuuy ou mediaeval, Rotnic arcrlltecttre
and the works of Viollet le Duc.
A BEGINNING 1880-1885
Two important clients enter the scene and the
lives of Burnham and Root Owen Aldis and William E.
Hale. In later years, Louis Sullivan was to say that
Aldis and Hale were responsible for the creation of
the modern office building. In 1880, it was Owen Aldis,
a young lawyer, who brought the firm the commission
for the Grannis Block. He was hired by the owner, Peter
Brooks.
The Grannis Building was a six story structure
Slide Numbers
5
with most of the qualities of the new, rational ar-
chitecture.Based on a "Piano Mobile" arrangement, the
building had two stories of prime commercial space, a
high banking story above a row of store fronts. With
the advanced portion of the central bay, Root broke
the flow of the piers and spandrels. The ornamentation
and the colonnettes point to Root's acquaintance with
the teachings of Viollet le Duc. The color all
red brick matched exactly with red terra-cotta was
used because its the least injured by the accretions
of smoke. The materials were far superior in fire re-
sistance than most stone. But fire claimed the building,
and alonp with it most of the firms Plans and documents
since their office was in the Grannis Block. The columns,
which had been fireproofed with two and a half inches
terra-cotta, were the only ones that survived. All other
members were not fireproofed. The cause of the fire was
excessive friction of the elevator counterweighs against
the wooden guides.
Another important commission came in 18882. The
Sidney Kent Residence. It was more "French Renaissance"
in feelinR than any other work by Root. It had a delicate
Proportion and facades with bas-relief ornaments in
terra-cotta. Even though the firm was getting larger
commissions, Root would not delegate any residence
designing to the office staff. These clients are what
he considered ideal due to "a large openness and unbiased
attitude of mind".1
Slide Numbers The Art Institute of Chicago was also built in
1882. In this design, the influence of "Richardsonian
Romanesque" is fully evident. Built on a moderate size
6
lot with an eighty foot front on Michigan Avenue, the
HE-P for rental space and galleries forced Root to go to a
four story building. The exterior facade has three
horizontal divisions lower story with entrance, two
stories above it with three groups of windows each,
surmounted by round arches, and final" with a high
gable in front and four dormers on the north facade.
The materials used, hewn brown stone and red sandstone,
added to the romanesque spirit. Root added the tourettes
at the corners for solidity and a lasting feeling.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SKYSCRAPER
In 1882, Peter Brooks again approached Burnham
and Root for a commercial structure. The result of this
venture was the Montauk Block the first building to
be called a skyscraper. It was a ten story building
with a front of ninety feet and a depth of only seventy
feet. The plan was probably cramped. When the building
was completed, Root realized that the walls seemed to
"come out" at the top due to the height. So in all his
tall building designs afterwards, he receded the walls
slightly as the structure went up. The two elevations
were of red brick, but Root varied the lintels with
bits of terra-cotta and let the sills take command of
the walls. In fact, the sills are so close to the win-
dow lintels that ohe has no idea where the floor levels
might be. The front elevation was composed of eight
Slide Numbers
8
bays in which three of them advanced, displacing the
portal from the center. Root was unhappy with the design
of the facade, but was cramped by the lot.
More important than the design, however, were
the structural innovations in the building. First, all
structural members were fireproofed by sheathing them
with hollow tile. This use of tile, instead of brick
or concrete for fire resistance, reduced the dead weight
from seventy pounds per square foot to thirty pounds
per square foot. In Chicago, due to the marshland terrain,
the loads were crucial. It was this marshland terrain
that forced Root into using the second and more impor-
tant structural innovation. Previous to and including
the Montauk Building, foundations were created by using
isolated piers of large cut stones piled into a pryamid.
In large buildings the footings were so large, that
they would protrude into the basement. The piers could
not be set lower than than twelve or fifteen feet be-
low the ground, because below that point,the soil is a
soft blue clay not suited to carry loads. In one part
of the Montauk Block, the load was so great that the
stone pyramid might have reached the first story. For
this pier, Root conceived a special footing of criss-
crossed steel rails surrounded with cement. The footing
was shallower and lighter than the stone pyramids and
took less time to construct. In 188# then the Insurance
Exchange was constructed, Root went back to the old
foundation type and found that it severely obstructed
the basement again. From then on the steel rail and con-
crete footings were used in all their large buildings.
Slide Numbers THE OFFICE BUILDINGS OF BURNHAM and ROOT
The Insurance Exchange Building 1884
9 A ten story structure, composed of five archi-
tectural divisions the lowest of gray stone and all
others in red brick with temperate use of ornament
in carved and moulded brick and terra-cotta. It was
built on a lot of one hundred and sixty-five feet by
sixty feet. The main facade has a large entrance arch
flanked by round tourettes which begin with the top of
the arch. These tourettes echoe the ones found at the
front corners of the building, which empasize the sky-
line. The building has a strong, horizontal accentua-
tion, dignity and repose. Another emphasis occurs on
the central arch above the balcony at the fifth story.
Root chooses to break the march of window lintels by
displacing three of them to the story above. It is the
design refinement of Root, in his commercial buildings,
which made them great architecture. In plan, Root made
use of an external light court at the west facade and
an oriel stair tower climbing that wall.
The Rialto Building 1885
10 The plans for the Rialto were begun in 1883 and
when the building was completed in 1885,it was the
largest building Burnham and Root had designed. In it
was the first full scale use of the steel rail cement
foundation. It was erected on a large lot, one hundred
and seventy-five feet by one hundred and fifty seven
feet and one that allowed Burnham and Root to open the
Slide Numbets
building into an "H-plan" so that all four hundred
office suites had light and ventilation. The two tall
pavillions are separated by a recessed skylight court
on both the east and the west facades. The plan is far
superior to the elevations, where Root tried a strong
vertical line massing by carrying his piers striaght
through past his cornice into terminals. This cluttered
the skyline too much. Another bad effect was the stepping
back of the piers, as if they were buttresses and
finishing them with the brackets under the ponderous
balcony.
During the last months of 1885, the firm was busy
working on three more large office buildings The
Commerce Building, The Phenix Building, and The Rookery.
Out of these, the latter two are worth mentioning.
The Phenix Building 188561888
The Phenix Building was originally an eleven story
building with the two story basement made of brown
stone and the rest of red brick with terra-cotta orna-
mentation. The front facade was two hundred and sixteen
feet long and fronted Jackson street. It became a prom-
inent building of Chicago. The elevations, however, had
several flaws. Most of the projections were unpleasant
and non-sensical. Like the Oriels, which occur at an
odd height and are too ornate. The arches occur at a
meaningless height. Finally, he crowned the entrance
bay with a huge terra-cotta Phoenix.
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12
The interior handling on the other hand, is
masterful. He re-iterates the entrance arch in the
vestibule and creates a vista through plate glass. This
vestibule is enhanced by Proto-Art Nouveau light fix-
tures. The ninth floor was one large room made to acc-
omodate the one hundred clerical workers of the insur-
ance company. In the rear wall he uses the first complete
skeleton wall with enameled brick on the outside and
hollow tile on the inside. In Jenney's Home Insurance
Building, the piers of brick were built entirely around
the cast-iron columns. There was no separate and indep-
endent lining on the inside.
The Rookery 1885-1888
The Rookery, is regarded by many to be Root's
best design. He had a good lot to work with square;
so it gave Root the advantage of depth in design. It
was designed for Owen Aldis and Peter Brooks. The name
"Rookery" comes from an unsavory and shabby temporary
City Hall that previously occupied the sigit. The name
stuck to the new building and from it Root took much
of the spirit of the building.
The building was eleven stories high, made in
brown brick with a massive colonade of red granite in
the lower stories. The columns were thinner than the
piers above them. On the west wall, the five stories
above the entrance arch bowed out. The too one is
finished in a balcony, slung out between two flanking
tourettes. This central bay has three times the width
of the others, On the south and the east walls, Root
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dissolved the wall into a translucent membrane of
plate glass, and carried the masonry above the third
floor on girders supported by double cast-iron columns.
On the north wall, the entrance bay was off axis and
Root imposed symmetry by adding a matching. bay which
was meaningless. A large proportion of the walls was
-iven to the window openings.
The floor plan was a simple quadrangle with a
large internal court and two tiers of offices on either
side. In 1888 when the building was finished, Burnham
and Root took their offices to the south-east corner
of the eleventh floor. An Oriel stair projected ten
feet into the court space and then rose high above the
court. It was housed in ca very accurate form.
In the Rookery, Root created passages from dark-
ness to light from the massive outer wall into the
vaulted interior court; and he carried one Structural
system (glass and iron) into another (masonry). The
west entrance was especially dark and mysterious, then
it opened into a white marble and gold vestibule. The
change in space, color, and light was impressive. The
interior court suggests countless roosts an aviary -
somethinp which Root probably derived from the"Rookery?
The wall of the court was an independent skeleton -
its basic purpose was to allow the maximum amount Of
light to the inner tiers of offices. The court was the
heart of the building. The stairs activated the nearly
square court, that ieuld have been nut&eo to static LightT
was of the essence. On the opposite side of the court,
Root cantilevered a double flight of stairs into the
Slide Numbers space of the court; all elevators were sheathed in
plate glass. Through a constant interplay of dualities
of solid and void, structure and space, opacity and
transparency, darkness and light Root achieved a
dynamic balance.
The Monadnock Block 1884-1891
19 In 1884, Aldis and Brooks again commissioned
Burnham and Root to design and build the Monadnock
Block. By 1885, Root was already working on the design
and was already designing in Egyptian Style. The
building was not goinp to be erected until a much later
date but in 1889, a proposition for a new ordnance to
restrict the height of commercial structures to the
width of the street facade, prompted Aldis and Brooks
to build. On June third of the same year, the commissioner
allowed the sixteen story height of the proposed
building. Mr. Aldis had urged Root for a simple, orna-
ment free design and the Egyptian Pylon, an idea by
Burnham, was what inspired him to design the Monadnock.
The narrow lot (198' x 66') and the great height (207')
turned Root's head to ancient egyptian sources. He
thought of Chicago much like Egypt built out of a
20 marshy soil and in that marsh, the common plant was
a wild onion, a typical compound-umbel plant, like the
papyrus. It was the last solid masonry walled structure
of this size to be erected in Chicago.
Originally, the building was to have been built
of brick grading from dark brown at bottom to a yellow
at top. The bays along Dearborn and Federal streets
Slide Numbers
21
22
were twenty feet wide with four windows. On Jackson
street, they were fifteen feet wide with only three
windows. Root used ashlar at the three entrances and
as the surrounds for the store fronts on Jackson street.
This gives the feeling of a substantial and stable base,
further accentuated by its two story height. The round-
ness of all edges and all contouring was achieved by
shaped bricks laid in horizontal beds. Root abandoned
all ornamentation, but contoured the Block by absorbing
ornament: the ornament, although latent, thus informed
the entity itself,
The floor plan was simple and straight-forward,
Due to the narrowness of the lot, every office had win-
dows to the streets and all paths of communication were
disposed along the center of the building.
The profiling of Jackson street shows the amount
of refinement of lines that creates the sweep from the
base to the slope of the cornice:
The batter bean at sill level of the second story
and through a ten foot rise of wall swept inward fifteen
inches (a to b). To better receive and to weight the
beginnings of the Drojected bays (b); the second and
third stories were each one foot higher than the first.
As the eye moved upward it could readily detect that
the cove of the cornice (d) which was carried through
six feet eight inches of wall and which flared two feet
from the plane, represented an inversion of the curved
second story. The Drojecting bays were halted nineteen
and a half feet below the coping by smaller cove cor-
nices (c) which flared four feet from the plane
Slide Numbers in responding to the convex shape at the base of
each bay (b). Shaped as a quarter-ellipse, the cele-
brated chamfer of the angles began at the third floor
level, gradually cutting the pier ever more broadly
until attaining a width of three inches at the cooing
(e).
This profile is much like a papyrus stem and bud
derived Egyptian column. This characteristic is also
reflected in the projecting bays, their bases being
rounded when seen in profile at both sides of the block
23
or in elevation. The staircase was adapted from the
Rookery and did not fit into the sources of the Monad-
nock Building.
In its refinement and nobility the Monadnock re-
mains without peer in the history of the high office
buildings in Chicago. It was the exact visual metaphor
of the vitality of the city. Root made it rise from
the soil as if it were a plant. "The best solution will
always be the simplest, and its full growth will follow
with a directness and ease which suggests the budding
of a flower." 8
During the year of 1890, Burnham and Root were
involved in three major office buildings along with
the added burden of the World's Columbian Exposition
and their duties to the A. I. A. The three buildings,
however, are all important and well worth the study.
The Woman's Temple 1890-1891
24 The headquarters for the woman's Christian Temper-
ance Union was a twelve story, powerfully massed structure
Slide Numbers
having a two story granite basement and a superstructure
of red brick and ornamentation with terra-cotta, The
building was designed to be a memorial to woman's
aspirations and yet suitable as a fine office building.
But, it does not fit into the evolution of the office
building, it retrogrades massive piers of masonry
oF
carry the structure except at certain points. Somelthese
are as large as four feet and two inches by seven feet
and one inch.
The plan is the stunted H plan that Burnham and
Root used before in the Rialto Building. The two main
pavillions are connected by an entrance court with a
skylight that is closed in the west end by the ele-
vators. The first floor contained an auditorium for
seven hundred people.
The elevation is that of a colossal chateau, very
symmetrical and massive. The rounded corners express
attitude of christian aggressiveness and the turrets
thrusting upwards express the aspirations of the Woman's
Union. The facade has three architectural divisions.
The first is the two story basement of granite, which
includes the main entrance arch. The pavillions then
develop round fenestrated towers at the angles. Be-
tween them, groups of windows are arched under the
cornice with terra-cotta ornaments. The third division
consists of one story uniformly pierced by low arched
windows, supporting a low attic story. The towers are
crowned with conical roofs, and the building is topped
with a steep gabled roof with dormers.
Slide Numbers The Masonic Temple 1890-1891
25 The building for the Masonic Order of Chicag6
was the largest structure to be built by Burnham and
Root, and the tallest building in the world. It rose
to an unpriecednted height of twenty stories three
hundred and two feet to the top of thl -z'
main front was one hundred and sixty-nine feet and the
side was one hundred and thirteen feet. All sides of
the building were finished.
The facade is composed of three stories of walled
granite and all others of gray pressed brick. The large
entrance arch was reflected by the arcade at the second
story level and at the eighteenth floor level. Above
the entrance arch, a twenty-five ton box girder relived
the arch of all loads. The building elevated out of
true proportion to the base, Root added two stories
because he felt the altitude was not proportioned to
the three story base. The attic was done in Queen
Anne style to represent the presence of the Masonic
Bodies.
26 The floor plan is attributed to Daniel Burnham.
It is basically a squared "c", closed at the east by
an arc of elevators similar to those of the Woman's
Temple. Floors four through ten in the building were
designed as "shopping lanes in the sky" with names in-
stead of numbers. The idea failed aftef three years.
Floors eleven through sixteen were used for office space
and from the sixteenth to the twentieth floor were the
Masonic Headquarters. The roof housed a summer garden
Slide Numbers and an observatory.
27 The interior court was an interior light well
twenty stories high. It was an extraordinary space
with balustrades of tracery, columns sheathed in ala-
baster, floors and soffits of marble, and transparent
elevator cages looking into the courtyard.
The Mills Building 1890-1892
28 In the summer of 1890, Darius Ogden Mills de-
cided to build a large office building in San Francisco.
Through Aldis, Burnham and Root got the commission on
July 5, 1890. The site was one hundred and sixty feet
by one hundred and thirty-seven feet. The San Francisco
atmosphere permitted the use of light colors and Root
used a light creamed colored marble at the lower stories
and a cream brick, cut and moulded for the superstruc-
ture. The structural system was of steel frame anchored
to masonry piers. The metal frame was buttressed to
resist earthquakes.
The elevations were sedate and rhythmically bal-
anced. Three stone stories formed the lowest archi-
tectural division. These were pierced by oblong win-
dows and divided by strong horizontal lines. The wide
entrance arch, two stories high, opened to a vestibule
similar to the Rookery's west entrance. On top of this
three story base rise the piers, the corner ones being
wider than all others. These end in an arcade at the
eighth floor and above these another fenestrated story
with profuse decoration is the third architectural
division.
Slide Numbers
29
30
31
32
The plan was similar to the Rookery,a quadrangular
plan with an interior court with a skylight for light
and dynamic soace. The skylight was gold leafed and
full of Root's organic ornamentation. All interior
ornamentation was white and gold, with tra&ery balus-
trades and organic ornaments,
OTHER COMMISSIONS 1885-1890
St. Gabriel's Church 1886
St. Gabriel's Church is a simple design, very
sympathetic to the oraerie. Its made of warm brown
brick shading from red to almost black. The main body
of the church is low and has a gabled roof. The plan
is a simple cross. Over the main entrance, Root had
designed a cross and a rose window which were never
completed. In the facade of the transept, Root grouped
the three windows so they would echo the entrance
openings. The broad gable over the main facade springs
from the tower which is mod&ldd with force. It's square
with round tourettes at the angles ending in conical
roofs, the one at the corner of the building being
larger.
The interior is composed of seven bays with an
arcade springing from slender granite columns. It had
a large choir, an arched colonnade in the apse for
background and excellent acoustics,
Montezuma Hotel, Las Vegas 1885
This building is a unique, long, low building
Slide Numbers
which seems to organically grow out of the rocks from
which its wide projecting roof slants upward. It had
three hundred guest rooms and a dining room for five
hundred. The mass of the building turns the corner
obliquely and settles into the foothills. A verandah
is carried along the longer facade and defines the pod-
ium. The roof line above the porch reflects the moun-
tains and is very informal in the relation of gables,
dormers and window openings.
The Church of the Covenant 1887
In the design for the Church of the Covenant,
Boot found a byzantine inspiration. The projected
tower was never realized, which is good since it was
slightly over-scaled. Great amounts of masonry were
used for its construction.
The interior contained an auditorium for one
thousand five hundred people. This was a handsome space,
rhythmically defined by an arcaded balcony and lit by
two levels of arcaded window openings.
Davidson Theater, Milwaukee 1887
no slide
The only theater designed by Burnham and Root.
It was inside a hotel building and was not a very hand-
some design. Stubby columns defined the ground story
bays, where windows folded outwards at an obtuse angle.
The overall detailing was rude, the beltcourses con-
fused the wall. The interior had thin, cast-iron columns
supporting two balconies and similar in arrangement
to the Church of the Covenant. A fire on April 9, 1894
left little of the interior.
First Illinois Regimental Armory, Chicago 1889
36 The building came from French mediaeval architec-
tural sources. The machicolated parapet and rifle scots
were not for decoration, but for enfilading sixteenth
street and Michigan Avenue during civil disturbances,
A high base of battered stone gave way to an upper
wall of pressed brick. The walls were seventy-five feet
high and the building was one hundred and sixty-three
by one hundred and seventy-two feet.
37 Since the small window openings were provided
for inpenetrability, the light was drastically reduced.
Root added a large internal light court of fifty feet
by one hundred and five feet. From large iron roof
trusses he suspended the gallery overlooking the drill
space and the second story which contained the twelve
company rooms, the kitchen, banquet hall, library, and
officer's rooms. The width of the entrance was more
than forty feet enough for sixteen men marching a-
breast.
RESIDENCES BY BURNHAM and ROOT 1887-1890
Residence for Reginald De Koven 1888
38 This narrow lot presented a problem in planning
the floor plans. The facade measured only twenty-four
feet, but the house had a depth of seventy-one feet.
He developed an inviting plan with a living room twenty-
three feet square with a broad fire-place and inglenooks,
and a dining room twenty-five feet long with another
Slide Numbers
Slide Numbers
fire-place and a segmental oy to the west. The dining
room was at a higher level than the living room. An
open, skylighted stairwell enhanced the space between
the two rooms.
The exterior facade was excessive Tudor in detail,
graceful to proportions and rich in color. He used a
reddish brown brick roughly faced in the first story
and smooth above. A large copper bay at the second to
third stories of the townhouse lead to a steep gable
at the fourth level, projecting from the sloping roof.
Residence for V. C. Turner 1887
The V. C. Turner House was Romanesque in style,
It was built of a granite-like gray stone. The large
walls were punctured by clusters of tiny square openings.
The entrance was at the side with a round tower ending
in a conical roof at the left of the front. At the lower
right is a hexagonal bay with a balcony above. A low
stone balcony carries the basement wall out of line
level with the tower and bay. The design was in-
coherent to a degree-scattering of windows without
rhythm, diminishing of the unifying force of the
cornice, and the forcing on the tile roof giant wall
dormers shaded like rabbit ears.
Residence for E.H. Valentine 1889
This house was the only design by J. W. Root
with a strong colonial feeling, but it followed no
colonial style. It was a large house with a basement,
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two stories and an additional story of gables and
dormers projecting from two steep roofs that cross
each other. The colors gave a rich tone to the structure
- warm red and brown brick with terra-cotta sillcourses
and window surrounds, the porch and broad beltcourse
above the basement were of red sandstone, the roof was
purple slate. The sharp plane walls clearly demarcated
the basement, and frontalitv is emphasized by round
columns and the projections and recessions of the en-
trance bay. A triple archway above a porch defined the
entrance. The plain wall is enhanced by the assignment
of single window openings.
Residence of William J. Goudy 1890
This residence designed in the french, chateaux
style was intended as Root's own residence. It was con-
structed of gray cut stone with a gray slate hipped-
roof. A wide, eliptically arched porch near the center
of the longer facade emphasized the entrance. In the
narrower facade the corners are curved and small gable
windows project from roof above cornice. The silhouette
remained chateauesque, but pilaters and stringcourses
are stripped away, openings of windows are pulled a-
part from static clusters and rustication of the base-
ment is forsaken. The walls are continuous and smooth,
and curved plate glass is utilized in the corner win-
dows.
THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO 1890
Slide Numbers
42
43
On February 1890, the House of Representatives
passed a bill that located the fair in Chicago. It
became a law in April of that same year. Hoot saw in
the fair an opportunity for lasting public improve-
ment in the heart of Chicago. By August 21st, F. Law
Olmsted was appointed consulting landscape architect
and Root was made the consulting architect. The appoint-
ment was amended on September ninth, to include Burnham.
A lonp debate finally located the fair at Jackson
Park. Four men were haevily involved in the planning
of the fair Root, Burnham, Olmsted, and Codman, the
young french landscape architect and partner of Olmsted.
Each had a talent that was used in the plan:
Root swift inventiveness of design and
vigorous imagination.
Olmsted genius for the evolution of out-
door effects of beauty.
Burnham force, magnetism, good taste,
and judgement of beauty.
Codman a closer academic training and
dreamy spaciousness of his mind.
The main conception of the ground plans was Hoot's.
Codman came up with the idea of formalizing a great
central court and the basin. Olmsted organized the im-
portant buildings at the head of the court. By Sept-
ember tenth, Root's plan showed the germ of the final
arrangement. The lagoons were inevitable in Jackson
Park, and the lake front park was to be used as a
gateway to the main park. By December eighth, 1890,
Burnham and Root had decided that their firm was not
Slide Numbers
44
45
goins to design any of t-e Fair's buildings. Burnham
as director of constructions chose ten firms five
from Chicago and five from other cities to design
the buildings. The firms were as follows:
Peabody and Stearns Boston
VanBrunt and Howe Kansas City
R. M. Hunt New York
George B. Post New York
McKim, Mead, and White New York
Adler and Sullivan Chicago
W. Le Baron Jenney Chicago
S. S. Beman Chicago
Henry Ives Cobb Chicago
Burlington and Whitehouse-- Chicago
The first meeting for all the architects was
planned for January 1891. On January 10, 1891, Root
invited some friends of his, over to his house in Astor
Place for five o'clock tea. When they were leaving, he
went out into the cold to see them to their carriages.
The next morning he came down eith a cold. Three days
later, on January 15, 1891, John Wellborn Root died in
his home. According to his sister, who was present at
the time, he heard music and called it the loveliest
he had heard, and at the same time he was running his
hands through the air as if Dlaying a keyboard. He
them lay back and died. Before he died, he knew in
which direction the fair was going due to the large
influence of the Beaux-arts in all of the out-of-town
architects. Richard M. Hunt was also ill and unable
to attend the first meeting.
On February, 1891, the auxiliary lake front park
was abandoned and all the fair was moved into Jackson
Park. The final ground plans of March 1893, were very
much like the original plan proposed by Root, Root's
sketches for the srt building and the canal portal
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were the last designs of his life. In them one can
see that even he was swayed toward classicism in the
design of such a grandiose affair as the World's
Columbian Exposition.
Criticism abounded, however, especially from the
Chicago school:
VanBrunt, in 1892, stated that if visitors want
to see the true expression of American architecture,
they should not find it at the fair, but in or near
larger cities.
Adler stated that such abuse of the classic would
only hasten its end.
Louis Sullivan said that form could be developed
organically from simple geometric and warned that Amer-
icans were not Greeks, and that any attempt at such
substitution was clear perversion.
John Wellborn Root felt structure and felt space.
He used materials for their intrinsic values, seeking
for each the manifestation of its special strength and
beauty. In all his commercial buildings, simplicity,
frankness, strong proportions, and mighty lines express
the power of modern times.
D. H. BURNHAM & CO. 1893
At the close of the fair, the firm of D.H.
Burnham & Co. was founded. In it, D.H. Burnham
took on three new partners- Charles Atwood, who
became the head designer; Ernest R. Graham, super-
visor and control of employees; and E.C. Shankland,
in charge of specifications and construction. Of
the profits made by the firm, Atwood received 27%,
Graham & Shankland 10% each, and Burnham the re-
maining 53%.
Charles Atwood was responsible for all the
architectural details not designed by the ten
firms at the World's Fair. Amongst these were
the forestry building, the dairy building, the
music hall, the casino, the peristyle and all the
bridges, terraces and approaches. But his main
triumph was in the art building. Atwood, however,
was accused of plagarizing a design by a Frenchman
named Bevard, who won the Grand Prix in 1867 for a
Palace of Fine Arts. From that design, Atwood took
the flanking colonnades, the obelisks, the rostral
columns and the profuse statuary. His architec-
ture was chaste and scholarly, and he admitted that
he designed from details of books and constantly
referred to measurements made by scholars. In fact,
for the frieze of his Fine Arts Building,
Slide Number
Slide Numbers he sent a man to Europe to make a plaster cast
of the erectheum so that his design would be exact.
But tragedy fell on the firm again, as Atwood
was very sick for two years and finally was forced
by the illness to leave the firm on December 10,
1895. He died later on that month at the age of 16.
It was after this that Burnham's design quailities
emerge. Root's design capabilities overwhelmed
Burnham, and he did little but give hints and critiques
while Root was alive. Atwood, on the other hand,
lacked the qualities for success in his commer-
cial building design. This made Burnham aware
of his own talents. Finally the introduction to
classical designs probably awoke the love for this
type of architecture that had been dormant before.
It was Atwood who introduced him to classic revival,
and after his death, Burnham continued designing
in the same style for most of his commissions
until his death in 1912.
The Office Buildings of D.H. Burnham & Co. 1893-1910
In many of the later office buildings of D.
H. Burnham & Co., the gist of the scheme of the
rookery the ample interior light court glazed
above the second floor and providing a dominant
central feature on the ground floor, has been
reproduced on a muSh more extensive saale.
Slide Numbers As the company grew larger, greater commissions
from all over the United States began to come in.
The firm's Architecture went through an impor-
tant change; partly due to the general Classic
Revival which began to appear for the first time
in the west.
The Reliance Building. 1890-1894
The story concerning the designing of the
building goes back to 1890 when Mr. William E.
Hale decided to erect a sixteen story building
at the corner of Washington and State streets. The
lot was small only 85' X 56'. The unique thing
about the lot was that it contained a five story
building of masonry that had two separate leases-
one for the basement and first floor which ex-
Dired in 1890, and one for the remaining upper
floors which did not expire until May 1, 1894.
The commission went to Burnham & Root and
plans were made in 1890 for a sixteen story
building. The foundation and the ground story of
the new structure were erected while the upper
stories of the original building were held up by
screws. On viewing the ground story, we can get a
clear idea of what J.W. Root had designed, for the
original plans above the first floor underwent
radical changes by Mr. Atwood.
Slide Numbers
46
47
The exterior of the building was of steel
frame construction, and rose at an unprecedented
speed in two weeks the upper eight stories and
the attic were built. It is obvious, by an ins-
pection of the first floor that Root had inten-
ded to use a skeleton construction with exten-
sive use of glass. The precedent to this design
was Holabird & Roche's Tacoma Building, a radical
effort that reduced greatly the load upon the soil.
The building was completed in 1889. Root had in-
tended to sheath the columns in red Scotch granite.
Instead, Charles Atwood conceived the idea of using
cream-white enameled terra-cotta, which enhanced
with a "light & airy" feeling and allowed ease in
cleaning. Atwood, unfortunately indulged in "French
Gothic" decor, which was definetly not Root's in-
tended design.
Another flaw in Atwood's modifications is seen
in the plans. It is very doubtful that Root would
have doubled the windows of the bays and left the
column only three feet behind the center glass panel'
the space is rendered useless. Furthermore, Root
wanted to accentuate the structural columns as he
does on the ground floor; so either the bays were
not meant to exist; or, more likely, they were de-
siened as single-window bays.
The basement plan is definetly Root's
Slide Numbers
49
ingenious mind at work. He puts the basement
into full commercial use. The loss of space of the
west bays to the boiler rooms is compensated by
extended the floor space twenty feet past the east
lot line under the sidewalk. The same is done
to the w;ter closets. Finally Root paved the side-
walks over these two spaces with prismatic lights
to allow additional light into the usually dark
and dingy basement.
A closed study of the ground story shows Root's
intention of a steel and glass structure with
little ornamentation on the structural members
casing of granite. The glass tower is one of the
few buildings of Burnham and Root that remain in
existence today. The thin roof slab, the "Chicago"
windows and the enhancement of Atwood's light and
pure terra-cotta, along with the also pure
proportions make it a symbol of the spirit of the
Chicago school. As A.N. diebori said; "The Reliance
Building was the swan song to the old traditions
based on independence of design for which were noted
the work of Burnham & Root. It stands today a
symbol of our inconsistency and ample proof that
no sooner do we approach a common way of working
than the promise of a truly expressive style cf
American architecture is broken by the capricious
introduction of a new fashion".q
The Old Marshall Field & Co. Annex, 1894
Slide Numbers
50
In contrast to the light and airy design of
the Reliance Building, the"Annex" is a design
which stimulates a structure of solid masonry.
It's rich in Renaissance details, in it's arches
and cornice, It's a nine story high building with
thre- architectural divisions of three stories
each, carefully accentuate by different materials
and colors. Its architectural value is really of
minor significance, siice the designer has no need
to cover the frame in an effort to imitate stone.
But the result is a design which possesses
distinction through the careful handling of masses
and scale. It's aleo a fore-runner of the archi-
tectural styles favored by Burnham after his
partner's death.
The Illinois Trust & Savings Bank, 1896
Located on the northeast corner of Jackson
and Casale, this is an example of, not an office
building, but a small bank. In this design, Burn-
ham tries to present solidity, especially through
the strong corners of the structure; whose mass
add to the effectiveness of the colonnade. The
colonnade is raised on a platform which puts empha-
sis on the columns and unites the design. The
platform, strong corners and simple Corinthian
collonnade give the two story building a "monument
Effect".
Slide Number The plan is a simple large square plan with a
central banking room over which is a skylight. The
offices are distributed on both stories facing the
street. This typical plan first used by Root in
the Rookery, is utilized by Burnham & Co. for many
of their buildings.
The Merchant's Loan & Trust Building- 1900
52 In this office building, Burnham neither denies
the expression of the structural cage, as in the
Marshall Field Annex; nor does he affirm it, as in
the Reliance Building. By leaving the piers plain
& extending them all through the height of the
structure, the steel frame is slightly articulate.
Yet the strong base, the shaft & capital treatment,
and the large, broad cornice all give the effect of
stone architecture. The large, broad windows are
raised high above the floors. In fact, all the Clas-
sical details are beautifully adapted to the needs
of the commercial building. There is one flaw -
the two lower stories largely made up of glass con-
trast the solidity of the superstructure causing
the illusion that the stone facing above the second
floor is self supporting.
THE Fuller Building. New York. 1901
53 The Fuller Building attracted quite a lot of
attention while it was being built. A lot of
it was due to the unusual shape of the site.
Slide Numbers
54,55
which was considered a challenge for the design of
a large building. The lot is bounded by Broadway,
5th Ave. and 22nd street; & the "wedge" formed by
Broadway and 5th produces an angle of 230, The
twenty story building has three architectural di-
visions- a four-story base which relates to a four-
story attic and inbetween these a twelve story shaft,
The crowning attic produces a nice effect. The ma-
terials used were a yellow-gray limestone for the
base and terra-cotta of the same color for the su-
perstructure. The overall decorations& proportions
of the building are excellent, especially the fourth
story frieze, the demarcation of the attic and the
projecting oriels. These oriels are 8 stories high
and even though they're not very visible, they di-
verse the monotony of the plain wall just enough,
Burnham combined altitude, magnitude and conspi-
cousness with an awkward plot,
But, its the awkward plot which produces the
flaw of the buildings the floor plans, All offices
are arranged so that they receive light and venti-
lation. The flaw occurs in the edge of the wedge.
Burnham used the same window treatment'in edge as
in the long facades. This produced offices with
only one solid wall and with too much light coming
from too many openings on three sides. There
is also very little space for any sort of office
Slide Numbers
arrangement. Most critics stated that a better
solution would h&ve been to truncate the wedge fif-
teen to twenty feet back and create a fourth face
on the building. Spatially he would not havelost
much room and visually it might have been better.
In Burnham's solution, he simply treated the struc-
ture as three separate faces and did not regard te
oddness of the site and it's problems fully.
The First National Bank of Chicago, 1903
The First National Bank is a seventeen sory
structure with Renaissance details so favored by
Burnham. It is constructed entirely in a warm,
grayish stone around a skeleton steel frame. The
skeleton is outwardly express by equal emphasis on
the horizontal and vertical lines. The building
has three architectural divisions, the base *iich
is composed of an arcade with bays of equal width
and three stories high, the shaft which is broken
from the base by the fourth story and begins abovee
it and the capital which begins above the f ourteerb
story and terminates in a simple and not too massive
cornice. All facades are divided into a series cf
bays of equal width. The arcade of the lower btorbs
is skillfully echoed at the top of the building.
The entrance is not emphasized in any form. The
building as a hole is substantial and utilitarian.
Slide Numbers
57
The plan is once again a derivation of the Ra k-
ery, a series of offices around an interior court-
yard with windows facing the court or the street.
He uses the courtyard to light the second story,
where the main banking room is. This large space
is reached by a stair that opens up near the entrance
of the building and leads to the room. Theinterior
is finished in classical decor and is broken up by
pilasters.
The Wanamaker Store, Philadelphia 3909
This immense structure was done in two phases
of construction (1905 1909) and covers an entire
city block two hundred fifty feet by four hundred
eight feet. It is fourteen stories high and has
an additional thirty six feet of basement below ground
level. The steel frame construction is sheathed
in a grayish white stone and the facade has a
composition of three architectural divisions. The
base is three stories high and is entirely a glass
wall with evenly spaced pilasters. There is a
central entrance emphasized by the removal oftie
horizontal members of the second floor between the
four center pilasters. Above the base are seven
stories constituting the shaft and terminating in
a row of semi-circular windows. Finally a
four story attic reiterates the lower arcade nd it
Slide Numbers
60
61
is terminated by a finely proportioned cornice.
The bays of the upper arcade are broken into two
high windows ending in smaller arches. The "Ben-
aissance" motiff is exceptionally handled by Burn-
ham. There is a strong emphasis on the corners, but
this feeling is lost at the base due to the glass
wall. The stee frame is echoed in the exterior by
equal emphasis on horizontal and vertical lines.
The plan consists of offices around a grand
shopping court several stories high and ending with
a skylight. The interior court has beautiful clas-
sical detailing, especially in the pendentives
where the pilasters terminate and form an inte-
rior arcade.
Union Station. Washington. D.C.- 1908
This building is the finest example of the
many railroad stations designed by Burnham & Co.
Part of the plan for the city of Washington, the
composition strives at monumentality, since Bur-
nham considered it "the Gateway to the Nation's
Capital". It's constructed of white granite and
it's roofed with gray-green concrete tiles. The
central portion of the station is derived from
the Arch of Constantine. On both sides of the pa-
villion, the Arch is re-iterated by subordinate
arcades on the side wings. An open air portico
connects the large, central vestibule with the end
Slide Numbers
64
pavillions. The size is impressive- it is actu-
ally fourteen feet longer than the Capitol. In
front is a plaza 1000' X 500', with terraces and
fountains. Adjacent to the station is the New
Post Office, also by Burnham & Co. The waiting
room is the largest space of its kind in the
world. It measures 220' X 130' and was roofed
by a barrel vault 90' high. Additional light is
provided by two large semi-circular windows 75'
in diameter at both ends of the hall. Five smal-
ler arches, 30' in diameter, echo the larger ones
on each of the longer sides. The main concourse
runs the entire length of the building and is
strictly a utilitarian design.
New Post Office. WashingtonD.C.- 1911
The new Post Office is designed along the same
monumental lines as its neighbor, Union Station.
Its facade is composed of a massive Ionic colon-
nade with strong corner pavillions faced with a
triumphal arch motiff. It has a strong base and
an attic with a simple cornice devoid of all
decorations. It is built of the same white gra-
nite as all the other public buildings inthe Ca-
pital City.
Hotel Claridge. New York- 1910
This is one of the few French Renaissance
Slide Numbers
67
style projects designed by Burnham & Co., but
it was a very favored style for hotel buildings
in New York. It's impressive in the disposition
of its masses and the manner in which the open-
ings are punctuated. The lower stories have large,
rectangular windows based on the amount of light
and ventilation required for the hotel's public
spaces. Alternating large and small windows punc-
tuate the upper stories in a rhythmic way. The
top of the structure is crowned by a unique man-
sard roof treated with dormer windows. The mate-
rials used were dark brown brick and a light gray
stones for the quoins. The quoins are instrumen-
tal in-the strong and lasting feeling of the cor-
ner Davillions. A unique plan allows the maximum
light and ventilation into every single guest
room.
Slide Numbers
68
COMMISSIONS UNDER THE NAME OF GRAHAM,BURNHAM & CO.
These designs were done under the supervision
of Burnham while he was alive, but the buildings
were completed after his death. He died suddenly
in Heidelberg, Germany on June 1, 1912. In all his
works he reasoned from the general to the particular.
His love of sunlight and the outside is reflected
in the creation of parks, lagoons & preserve forests
in his major city planning schemes. Yet he said
that parks did not exist for their beauty but for
the people's spiritual, moral and physical well-
being. He had great influence on all the people
he touched.
The Continental & Commercial Bank, 1912
The last and probably the culminating work of
the firm was, when completed, the largest building
ever erected in Chicago & the largest designed by
the firm since 1873. It covered an entire city
block- 365' X 116' and was 24 stories high. The
main entrance was through a large loggia of polished
granite columns which enveloped cores of steel.
The exterior of the first three stories is granite
and the superstructure is enameled terra-cotta of
granite color. The photograph of the exterior is
unique for it shows "The Rookery" on the right and
the roof of the Illinois Trust & Savings Co. at
the lower left. The Height of the building was
accentuated by the vertical lines of the shaft.
Slide Numbers
69
70
71
The plan of the building uses the interior
court so popular with Burnham. The main banking
room occupies the second floor and is approached
by two marble staircases at the center of the
corridor. In some parts, the banking room occu-
pies the space of four stories above the ground
floor. Special attention is called to the barrel
vaulted skylight which illuminates the main ban-
king room.
Filene's Department Store. Boston. 1912
Another large store designed by the firm in
which heacreates, at the clients need, a solid
plate glass wall in the bottom stories and in
the superstructure, he gives the impression of
a solid masonry construction. He used a light
colored stone and terra-cotta fot the walls and
green terra-cotta for the columns and the span-
drils. To create a detachment between the "solid"
upper stories and the plate glass wall below,
Burnham ran a canopy almost the entire length
of the building between the two structural sys-
tems. He creates a solid corner pavillion by run-
ning three wide pilasters down to the canopy.
The Classical windows between the pilasters is
a flaw in the design.
Slide Numbers
72
D. H. BURNHAM AS A CITY PLANNER
Burnham's abilities expanded quickly after
the World's Fair to include the art of city plan-
ning. His reputation as a man of sound business
judgement and his experience in large underta-
kings, along with his artistic capabilities,
certainly qualified him for success. Among others,
he envisioned city plans for Washington D.C., San
Francisco, Cleveland, Manila and Baguo in the
Philippine Islands, and of course Chicago, His
first planning endeavor, though small in scale,.
was Sherman Park. He created a series of buildings;
including an assembly hall, a gymnasium and an out-
door pool; forming a central composition on axis
and adjacent to a small lake. He also provided
roads and paths around the entire perimeter of
the lake. It was a total composition that worked
very well with nature. We shall now look at three
of his major endeavors.
The Senate Commission's Plan for the Development
of Washington, D.C,, 1901
The essence of Burnham's plan was to accomplish
the construction of the Mall designed by L'Enfant
in 1791. The rest of L'Enfant's plan consisted of
a North/South, East/West system of streets with
large diagonals leading to important structures,
such as the Capitol or the White House. It also
included the afore mentioned Mall extending away
from the White House and the Capitol and inter-
secting at a 900 angle at the Washington Monument.
Slide Numbers
For the Centennial of the removal of the Capital
from Philadelphia to Washington, the improvement
of the city by means of a city plan was adopted
and a bill was passed by the Senate. Two firms
were selected for the job- Mr. Burnham's and Mr.
Olmsted's.
73 The chief element of the new plan was the
completion of the mall, olus the extention of the
Capitol axis through the Washington Monument to
the Lincoln Memorial. The cross axis of the White
House was also Pxtended to a group of buildings on the
bank of the Potomc. The main problem was the removal
of the Potomac railroad tracks from the mall area. It
was, of course, Root who persuaded the move and designed
their new terminal Union Station.
74 & 75 For the mall, Burnham established a total of six
hundred feet between buildings on either side of the
mall. The space was necessary for a central greenway
of three hundred feet lined with four rows of elms
on either side with each elm planted at fifty feet
from all others. In 1904, the Senate Commission att-
emDted to decrease the width, Burnham convinced them
that it was an error.
76 The Union Station and the Post Office were
both placed on one of the diagonal axis coming from
the capitol. In front, he created a beautiful plaza
already mentioned. He created nine traffic lanes to
that Plaza for the quick movement to and from the
Slide Numbers station. Seven railroad lines were accomodated by
the station.
The Plan of Manila, Philippine Islands 1905
The immediate problem in this city plan was the
formation of a general plan of location for government
buildings near the center of the city. But this soon
grew into a comprehensive plan for the streets and parks
of the entire city, allowing for its future growth.
77 His layout was similar to L'enfant's the ex-
tension of the city appears in rectangular system with
diagonal arteries, intersecting in round points and
other formal arrangements. The large areas of the moats
surrounding the old Spanish Intramurowhich today form
the heart of the modern citywere re-designed as public
parks and playgrounds.
The Plan of Chicaro 1909
78 In Chicago, he again imposes, on a rectangular
grid, a series of diagonals. He perfected the existing
street system, simplified the railway entrances to the
city and the location of their terminals, and most
important, he provided a system of connecting parks,
playgrounds and forest preserves.
79 The restoration of the south shore of Lake
Michigan is one of the salient features of the plan.
This strip averaging a quarter of a mile from Grant to
Jackson Park, would culminate in Grant Park with the
Field Columbian Nuseum and a yacht harbor and marina.
Slide Numbers
80
It would be on axis with Congress Street, which would
terminate in his proposed Municipal Center. Among
the buildings intended for this Center was a Civic Aud-
itorium, the Court House, and most city governmental
offices. He also proposed a broad roadway alonc, the
quadrangles of the city, including South Shore Drive.
Unfortunately, very little of the afore mentioned plan
was ever accomplished.
Side Numbers CONCLUSION
The architecture of JohnWellborn Root and
Daniel Hudson Burnham led the way in the art of the
high office building. Root had a great architectural
mind: he felt structure and he felt space. He knew
the basic reality of a building. He loved each material
for its intrinsic values, whether for structure or
ornament. Burnham had a drive, a need to accomplish and
incredible administrative ability. Root was encouraged
by the stable and sympathetic presence of his partner.
In the testimony of everyone, their partnership was
an ideal union. Chicago was the place one looked often
for the finest architecture of the nineteenth century.
Their firm embraced some of the most excellent buildings
of that century and the beginning of this one.
FOOTNOTES
1. J.W. Root quoted by Harriet Monroe
John Wellborn Root, Architect, pg. 63
2. J.W. Root quoted by Harriet Monroe
John Wellborn Root, Architect, pg.69
3. J.W. Root quoted by Harriet Monroe
John Wellborn Root, Architect, pg. 73
4. J.W. Root quoted by Harriet Monroe
John Wellborn Root, Architect, pg. 74
5. J.W. Root quoted by Harriet Monroe
John Wellborn Root, Architect, pe. 107
6. Louis H. Sullivan
The Autobiography of an Idea, pg. 285
7. J.W. Root
"The city house in the west"
Scribner's Magazine, VIII, Oct.1890, pg. 433
8. J.W. Root
"Style" Inland Architect, VIII, Jan. 1887, pg. 100
9. A.N. Rebori
"The Work of Burnham & Root"
Architectural Record, XXXVIII, July, 1915, pg. 62
SLIDE LIST
1. Burnham & Root In The Library Of The Rookery
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 82
2. Chicago In 1874
Daniel H. Burnham Volume II
Charles Moore, page 102
3. John B. Sherman House Rendering & Plan
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 14
4. Grannis Block Facade
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 22
5. Sidney Kent House
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 34
6. Chicago Art Institute
The Architecture of J.W.Root
Donald Hoffmann, page b8
7. Montauk Block
The Architecture of J.J. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 25
8. Steel & Cement Foundation
John Wellborn Root
Harriet Monroe, page 102
9. The Rialto Building
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 42
10. The Insurance Exchange
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 44
11. The Phenix (Phoenix) Building Exterior
The Architecture of J.W.Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 61
12. The Phenix (Phoenix) Building Plan&Interior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 62
13. The Rookery Building Facade
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 71
14. The Rookery Building Plan & Detail
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 72
15. The Rookery Building Plan of Office of Burnham &
Root & Interior of Stairoriel
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 81
16. The Rookery Building Interior Court
The Architecture of J.WV. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 76-77
17. The Rookery Building West Side of Court
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 7-
18. The Rookery Building West Entrance & Vestibule
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffman, page 75
19. The Monadnock Building Exterior
The Architecture of J.'A. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 175
20. The Monadnock Building Exterior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 168
21. The Monadnock Building Plan & Rendering
The Architecture of J.W. Root-;
Donald Hoffmann, page 170
22. The Monadnock Building Jackson Street Profile & Detail
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 172
23. The Monadnock Building Stair Detail
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 171
24. Noman's Temple Exterior & Plan
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, pagel95
25. The Masonic Temple Exterior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 197
26. The Masonic Temple Plan
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 198
27. The Masonic Temple Interior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 199
28. Mills Building Exterior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 208
29. Mills Building -
The Architecture
Plan & Entrance
of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 209
Mills Building
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 211
Mills Building
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 210
St. Gabriel's Church
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 102
33. Montezuma Hotel, Las Vegas
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 36
34- Church of the Covenant Rendering
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 118
35. Church of the Covenant Interior & Exterior as built
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 119
36. First Regimental Armory Exterior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 140
37. First Regimental Armory Floor Plans & Photo of Building
Under Demolition
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 141
38. The Regional Dekoven House Plan & Rendering
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 145
39. The U. C. Turner House Exterior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 114
40. The E.H. Valentine House Exterior & Plan
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, Page 143
41. The William J. Goudy Exterior Perspective
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 213
30.
31.
32.
42. Chicago World's Fair Court of Honor
Plan of Chicago .1909
Burnham & Bennett,page 2
43. Preliminary Plans by Root Chicago World's Fair
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 240
44. Final Plan World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Plan of Chicago 1909
Burnham & Bennett, page 5
45. Last Sketches Art Building & Canal Portac
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 242-243
46. Reliance Building Exterior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, pagel86
47. Reliance Building Floor Plans
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 189
48. Reliance Building Basement Plan & Exterior
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 187
49. Reliance Building Entrance & Detail Base
The Architecture of J.W. Root
Donald Hoffmann, page 190
50. Old Marshall Field & Co. Annex Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32-168
51. Illinois Trust & Savings Bank Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
52. Merchants Loan & Trust Building Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32-168
$3. Fuller or "Flatiron" Building Exterior
"Architectural Record"1915, Volume 38, plge 32 168
54. Fuller or "Flatiron" Building Floor Plans
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
55. Fuller or "Flatiron" Building Floor Plans
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
$6. First National Bank of Chicago Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
$7. First National Bank of Chicago Plan
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
58. First National Bank of Chicago Interior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
59. Wanamaker Store, Philadelphia Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
60. Wanamaker Store, Philadelphia Grand Court
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
61. Wanamaker Store, Philadelphia Detail of Ceiling, Grand Coubt
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
62. Union Station, Washington D.C. Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
63. Union Station, Washington D.C. Plan
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
64. Union Station, Washington D.C. Interiors
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
65. Post Office, Washington D.C. Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
66. Hotel Claridge, New York Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32-168
67. Hotel Claridge, New York Floor Plan
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
68. Continental & Commercial National Bank Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
69. Continental & Commercial National Bank Plans
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
70. Continental & Commercial National Bank Interior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
71. Filene's Department Store, Boston Exterior
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
72. Sherman Park Buildings
"Architectural Record" 1915, Volume 38, page 32 168
73. Plan for Washington D.C.
Daniel H. Burnham
Charles Moores page 151
74. Washington Capitol Grounds
Daniel H. Burnham
Charles Moore,spage 207
75. Washington The Senate Park Commission Plan -
Washington Monument
D.H. Burnham
Oharles Moore, page l43
76. Washington: Relation of Capitol to Union Station
D.H. Burnham
Charles Moore, page 175
77. Plan For Improvements for the City Of Manila,
Fhilipinne Islands
D.H. Burnham
Charles Moore page 180
78. Plan Showing Waterways & complete System of Streets,
Boulevards, Parkways & Parks
Plan Of Chicago 1909
Burnham & Bennett, page 1i,
79. Plan Showing Relation of Grant Park & Yacht Harbor to the
Business Center of the City
Plan Of Chicago 1909
Burnham & Bennett,page 112
80. Plan Showing Municipal Building Center
Plan Of Chicago 1909
Burhham & Bennett, page 112
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Burnham, Daniel Hudson 1846 1912
"Great American Architect Series' No. 1 6
May 1895 July 1899
The Architectural Record Co. New York
2. Burnham, Daniel Hudson, 1846 1912
The Development of Manila
"The Western Architect"
Volume 9, January 1906
3. Burnham, D.H. & Co. Architects
The FlatIron or Fuller Building
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 12, October 1902
4. Burnham, D.H. & Co. Architects
The Flat-Iron from the Southeast, 22nd Stree & Broadway,
New York, New York
"American Architect & Building News"
Volume 77, September 1902
5. Burnham, D.H. & Co. Architects
The Grideron Building
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 77, January 1902
6. Burnham, D. H. & Co. Architects
Plan of Chicago Under the Direction of The Commercial Club
Commercial Club of Chicago, 1909
7. Burnham, D.H. & Co. Architects
The Washington Station, Washington, D.C.
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 24, September 1908
8. Burnham & Root Architects
House of H.D. LLoyd, Esq. Chicago, Illinois
"American Architect & Building News"
Volume 2, November 1877
9. Burnham & Root Architects
The Masonic Temple, Chicago
"American Buildings Selections"
Volume 2
10. Burnham & Root Architects
Proposed Temperance Temple, Chicago
"American Buildings"
Selections, Volume 2
11. Burnham & Root Architects
Residence for C.C. Thompson
Chicago
"American Buildings"
Select ns, Volume 1
12. Burnham & Root Architects
Residence of Charles Councilman
Chicago
"American Building"
Selection, Volume 1
13. Burnham & Root Architects
Residence of Charles Councilman
Chicago
"American Building"
Selection n, Volume 1
14. Burnham & Root Architects
Residence of H.K. Needham
Chicago
"American Building"
Selection, Volume 1
15. Burnham & Root Architects
Residence of H.R. Wilson
Evanston, Illnois
"American Building"
Selection, Volume 1
16. Burnham & Root. Architects
Residence of J.B. Sherman, Esq.
Chicago
"American Architect & Building News"
Volume 1, September 1876
17. Burnham & Root Architects
Residence of N.E. Hale, Chicago
"American Buildings"
Volume 1
18. Burnham & Root Architects
Rookery Office Building, Chicago
"American Buildings"
Selections, Volume 4
19. Burnham, D.H. 1846 1912
"Construction New"
Volume 17, January 1904
20. Condit, Carl W.
The Chicago School of Architecture
1964 University of Chicago Press
Chicago Illinois
21. David, A.C.
The Building of the First Nationgl Bank of Chicago
D.H. Burnham & Co., Architects
22. Desmond, Harry W.
Rationalizing the S1kyscraper
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 17, May 1905
23. Ferree, Barr
The Art of the High Building
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 15, May 1904
24. Giedion, Seegfried
Space, Time & Architecture
1941 By The President & Fellows of Harvard College.
Cambridge, Mass.
25. Daniel Hudson Burnham
An Apreciation
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 32, 1912
26. Hoffman, Donald
The Architecture of John Wellborn Root
John Hopkins University Press, 1973
27. Jenkins, Charles E.
A White Enameled Building
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 4, January 1895
28. Jordan, A. Furneaux
A Concise History of Western Architecture
1969 by Thames & Hudson Limited
London England
29. John Wellborn Root
1896 Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
1966 The Prairie School Press
Park Illinois
30. Daniel H. Burnham Architect
Planner of Cities Two Volumes
1921 Houghton Mifflins & Co.
Boston, New York
31. Parsons, William E.
Burnham As A Pioneer In City Planning
"Architectural Record"
Volume 38, 1915
32. Reboir, A. N.
The Work of Burnham & Root, D. H. Burnham & Co., &
Graham, Burnham & Co.
"Architectural Record"
Volume 38, 1915
33. Root, J.W.
The Meanings of Architecture, Building & Writings
Collected by Donald Hoffman
1967 Horizon Press
New York
34. Starrett, Theodore
D. H. Burnham
"The Architect's & Builder's
Volume 13, 1912
35. Starrett, Theodore
The Washington Terminal
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 18, December 1905
36. Tallmadge, Thomas E.
Architecture In Old Chicago
University of Chicago Press
1941, Chicago
37. Wight, Peter Bonnett
Daniel Hudson Burnham & His
"The Architectural Record"
Volume 38, 1915
Magazine"
Associates
38. Wrigley,.Robert V., Jr.
Daniel H. Burnham, Architect & City Planner
"American Institute of Architects Journal"
Volume 35, No. 3, March 1961
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