CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE in the Loop

DANIEL BURNHAM

2012-01-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

DANIEL HUDSON BURNHAM was born on September 4, 1846 in Henderson New York. In 1854 his parents, Elizabeth and Edwin, moved the family to Chicago where Daniel began his education at Snow's Swedenborgian Academy. Daniel continued at Chicago's Central High. In 1863, after an attempt by 17 year old Daniel, to enlist in the Union Army, he was sent to Waltham Massachusetts to study under Joseph Worcester and later, Tilley Brown Hayward, both Swedenborgians. The Swedenborgian faith and the lifelong connections it provided guided Burnham throughout his life.

Burnham returned to Chicago in 1867 working briefly for Loring and Jenney before heading West to Nevada during the Silver Rush in White Pine County. He returned to Chicago in 1872 working for architects John Van Osdel, H.B. Wheelock and finally, Carter Drake & White where he met partner John Wellborn Root. By 1874 the firm of Burnham and Root had gained the commission for the John B. Sherman mansion on South Prairie Avenue. Daniel married Margaret Sherman in late 1874.

From 1871 until Root's death in 1891, the firm of Burnham & Root gained ever larger and prestigious projects. Beginning with residential commissions from Chicago's wealthy and elite, they continued with the development of the Skyscraper. Projects included the Women's Building, the Masonic Temple, the Rookery, and the Monadnock Block. Root died before their largest and most prestigious commission could be realized: The World's Columbian Exposition. Daniel Burnham, assisted by his new design partner, Charles Bowler Atwood, and a strong collaboration with the country's eastern architects and artists guided the Exposition to a resounding success. And with the national reputation earned and the connections made, D.H. Burnham and Company moved to become among the largest and most important architects in the country. Skyscrapers, Department Stores, Railway Stations, and Urban Planning were areas of expertise and innovation.

With his large scale introduction of the Beaux Arts Aesthetic in both Architecture and Planning, Daniel Burnham and his Ecole designers, changed the face of the early 20th Century American Cities. And none more than his hometown of Chicago. Take a look. Below is a Sampler of D.H.Burnham & Co's work in Chicago. Click on Images to see more.

No Architectural firm, before or since, has had a greater impact on Chicago.

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Fine Art Photographs of Chicago Landmark Architecture and Sculpture

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THE WRIGLEY BUILDING

2012-01-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

and NORTHWESTERN TERRA COTTA COMPANY

We think of the Wrigley Building as the grand architecture of GRAHAM, ANDERSON, PROBST AND WHITE. And it is. Trapezoids. Towers. The Clock, of course. Bronze. And gleaming Terra Cotta. GAPW led the team.
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But designs for the terra cotta were not entirely generated by the Architects. Uncredited "Modelers" from the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company are largely responsible for the play of light across the architect's surfaces.. And for the invention of those characters ....who inhabit the clay.

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SCHLESINGER and MEYER

2011-12-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

LOUIS HENRI SULLIVAN

It is possible to be overwhelmed by Louis Sullivan's ornament at the Schlesinger and Meyer Department Store on Chicago's State Street. Or to overlook it entirely. Two stories of black metal spanning enormnous sheets of plate glass on a gray day can camouflage Sullivan's highest art. Afternoon sun, in late summer, can make this remarkable Sullivan masterpiece ... unforgettable.

Symmetrical patterns contrasted with pure flights of fancy. Incised geometries in opposition with three dimensional sculpture. Heavy geometries. Organic metal ... sprung to life. Hidden in the consistency of this black facade, Sullivan (etal) has created a highly complex and contradictory fantasy. One that changes - unpredictably - with the light and season.

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GEORGE UNGER

2011-12-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

Who is George Unger?
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GeorgeUnger is typically listed among the credits for the bas reliefs at the MedinahAthletic Club. Other credits include Carl Beil and Leon Hermant. And the Medinah's architect, WalterAhlschlager.

Havingnever heard of him, and being familiar with the others, I could never haveguessed the significance of his participation.

A quicktrip to the Netherland Plaza and CarewTower in Cincinnati, where Unger is liberally creditedwill dispell any questions. Carew Towerand the Medinah Athletic Club were concurrent commissions for Chicago Architect Walter Ahlschlager. And both commissions required a lot of"bizazz". Fresh from New York and hiscommissions for the Roxy and the Beacon, Ahschlager knew "bizazz" -and set interior/theater designer George Unger to work. In both locations. And somehow ... the Medinah's potentates of Chicago .... foundthemselves inspiring rams, dolphins, and seahorses in Cincinnati.

A smallworld indeed.

Link Herefor photos of Chicago'sMedinah Athletic Club.

Link Herefor photos of George Unger, Carl Beil and Leon Hermant's Bas Relief"Contribution."

Link Herefor photos of Cincinnati'sNetherland Hilton

Link Here and Here for photos of Cincinnati's Carew Tower

George Unger may have died in Los Angeles in 1951. Unconfirmed. I have been unable to trace his life through the War and Depression that spelled the end to Deco and flights of fancy that make the Medinah Athletic and the Netherland Hilton Landmarks in the 21st Century.

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

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C is for Cordwell

2011-10-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

JOHN DONALD CORDWELL 1920 -1999

I believe it was the early eighties. Late seventies, maybe. The day, though, I remember clearly. Brilliant sunshine and hours passed in HarborCountry waiting for the party.

The annual Solomon Cordwell Buenz office get-together was anevent. SCB was up and coming and a job there was coveted. I attended that year- in an old but still elegant Lakeside beachresort, as the guest of theirspecifications consultant. I was nervous,reticent and would have been glad to pass the evening quietly, seated, on a farcorner of the terrace. Barbara M, though,would have none of that. She took me by thearm and headed straight for "the boss." "John."

John Cordwell was in rare form. THE John Cordwell. Director of the Chicago Plan Commission inthe fifties. Urban renewal philosopher. Architectof Carl Sandburg Village.RAF fighter pilot. A small crowd had gathered around him. The English accent was unmistakable. He wore an ascot.

" My Grandmother had the perfect remedy forcrabs." He sipped from hiswineglass, glanced at his admirers, and then turned away, as though he hadcrossed a line, said enough. But he turned and began again....(the smilewas still imperceptible).

"She was a remarkable woman. Lived to be 108." More small talk about her etiquette and fine characterand then.... " of course I've neverHAD crabs. No, never. And whySHE'D need to know a remedy for them is beyond me..." Everyone's eyes rolled..... He paused again. This time at length. Until someone asked, "well, whatis this remedy?" John shot back "IS THISSOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW?". Roars of laughter. And then anothercarefully manufactured awkward silence followed by, "you simply rub sourcream on your private parts."

By this time, finally, everyone realized that we had been"taken." And almostsimultaneously, as a group, asked how sour cream could possibly work -- John was waiting. "The little crabs eat the sour cream. All of it. And get so FAT that they simply fall off." He chuckled, exited (stage left) and left us... laughing and shaking our heads.

I had forgotten all that. Until I found John's picture whileresearching SCB for a future post. And Iam reminded that Architecture is a story of buildings AND people --

JOHN DONALD CORDWELL

and that we are losing both. Far too quickly.

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A is for AHLSCHLAGER

2011-10-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

Researching Chicago Architects for upcoming CAITL posts, two online resources recently caught my attention.

First, AMERICAN BUILDER MAGAZINE, 1921 has an extensive collection of the works of Walter W. Ahlschlager. (Don't miss Dutch Boy's advertisement for their very best White Lead Paint!) Among Ahlschlager's credits are the Medinah Athletic Club (now the InterContinental on North Michigan Avenue) and Carew Tower in Cincinnati. I was pretty proud of this "find" ... until Google told me that it was featured in ARCHITECTURECHICAGO PLUS .... back in 2006. Still, it is worth the re-post.

And next, THE WESTERN ARCHITECT, Volume 30, published in May 1921 contains (among other interesting articles) an obituary for the 95 year old Frederick S. Baumann. Bauman (according to JSTOR) is the City's first German immigrant architect. His office opened in 1850. With his brother, Edward, Frederick is responsible for the McComick House at 660 North Rush and the Washington Block at Washington and Wells. Both are CHICAGO LANDMARKS. He also did the recently restored facade of the Rae Building, with its very nice, but uncredited scultpure. Baumann's published engineering work, well respected in his lifetime, is largely forgotten. A copy of his Foundations and Foundation Walls is available from GOOGLE EBOOKS - for the hardcore historians.

A is for Ahlschlager, B is for Baumann ... My photo website is beginning to take shape. For a look at the work in progress link here: THE CHICAGO LOOP

WALTER W. AHLSCHLAGER

Now, if I could just find a picture of Frederick Baumann.....

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SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

2011-09-12T03:52:00.000-07:00

I am advised to see "something beautiful each day." Often a tall order.

Untitled. DENNIS DAVIS

But today was easy. First, another remarkable blog post from Lynn Becker . Then, a first look at a collection of work by artist Dennis Davis. And then, that little sunset.

And now? I'm (almost) off on vacation. For more work by Dennis Davis visit Miller Beach Art For another post on this site? We're two weeks away. In the meantime, visit our work in progress --

THE CHICAGO LOOP

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D. H. BURNHAM & COMPANY.

2011-09-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Frederick Dinkelberg

Daniel Burnham hired New York architect Frederick Dinkelberg in 1892 to assist his new design partner Charles Atwood with the World's Columbian Exposition. In addition to the Fair, Dinkelberg assisted Atwood with the Marshall Field & Company and the Ellicott Square commissions. Dinkelberg went on to become Burnham's "facade designer" -- and is credited with design for the Heyworth Building, the Railway Exchange, the Conway Building and the Flatiron Building in New York. Dinkelberg left D.H. Burnham and Company in 1908 when an internal reorganization named Peirce Anderson its lead designer. Dinkelberg's "last hurrah" was the Jewelers' Building at 35 East Wacker. (And it was quite a hurrah...) But of all Frederick Dinkelberg's commissions this little house designed in 1891 may have been among his best memories.

The Villa Margherite. 4 South Battery Street. Charleston, South Carolina

Credit Charleston County Public LIbrary

The opportunities that employment at D.H. Burnham & Company brought to Dinkelberg could not have been gained elsewhere. But at a price. DHB was a corporate machine, taking individual contributions and crediting them as its own. For the commission on Battery Street, Dinkelberg was given full credit. For his assistance to the opium addicted Atwood.... not so much.

Link to another photo of this little gem at the Art Institute of Chicago

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THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CHICAGO

2011-07-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

10 South Dearborn Street
C.F. Murphy Associates and The Perkins and Will Partnership

1969

It's easy to get wrapped up in the History of Chicago's Buildings and Architects -- but last Wednesday the light was so perfect that First National Plaza looked as crisp and new as 1969.

FIRST NATIONAL PLAZA

DeStefano Keating's 1 South Dearborn and SOM's Inland Steel in the Background
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DANIEL BURNHAM'S CLOCK

(Only partially obscuring Helmut Jahn's Xerox Center)
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I walked the length of Dearborn Street that sunny day of perfect light. Marina City. Daley Plaza. The Brunswick Building. First National Bank. Inland Steel. The Marquette. The Federal Center. The Fisher. The Monadnock. The Old Colony. The Manhattan. The Morton. Dearborn Street Station.....

I was reminded of the quote on the Tree Studio -

Ars longa. Vita Brevis.

FISHER BUILDING. The Client

2011-06-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

LUCIUS G. FISHER

Lucius Fisher's father visited Chicago in 1837, where he found corn (of the small yellow variety) growing on State Street between Washington Street and Lake Street and decided that the place had little future. He took his new wife (a distant relative of Marshall Field) to Beloit Wisconsin to settle, raise a family and become successful. In 1866 he changed his mind and returned to Chicago.

LUCIUS GEORGE FISHER. Credit Google

Lucius was born in Beloit on November 27, 1843. He passed the entrance exam to Beloit College, but instead headed west to Colorado during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. He returned "across the plains" in a wagon pulled by a six yoke of oxen. (I wonder how often the Grandkids heard THAT story.) He then headed east to New York City where in 1863 enlisted in the Union Army, fighting in the Shenendoah Valley. In 1866 he, too, moved to Chicago.

His first job in Chicago was with the Rock River Paper Company. Shortly after he bought a controlling interest in the Wheeler and Hinman Paper Company which he renamed Union Bag and Paper. In 1870 he married Katherine Louise Eddy. And from this point on, Lucius' success was nothing less than meteoric. Katherine's brother, Alfred D. became general counsel to the Standard Oil Company. And Lucius' aquisitions in the "Bag Business" paralleled the acquisitions in "Oil Business."

Eventually Lucius was worth some $27,000,000.00 (that's in 1900's value) owning 18 paper mills, vast areas of timber, and several pulp mills. In the mid 1880's he invested heavily in Chicago Real Estate.

This is the man who came to Daniel Burnham in 1895 with the commission for the Fisher Building, which would be the headquarters of Union Bag and Paper Company.

Burnham's life experience was much like his client's (less the Civil War experience): missing college, an adventure out west, an advantageous marriage, and a successful career beyond all expectations. Fisher's journey of expansion and consolidation had taken him from Rock River to the Union Bag, Burnham's would cover Union Stockyards to Union Station.

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Lucius Fisher did enjoy his architecture. In 1900 he bought the Nickerson Mansion. And each night, after a day at the Fisher Building, he came home to THIS.

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Union Bag and Paper Company merged with Camp Manufacturing in 1956 to form Union Camp. The Union Camp was acquired by International Paper in 1999.

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Although the flat bottomed paper bag was invented by a man, Ms.Margret Knight in 1870 invented the device to cut, fold and paste paper bag bottoms

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The cherub-like sculptures on the south face of the Fisher Building are often referred to as "The Fisher Twins" Lucius did not have twins, and his son was 18 at the time of construction. So THAT mystery remains unsolved.

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DOOR PERSON AT THE FISHER

The charming and informed Door Person at the Fisher Building told me that, not so long ago, two cabs filled with "Fishers" arrived unannounced at the Building, posed for a family portrait, and left..... Wouldn't I like a copy of THAT photo.

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THE FISHER BUILDING

2011-05-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

CREDITS

LOCATION
343 South Dearborn Street
The Chicago Loop

CLIENT
Lucius Fisher

ARCHITECT (Original Structure) 1896
D.H. Burnham and Company
Charles Atwood, Partner-in-Charge of Design
E.C. Shankland, Engineer

ARCHITECT (Addition) 1907
Peter Weber with E.C. and R.M. Shankland Engineers

ARCHITECT (Lobby Renovation) 1920 (unconfirmed)
Unknown

CONTRACTORS (Original)
Pioneer Fireproof Construction Company
Northwestern Terra Cotta Company
Rittenhouse & Embree Company
Evans Marble Comopany
Frank L. Davis
Winslow Brothers Company
L.H. Prentice Company
Grimshaw Company and General Electric
Alfred Barker
P. F. Corbin

LINKS
Chicago Landmarks
Historic American Buildings Survey.
Charles Bowler Atwood
Village Green

CURRENT MANAGEMENT
The Village Green

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The credits are just the beginning. Each has a story. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at the Fisher's structural innovations, its fireproofing, elevators, and interior finishes. It's expression of the Chicago School of Architecture. And its personal stories. But today, we celebrate the FISH.....

Lucius Fisher, I think, must have had quite a sense of humor. Fish... Fisher.... Get it ??

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For more photographs of CHARLES ATWOOD's work in Chicago,

LINK HERE

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DANIEL BURNHAM. An Education

2011-05-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Summarizing Daniel Burnham's move toward, and education in Architecture --1) At Chicago's Central High he learns he can draw (thank you Miss Starr for noticing). 2) At the New Church Academy in Waltham, Mass, he is taught by young Swedenborgian Harvard graduate Joseph Worcester (who, later, becomes central to the Arts and Crafts Movement in San Fransisco. 3) In Cambridge, he is tutored by Hayward Brown Tilley who introduces him to the philosophies of William Morris, John Ruskin and WPP Longfellow. 4) In Chicago, he works for Sanford Loring (terra cotta expert and later, president of Chicago Terra Cotta) and William LeBaron Jenney (structural innovator and classmate at the Ecole Centrale of Gustave Eiffel. 5) He works for John van Osdel (Chicago's first architect) and W.B. Wheelock (Chicago old school architect and sometime partner of W. W. Boyington). 6) He works for Asher Carter (architect of Old St. Pat's) William Drake and Peter B. Wight (inventor of multiple advanced fire proofing systems.)

Art. Inspiration. Philosphy. Building Materials. Structural Engineering. A grounding in Chicago's Culture of Architecture. And a course in advanced Fire Proofing.

If this is attributable to his luck, Daniel Burnham was a lucky man. And if to his Faith, its time to learn to spell (correctly) Emanuel Swedenborg! And there was more good fortune to follow: Margaret Sherman and John Wellborn Root --- and that elusive Harvard Degree.

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I've spent some weeks researching Daniel Burnham's early life and education -- Next week I'll begin again with his Architecture -- and a discussion of the FISHER BUILDING.

Interior Stair. THE FISHER BUILDING

Chicago School vs. a Classic renovaton. Structural Innovations and Fireproofing Systems. Elevators. Handcrafted ornament. The amazing kindness of Daniel Burnham. Lucius Fisher. Misplaced credits.....and rumors of a Hookah Pipe.

So, what's not to like?

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DANIEL BURNHAM's Uncle Joe

2011-04-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Joseph Worcester 1836-1913

Daniel Burnham left Chicago in 1863 to study at Thomas Worcester's Swedenborgian School in Waltham Massachusetts. Here, he met Thomas' son, Joseph, who would become his teacher, mentor and lifelong friend.

Daniel's time with Joseph was short -- less than two years. But when Daniel returned to Chicago (after that little side trip to Nevada) he knew he wanted a career in architecture. But this post is not about Daniel Burnham. It is about "Uncle Joe."

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Joseph Worcester was born in 1836 in Waltham Massachussetts. He graduated Harvard studying divinity (and architecture and drawing at Lawrence Scientific School) where he had been strongly influenced by William Morris , John Ruskin, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Emanuel Swedenborg.) In 1864 he left Waltham to visit the San Francisco Bay area (traveling via schooner, rounding Cape Horn) . He returned to stay --after a trip to Europe -in 1867.

The Swedenborgian Church under Joseph Worcester's leadership became the center of the Bay Area's arts community. Worcester's own views on architecture significantly advanced the Arts and Crafts movement in California . Names that fall within Worcester's Circle include Bernard Maybeck, A. Page Brown, Willis Polk, Julia Morgan, Phoebe Hearst, William Keith, John Muir, Frederick Law Olmsted.

Worcester sat on Boards that reviewed the architecture and master plans for Berkeley and Stanford. And, with Willis Polk, Worcester encouraged Daniel Burnham to submit a Master Plan for the City of San Fransisco. And if not for that Earthquake.....

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In 1888 ideas were afoot to match New York's Statue of Liberty at the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Daniel Burnham REALLY wanted that commission.

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In 1892, when Daniel Burnham was nearly buried in Chicago's Columbian Exposition, he still found time to correspond with "Uncle Joe" regarding the architecture of the new Swedenborg Church in San Francisco.

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Edward Bennett was from California, educated at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris with a gift from Phoebe Hearst (where he met Peirce Anderson) . Bennett worked with Burnham, Worcester, and Polk on the Plan of San Francisco. Peirce got Washington DC.

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H.H. Richardson left Lawrence Scientific in 1860 -- where he might well have been Worcester's classmate. (Unconfirmed). Worcester's Papers at Berkely include photographs of Richardson's work at Trinity Church in Boston.

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Joseph Worcester's major life achievements were still in the future when he taught young Daniel Burnham, fresh from Central High. But a man of this intellect, optimism, confidence and creativity --and Faith -- could certainly have shown him "possibilities."

Daniel may not have been "educated" in Waltham. But he knew the way.

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DANIEL BURNHAM. The Civil War

2011-04-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

When lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d,

And the great star early droop’d

in the western sky in the night,

I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

O ever-returning spring! trinity sure to me you bring;

Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west,

And thought of him I love.

Walt Whitman 1865

Walt Whitman. Credit Novel House Inn.

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Every generation has its War. Mine was Viet Nam, though I never fought. My father's was World War II, though he never spoke of it. It was some years before I found that my parents belonged to the "Greatest Generation." And that there were personal stories in the words "Bataan" and "Corregidor" I only knew that I lived in a very comfortable suburban home with oak trees in the back yard, maples on the street and a sandy beach just over the hill. And that in the basement, in the storage room, on the top shelf, there was a Japanese ceremonial sword in a velvet box.

The lessons of war seem not to pass from generation to generation. They simply and quietly define those who learn them, live with them. And are lost by sons and daughters.

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Daniel Burnham volunteered to fight in the Civil War when he was 15 years old. How could he not? Chicago was alive with Union Patriotism and the Underground Railroad. His father's wholesale drug business was booming. (What better wartime business than drugs?) Talk of war was everywhere. Ten thousand Confederate soldiers were imprisoned at Camp Douglas. (Three times that amount were rumored at Andersonville.) And Lincoln, after all, was from Illinois.

Edwin Burnham, Daniel's father, "de-enlisted" 15 year old Daniel, by reason of age. And by the time Daniel was of draftable age, Elizabeth, his mother, had sent him to Thomas Worcester's Swedenborgian School in Waltham Massachusetts.

I don't know if Daniel was in Chicago when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Or when Abraham Lincoln's draped coffin was carried from the Illinois Central Station on Randolph Street to City Hall.

But whether he saw it, or read of it, these tragedies, doubled by the Great Fire that soon destroyed his home town, would leave scarred memories for a lifetime.

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President Grant. The Panic of 1873. Railroads. The election of Rutherford B. Hayes. Western expansion. Reconstruction. For the next twenty years the Civil War and its denouement shaped the country. These are the years when Daniel Burnham honed his craft. And imagined possibilities.

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This is when Daniel Burnham "began." And we should not be surprised, if we look closely, to see echoes from this time past in his planning, architecture, aspirations and morality.

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I've completed the photography for a second look at D.H. Burnham and Company's Fisher Building -- to be featured in future posts. But, there is always "one more mystery." Reviewing the varied work of Charles Atwood, the Burnham design partner credited with Phase I of the Fisher, I am unsure if Atwood was a versatile and prolific architect, in control of his work -- or if assistants Peter Weber and Fred Dinkelberg repeatedly covered for him. Right up to the end. I'd be glad for any of your thoughts. Contact me HERE with fact or opinion. Thanks.

DANIEL BURNHAM. Central High

2011-04-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

After leaving the Garden City Institute, Daniel Burnham was enrolled in Chicago Public Schools. He attended Jones to finish his elementary education, and went on to Central High, at the corner of Monroe and Halsted. At Central, Burnham made lifelong friends (and business connections) including Nevada prospecting partner Edward Waller. (We'll hear more about him when we blog the Rookery).Link here for the state of the CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS in 1879 and before. ( It looks like one of the Swedenborgian Snows may followed Daniel from the GCI to Central.)

CENTRAL HIGH. Halsted Street at Monroe. Credit CPS.

While researching Daniel Burnham (while researching anyone, for that matter) I look for things we might have in common -- Chicago, for example. But the Chicago of Daniel Burnham's youth bears little resemblance to my Chicago. We are separated by 6 Wars and Fire. Chicago in the late 1850's was preparing for War with the South. Stephen A. Douglas (of the Lincoln/Douglas debates) had recently donated a portion of his Oakenwald to the University of Chicago.
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OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. Cottage Grove near 34th

Archival Photographic Files, [apf2-05352], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Look at those towers! The Building was done by W. W. Boyington. John Root couldn't resist a good tower either.... look at Lynn Becker's post describing Burnham and Root's Church of the Covenant.

CAMP DOUGLAS AND THE OLD UC. 35th near Lake Shore

Archival Photographic Files, [apf2-05364], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

By 1860 Camp Douglas had been established to train new Civil War recruits. By 1861 the Camp had become more ominous....as a prisoner of war camp for captured confederates. Link HERE for more on the Lincoln/Douglas debates.,

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I highly recommnend the University of Chicago Archival Photographic Files....but only when you've got some time! Link HERE.

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We're in the process of proofing, refining and obtaining permissions for the publication of our newest project. Preview the work here.

MARTINY. 1893

The Parthenon Frieze

Photography by Gregory H. Jenkins AIA

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Swedenborg

2011-03-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

In 1854 eight year old Daniel Burnham was enrolled in the Garden City Institute, a Swedenborgian Academy founded by Jonathan Scammon and administered by H. Orville Snow. Two years later the building burned and Daniel was enrolled in public school.

Burnham's Swedenborgian influence did not end with the Institute. Father, Mother, Uncle, Grandfather, Brother and Sister were signators to the Swedenborgian Church in Chicago. Daniel was further educated in Waltham, Massachusetts by Joseph Worcester, son of Thomas, founder of the Swedenborgs in Boston. And finally he was tutored by Harvard Graduate and Swedenborgian Thomas Brown Tilley.

Central to Swedenborgian belief is Divine Providence and the concept of Usefulness. Plus 17 volumes of far ranging philosophy and science recorded by Emanuel Swedenborg 1668-1772. And while all of this is very interesting stuff -- and especially in tune with nineteenth century transcendentalism -- the connections that Daniel Burnham formed through his Church look to be every bit as important to his Architecture as the religion itself.

Jonathan Scammon, founder the of the Swedenborgian Community in Chicago, became one of the wealthiest men in America and was instrumental in the founding of the Chicago Historical Society. And with William Ogden in building the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad.

Joseph Worcester, in addition to running the Swedenborgian School in Waltham was an amateur architect. Soon after Daniel left Waltham, Joseph moved to San Fransisco founding the Swedeborgian movement on the Bay -- which included Architect Bernard Maybeck, and naturalist John Muir. Worcester was particularly interested in the Arts and Crafts Style and was familiar with the works and writings of John Ruskin, Viollet le duc, and William Morris. Daniel and Joseph remained lifelong friends.

Thomas Brown Tilley introduced Daniel to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's nephew, architect WPP Longfellow -- with Swedenborgian interests and a considerable knowledge of Architecture. And, with a short leap of faith --I will assume that Daniel also met Henry -- whose use of Swedenborgian philosophy in poetry is well documented.

When Daniel Burnham returned to Chicago in 1871 he had seen what he wanted to be, knew what it looked like, and had picked up enough "Architecture" to know that when he met future partner, John Root, working in Peter Wight's office, that John was "the real deal." I'd call THAT an education

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Swedenborg followed Daniel throughout his life. Steinway Hall. Phoebe Hearst. The Women's Building. The Masonic Temple. The Chicago Plan. Commissions and people entertwined with Daniel Burnham and his uncanny nack for lifelong friendships. More on this to follow.

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The Saloon Building

The early Chicago Swedenborgians shared the Saloon building with the Chicago City Council, the Unitarians, the Chicago Lyceum, the US District Court and the Chicago Daily Journal. The building was owned by Jonathan Scammaon.

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A Special Thanks is due the Swedeborgian Library here in Chicago at 77 West Washington Street.

Link HERE.http://www.swedenborglib.org/ ..... where I have much more to learn.

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PREVIEW THE EXHIBIT

MARTINY.1893

THE PARTHENON FRIEZE

Photographs by Gregory H. Jenkins AIA

DANIEL BURNHAM. 1854

2011-03-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth, Daniel Burnham's mother, kept the family in Henderson, New York as long as it took to care for her ailing father, Holland Weeks. But after Reverend Weeks' death, the family was ready to leave the quiet shores of Lake Erie. Edwin, Daniel's father, saw safe opportunity along the Erie Canal in Rome, NY. But Elizabeth insisted on Chicago. Daniel's rich Uncle Dyer had preceded them by two years and had developed a successful law practice. (Note to self. Where was Dyer when Edwin was fleeced in a late 1853 deal to buy a Joliet stone quarry?)

The Burnhams arrived in Chicago in 1854. Just in time for a cholera epidemic. Most of the town still occupied undrainable swamp. But the seemingly impossible task of raising street levels by ten feet (and jacking up the buildings that faced them) had begun. Chicago's population had doubled since 1850. Filth and growth were palpable. The Rock Island Line had just connected Chicago to the Mississippi via railroad. -- making even faster growth possible. And what seemed an impossible turn of events, the Chicago River was closed at Clark Street. A ship had rammed the bridge.

And there were Germans. Speaking German. Everywhere.

It's dangerous territory for a Blogger to guess what might have impressed or affected 8 year old Daniel Burnham most during these years. Although it is safe to assume that the move was not easy. I would look for familiar things. Amid the strangeness and chaos and filth.

The symbol of stability and comfort would be the fine, white clapboard houses. With columns. Greek Revival. Like rich Uncle Dyer's house, left behind in Sackets Harbor. Or the Widow Clarke's house in Chicago and the dozens like it.

The Widow Clarke House

Photo Credit Due the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance

It should be no mystery why, later in life, Daniel would so easily accept the classic columns, (albeit improved, and presented in stone) or why he would so thoroughly understand the need for a City Beautiful.

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Both Daniel Burnham and the Widow Clarke House took their place on South Prairie Avenue. Though, some 100 years apart.

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Researching this post, I discovered that it was NOT Horace Greeley who said "Go West, young man....." It was Hoosier newspaperman John Soule in 1851. The same John Soule who ended up Pastor of the Highland Park Presbyterian Church. He died in 1891.

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PREVIEW THE EXHIBIT

MARTINY.1893

THE PARTHENON FRIEZE

Photographs by Gregory H. Jenkins AIA

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Youth

2011-03-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago surrounds us. Defines us. Many of us walk by or into Burnham buildings every day. His presence in Chicago is palpable. He seems quite close. Part of our immediate history. We are fooled. He is not.

Daniel Burnham was born on September 4, 1846.

His grandparents were active in the American Revolution. Saw the Louisiana Purchase. His father and mother were contemporaries of the War of 1812. Daniel's own birth date roughly coincides with the Annexation of Texas and the Mexican War. In 1846 the United States of America consisted of 29 states. Iowa had just joined the Union.

1846. That was during the Tyler Administration, that took its place after the untimely death of William Henry Harrison (old Tippecanoe -- who saved Indiana from the Indians in 1811.) Before telephones, radio and railroads. Electricity. Rigid frame construction. Elevators. Skyscrapers.

Below is a time line of Daniel Burnham's youth.

1846 Daniel Burnham born in Henderson, New York. the sixth of seven children.

1854 Burnham Family moves to Chicago.

xxxx Daniel is enrolled in Snow's Swedenborg Academy

xxxx Daniel is enrolled in Central High School

1861 Daniel Volunteers to fight in the Civil War. Enlists in the Nineteenth Illinois Infantry.

1861 Edwin Burnham "de-enlists" Daniel.

1863 Daniel sent to the New Church School in Waltham, Massachusetts kept by Reverend Joseph Worcester

1865 Daniel sent to Bridgewater, Massachusetts to be tutored by Harvard graduate, Tilley Brown Hayward.

1866 Daniel is introduced to architect William P. P. Longfellow.

1867 Daniel "chokes" at the Harvard and Yale entrance exams.

1868 Daniel returns to Chicago and works for William LeBaron Jenney

1868 Daniel prospects for silver in White Pine County, Nevada

1870 Daniel works briefly for John Van Osdel, H. B. Wheelock and Gustave Laurau.

1872 Daniel works for Carter, Wight and Drake

1873 Daniel forms partnership with John Root.

1876 Daniel marries Margaret Sherman

There is an interesting story associated with each of these dates. (And the times in between) (More on this to follow). An even more interesting story is how this 19th Century man moved so easily into our Twentieth.

ELIZABETH BURNHAM

In Daniel's early years, his mother, Elizabeth seems to be the Burnham family's moving force. And living well into the 1890's she continued to play an important part of Daniel's life.

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BURNHAM AND ROOT meet the Harvey Girls.

2011-02-26T15:42:00.000-08:00

How does the Chicago firm of Burnham and Root gain an 1885 commission for a hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico? Well. Maybe something like this.

With the founding of the Union Stockyards in 1865, Daniel Burnham's father-in-law, John B. Sherman, consolidated a working relationship with nine of the most important railroads serving Chicago. Among them was the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Although the financing for the CB&Q came from the east, Operations were located in Chicago. The President of the CB&Q was James C. Peasely. That's Chicago southsider James Peasely, member of the prestigious Calumet Club (an 1881 Burnham and Root Commission obtained primarily from some newly obtained Prairie Avenue connections). So with good personal recommendations (the Shermans), and a proven track record (the Calumet) Peasely could, with all confidence, award Daniel Burnham and John Root the CB&Q stations in Illinois and the company offices in Chicago.

During these years, two promising CB&Q employees would have shown up on the radar. William Barstow Strong, future president of the Acheson, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad. And Fred Harvey -- that's the Fred Harvey, founder of The Harvey Company -- who thought that railroad passengers deserved hot meals and a little respect. Peasely didn't think much of Fred's idea for hospitality services for the passengers. Strong, on the other hand, did.

FRED HARVEY

So as the ATSF rails were laid New Mexico, Bill might have called on Dan saying that Fred wanted to build a hotel......a nice one....one with Harvey Girls and all. And Dan said that he and John would like to draw it for him. And Bill said that would be just fine.

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Fred Harvey later went on to hire Mary Colter, one of the first female architects in the country. Burnham worked with Colter at the Harvey Concessions in Chicago's Union Station. Colter was called a "chain smoking perfectionist" Perhaps her most famous work is at the Grand Canyon.

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Cincinnati, Ohio

2011-02-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

In 1885, a young Daniel Burnham and an even younger John Root attempted to build their architectural practice by entering Design Competitions. It was not so long from then that Cincinnati really was the "Queen City of the West." Winning a competition in Cincy would be good for prestige and business.

Burnham and Root Competition Entry

Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce

Credit Donald Hoffman's Architecture of John Wellborn Root

Unfortunately they lost. Henry Hobson Richardson "took the cake." (No pun intended)

Henry Hobson Richardson Competition Winner

Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

Credit Cincinnati Astronomical Society and Google Open Library

Burnham, though, was by no means done in Cincinnati. The Fourth National Bank, Fifth National Bank, Union Trust, and Shillito's were , major commissions. My favorite later Burnham work in Cincinnati is Peirce Anderson's Schmidlapp Memorial Library, now the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Schmidlapp Memorial Libray

Eden Park, Mount Adams, Cincinnati, Ohio

Credit Cincinnatiview.net

The Schmidlapps and the Burnhams remained lifelong friends.

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Researching this article I came across some excellent source material written by my History of Architecture Professor at the University of Cincinnati, J. William Rudd ((You may not remember me, Mr. Rudd. I was the one in the back row (in the tie-dyed t-shirt) trying to finish my calculus homework while you fumbled with the overhead projector --- never mind the year.)) Thinking back on it, I'm amazed at how much of the course "stuck". A belated thank-you is very much in order. Very much.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR ANDY...

2011-02-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

Every Chicagoan knows what buildings make Chicago home. Sears Tower, of course. Marina City. And the Hancock Center. Trump Tower shows up on the skyline radar more and more often. But always, the skyscrapers are followed by Marshall Field's, The Field Museum, LaSalle Street, Union Station, the buildings on Wacker Drive, and the wall of South Michigan Avenue.

Surprisingly, this second tier of buildings, and major contributions to the implementation of the Chicago Plan came from the same hand. Marshall Field and Company, the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Union Station, the Continental Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Continental and Commercial Bank, and the Insurance Exchange were all designed by Peirce Anderson. Anderson was also responsible, in conjunction with Edward Bennett, for building placement on Wacker Drive near the Michigan Avenue Bridge. And he contributed to the Michigan Avenue Wall with the People's Gas Building and early work on the Straus Bank.

Anderson was D.H. Burnham's senior designer from 1899 until 1908. From 1908 until 1912 Anderson was Burnham's design partner. Following Burnham's death Anderson became the design partner at Graham Anderson Probst and White.

Anderson's work didn't stop in Chicago. He worked with Daniel Burnham to produce the Plan of Manila (and recommended William Parsons for its implementation. He also recommended fellow Ecole student Edward Bennett for Burnham's efforts in San Fransisco). He worked with Burnham on the Plan of Cleveland and the McMillan Plan for Washington DC. Important out-of-state architectural commissions included the Equitable Building and 80 Maiden Lane in New York and Washington DC's Union Station. Anderson was tireless.

Anderson's careful selection and organization of design staff allowed the considerable work at Graham Anderson Probst and White to flow uninterrupted even after his final illness and death.

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Peirce Anderson's architecture is well known in Chicago. Perhaps lesser known, is that Anderson also designed a clock. At the corner of State and Randolph.

THE MARSHALL FIELD& COMPANY CLOCK

Anderson's attention to detail was legendary. The clock is no exception. A matching twin is located at State and Washington.

Anderson was born on this day, February 20, in 1870.

DANIEL BURNHAM. 1870 - 1876

2011-02-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

From Treasure City to Prairie Avenue

During the last three decades of the 19th Century, there was no finer address in Chicago than South Prairie Avenue. Marshall Field, George Pullman, and Phillip Armour were among the most famous residents. And right in the middle, resided Daniel and Margaret Sherman Burnham (See Notes Below). Marshall Field (and later, his estate) awarded Daniel Burnham commissions ranging from his department store on State street to the Conway Building on West Washington. Less familiar names also resided on the Avenue. Wirt Dexter, for example, was General Soliciter and Counsel of the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad. (The CB & Q awarded several important commissions in 1882 and 1883 to the young architectural firm of Burnham and Root.) Connections made in the early years of Prairie Avenue lasted Burnham a lifetime.

Burnham and Root appear to have drawn 9 residences for the elite on South Prairie Avenue. (You'll forgive me if I drool over these commissions just a little.) Who were these people? (Each one must be a story in his own right.) Who, for example was Ozro Clapp, his second important Prairie Avenue client? He seems to have made a name for himself. HERE. And HERE. OOPS.

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Daniel Burnham returned to Chicago from his Nevada mining adventure (see previous post) in 1870. In 1871 he went into his first architectural partnership with Gustave Lareau -- who up and disappeared during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. By the winter of 1872 Daniel and gone to work for Carter Drake and Wight. where he was introduced to architect, John Root. The following year Burnham and Root became partners and the following year the partnership had acquired the commission for the Prairie Avenue Residence of John B. Sherman. Two years later, Burnham had married Sherman's daughter and had moved to the Prairie Avenue house that he and Root had designed.

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From "busted" in Treasure City, Nevada to "at home" on South Prairie Avenue in less than six years.... I am an architect. I'm supposed to be blogging Burnham's architecture. But piece by piece I'm seeing a life the "reads like fiction." Burnham and Root's understanding of Ruskin's architectural theory and their justification of a Charles the First aesthetic in Chicago ---- has just been delayed another day.

DANIEL BURNHAM. Treasure City Nevada.

2011-02-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

Daniel Burnham's 1869 prospecting trip to Nevada has pretty well captured my imagination. (So, let's file the architecture for one more day....it is, after all, Sunday) It is easy to imagine Burnham, in a white coat, suit, and hat driving a white automobile on Michigan Avenue (showing Stannie White the sights). Not so easy to see him (even at age 23) with a pickaxe on the side of Treasure Hill in White Pine County, Nevada .

Daniel Burnham was by no means alone in Nevada. In the summer of 1869 the Union Pacific Railroad carried more than 10,000 passengers from Chicago to Elko, Nevada. Wells Fargo carried them on to Treasure City in an expresss overland stage. Forty-niners had reached California either by arduous packwagon or via ship around Cape Horn. The White Pine Rush of 1869 allowed direct and convenient access via trans-continental railroad. The ladies arrived in hats and jewels.

For more details on the White Pine rush link here For a view of Treasure Hill today, link here For a map showing White Pine silver claims in 1869, link here For an 1869 reprint of the Nevada Overland Monthly, link here

Elko, Nevada was Treasure City's closest railroad stop on the Union Pacific's transcontinental route --an alternate (and shorter) route was to Salt Lake City and then south via Wells Fargo Overland Stage. Link here for a glimpse at Salt Lake in 1869. No golden domes on this horizion -- Assembly Hall wasn't completed until 1882.

And one more thing -- transcontinental railroad equipment was in its infancy. To see Union Pacific's top of the line locomotive, Link here . Talk about changes...... Forty years later, Daniel Burnham did this

Daniel is rumored to have headed back to Chicago on a cattle drive. (See previous post) 1869 was a peak year for driving cattle via overland trails. The railroad that carried Daniel Burnham to Nevada was about to change the cattle industry forever -- and transform Chicago to "Hog Butcher of the World." Link here

DANIEL BURNHAM. Manifest Destiny

2011-02-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

In the mid eighties, I believe, on some kind of whim, without plan or destination, I drove north on US 93 from Las Vegas as far as Ely, Nevada. White Pine County. It was the most distant, godforsaken, hopeless place I had ever seen. By contrast (and some 100 years earlier) Daniel Burnham made the trip to Ely with some real expectations -- and characteristically -- a plan.

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In a Chapter titled "The Long Childhood" Thomas Hines mentions Daniel Burnham' s "Nevada adventures and misadventures." And how "political and financial defeat had met him in the West."

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In 1869, just 20 years after the Mexican War gained much of the American West as US Territory, Daniel Burnham left Chicago to prospect for silver in White Pine County Nevada. Nevada would have been "news." recently obtaining statehood. But more importantly, the California Goldrush of 1849 and the Comstock Lode of 1859 had proved that fortunes could be made in the new West (big fortunes). And the newly completed Union Pacific connecting Chicago to San Francisco made Nevada accessible.

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Would Daniel Burnham have heard the words "Manifest Destiny" at the kitchen table of his parents home on the shores of Lake Erie? Had they discussed the Mexican War? Matthew Perry? Vera Cruz? Maybe. Maybe enought to spark young Burnham's imagination? Maybe. But, surely, Daniel Burnham understood "Progress." And surely he understood that this trip would be one of the last great adventures in the disappearing American wilderness -- sweetened by the (possible) acquisition of some serious cash.

PROGRESS

The "prospecting" scheme appears to have been hatched by Col. Cummings (can that be Col. Cummings of Fort Dearborn...earning his reputation during the Black Hawk Wars and cholera epidemic of 1832?) and financed by longtime friend Edward C. Waller (son of hugely successful attorney Henry Waller -- who just happened to be in Europe while son Edward was chipping away in Ely). The story is that Daniel and Edward returned to Chicago -- dead broke-- with a cattle drive. An interesting story, but it is doubtful that Edward Waller was EVER broke. Financed by his father, Edward went on to become a VERY successful Chicago real estate developer -- conceiving the Rookery (a Burnham and Root commission in 1888) and becoming an important patron of Frank Lloyd Wright.

A ride on the first transcontinental railroad. An adventure in the backwoods mountains of Nevada. A chance to see the disappearing west (one Buffalo Bill Cody could only recreate at the Columbian Exposition of 1893). Cowboys. Indians. A cattle drive to Chicago. An enduring friendship. And maybe, even, first hand stories of Fort Dearborn, Black Hawk and the founding of Chicago?

A plan that didn't quite play out? Well, yes. But, defeat? I think not.

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Wild Oats

2011-02-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

Daniel Burnham was born on September 4, 1846. He formed a businesss partnership with John Root on July 5, 1873 and married Margaret Sherman on January 20, 1876. Root died on January 15,1891. His life with Margaret was long and happy.

THE MONTAUK BLOCK 1881

CONTINENTAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK 1914

Burnham continued to practice architecture until his death on June 1 1912. Among his first major office building commission was the Montauk Block. Among his last, was the Continental and Commercial.

From the Civil War to World War I. Through revolutions of technology, transportation, communication and style. Daniel Burnham faced a lifetime of challenge and change. So. In perfect hindsight, who could blame 23 year old Daniel for trying his hand in a Nevada silver mine. 1869, after all, looked to be a propitious year.

THE FINAL SPIKE. PROMONTORY SUMMIT UTAH. 1869

In fact....... who could have resisted?

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Not a Clue.

2011-02-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it.

Imagining internationally known architect Daniel Burnham..... chasing cutting-edge astronomer George Ellery Hale..... on the shores of turn-of-the-century Lake Geneva .....for a potential Architectural commission in Pasadena..... (for the Wilson Observatory, no less).... sent me "back to the books." To reorganize what I know and find out what I don't.

The results surprised even me: We know surprisingly little of Daniel Burnham. (In the City that invented architecture) Even the basics. A complete list of commissions would be a nice start. ((I learned of the "Stewart" not from Hines' authoritative "Burnham," but from T W Leslie's "ArchitectureFarm")). Which buildings were built. (Which were not) Their date. The address (not too much to ask). Which buildings are extant. Golleee. Maybe a little about each one. The clients. A picture. A drawing. Credits as to design and staff. What we have is conflicting information and second hand opinion reprinted as fact. (Trust me).

I have blogged every Burnham Building that remains in Chicago's LOOP -- starting with what I know and adding to that. (Most Burnham builidngs are not landmarked and have been "updated" with critical components removed). And, of course, except for that once...... I have been polite.

But it seems that it is time for a change in strategy -- to really understand Daniel Burnham. Going outside the LOOP. Starting with what we don't know. More Burnhams have been destroyed than remain. The list below is a partial compilation of downtown Chicago's "lost" Burnhams --demolished -- and for the most part removed from memory.

Merchant's Loan and Trust

Adams Street at Clark

First National Bank of Chicago

Monroe Street at Dearborn

Goddard Building

Monroe Street at Wabash

Hill Building

West Van Buren

Society Brand Building

416 South Franklin

Stewart Building

108 North State Street

Art Institute of Chicago

Van Buren Street at Michigan Avenue

Rialto Building

Van Buren Street

Calumet Building

111 South LaSalle

Rand McNally Building

La Salle at Adams

Central Market

State Street at Market

Chicago Herald

158 West Washington

Chicago Daily News

Grannis Building

North Dearborn Street

Montauk

115 West Monroe Street

Phenix

111 West Jackson Boulevard

Keersarge Building

Jackson and Dearborn

Ashland Block

Clark Street at Randolph

Masonic Temple

State Street at Randolph

Women's Temple

LaSalle Street at Monroe

Majestic Hotel

Quincy Street at Dearborn

Peacock Cafe

114 West Madison Street

Great Northern

20 West Jackson Boulevard

Now. How to begin? NOT A CLUE. But I've been told that its " in the details."

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DANIEL BURNHAM. An Observation

2011-02-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

By 1891, 23 year old George Ellery Hale (1868 - 1938), son of the Developer of Chicago's Reliance Building (link here) had talked the "old man" into building him a little Observatory out back of his Burnham and Root designed mansion on South Drexel Boulevard.

THE DREXEL BOULEVARD OBSERVATORY

SEE MORE ON THIS FROM BLAIR KAMIN

Two years later, George saw the 40" refracting telescope at the Columbian Exposition. By 1897 (with a little help from Charles Yerkes) Hale had found a permanent home for this world class telescope at the Yerkes Observatory (Designed by Charles Ives Cobb) on the shores of Lake Geneva. Link HERE to see the Yerkes.

GEORGE ELLERY HALE

But in 1904, when Hale founded the Mount Wilson Observatory (near Pasadena Ca), he called on Daniel Burnham to prepare the designs. Link HERE to see Mount Wilson today.

From Prairie Avenue to the Calumet Club. From Drexel Boulevard and Lake Geneva to Manila and back. To the San Gabriel Mountains. Daniel Burnham missed no opportunities.

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DANIEL BURNHAM

2011-01-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

THE EIGHT HUNDRED POUND GORILLA

Daniel Burnham had spent the week prior to the Morton's "celebration" at Arbor Lodge (see previous post) with John Wanamaker in Philadelphia. His next engagement would be with the Ryerson's at Lake Geneva. Mr. Burnham was keeping quite a social schedule with the country's elite and moneyed powerbrokers.

.... but how many times might he have heard this? "No, his family has no money. They aren't really anybody. And he isn't particularly well educated. (In fact, he failed the Harvard entrance exams) He's an architect. But he is very bright and Margaret loves him very much......."

There was no business partnership in Daniel Burnham's life more important than his marriage to Margaret Sherman, whose family's social standing allowed a lifetime of connections and remarkable architectural commissions.

How could this not be "the 800 pound gorilla in the room!" Was Daniel simply the solid, happy, confident architect who comfortably fit into Margaret's privileged life as a matter of course? Or was he driven, larger than life, to ever greater accomplishments by the need to "perform" for a social class that may well have considered him "hired help" if it hadn't been for his happy marriage?

With Daniel Burnham, its seems, there are always more questions. A lot more questions than I would have guessed nearly 2 years ago, when on a lark, I began blogging D.H. Burnham and Co.

For a glimpse at turn of the century life on Lake Geneva -- link here. For a peak at Arbor Lodge -- link here.

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DANIEL BURNHAM

2011-01-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEMORIES

I recently came into possession of PHOTO 136 - a single sepia toned photograph without title or dialogue - accompanied by a question mark. And the understanding that it had something to do with Daniel Burnham.

Photo 136

So. What's this?? Looking closely, it is a motley, multigenerational, turn-of the century crew with varying degrees of wealth and education. The picture was taken in hot sun, (coats on at the insistence of the photographer) following a big dinner --- and one glass of wine too many for more than a few! (Back row, center, thinks this little party is the cat's meow.) (Where are the wives?)

Charles Moore, in "Daniel Burnham, Planner of Cities" solves part of the mystery with a title for this photo: "Celebrating Paul Morton's entrance into President Roosevelt's Cabinet at Arbor Lodge, Nebraska City." Moore's text dates the photo in July of 1904. But Burnham is not included in the picture -- although he did attend the two day "bash" arriving via special train (Arbor Lodge is near the Sante Fe mainline) and horse drawn stage from the station

Paul Morton

Paul Morton, the reason for this party, is standing in the second row, sixth from the left. He had just been named Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of the Navy. Arbor Lodge, the neo-classical home of Paul's brother, Joy is the backdrop for the photo. And some backdrop it is -- a 52 room mansion designed by Jarvis Hunt for Joy and his wife. (Joy -standing to Paul's left - founded Morton Salt.)

It would hard to find a family (excluding the Shermans and the Allertons) who had a more profound affect on Daniel Burnham's fortunes than the Mortons. Paul Morton became President of the Sante Fe Railroad (Burnham Commission: The Railway Exchange). As Secretary of the Navy, Morton oversaw the Philippines (Burnham Commission: Plan of Manila.) And later, Morton became President of New York Equitable Life Insurance (Burnham Commission: the Equitable Building.) The Morton's also gave their full and considerable weight to Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. ( And Burnham gave his considerable talent in return.)

So. PHOTO 136.

It shows Chicago's Mortons in a frozen moment of wealth, power, and influence -- throwing one helluva party at the old homestead in Nebraska. And through this photo we get a vicarious peak at how things got done in turn-of-the-century America.

What it doesn't show .... is Daniel and Margaret... in the Morton's sunroom, (summer is only half through) amid the potted palms and tiffany glass (biggest piece west of the Mississippi)planning the following week-end.....at the Ryerson's on Lake Geneva.

Daniel Burnham's Mantel

2011-01-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

What does the architect who has been responsible for the Columbian Expostion, the Plan of Chicago,, and fifty years of groundbreaking architecture put on his mantel?

DANIEL BURNHAM'S STUDY. THE SHANTY MANTEL. EVANSTON

ANDERS ZORN. PORTRAIT OF DANIEL BURNHAM

AUGUSTUS ST GAUDENS. STUDY OF GRIEF

AUGUSTUS ST GAUDENS. ADAMS MEMORIAL in ROCK CREEK

A pot of pussy willows. (Cincinnati Rookwood? A gift of the Schmidlapp's?) Drawings by the children. A portrait by Anders Zorn. And a sculpture by Augustus Saint Gaudens. Placed with some care. But not too much. Without hint of axis, symmetry or pretense...........

Sitting in that little chair, Daniel would have been dwarfed by his accomplishments... not to mention the fireplace!

LITTLE PLANS

2011-01-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

D. H. Burnham & Co.

Following the 1893 Exposition, D. H. Burnham & Co's work consisted almost entirely of major commissions. Almost. In 1914 Peirce Anderson found time for this little Lake Bluff Cottage commissioned by Stanley Field.

The Stanley Field Residence (Credit Charles Moore's "Burnham Planner of Cities.")

Four years earlier, D.H. Burnham & Co also found time for the Chicago Thread Factory (later listed as "owned" by the Marshall Field Estate) in Monticello, Indiana.

The Chicago Thread Company (Credit W.C. Madden's "Monticello")

A good client could expect exceptional service -- even a favor or two. But what drew D.H. Burnham & Company to central Indiana in 1894 to design the Tipton Bank? And which staff member was responsible?

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MONTICELLO is a great little book -- if you're Hoosier, a Farmer,
a German Catholic (lotsa Englehardts and Kundrats here),
a Burnham fanatic or just always curious...

Link Here to Purchase

.

PORTRAITS. Who's Minding the Store?

2010-12-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

D.H. BURNHAM and Company

While Daniel Burnham had "moved south" to oversee construction of the Chicago World's Fair, Dwight Heald Perkins ran D.H.Burnham and Company's Loop Architectural Office.

Dwight Perkins (Credit Prairie Styles Website)

During this time, Perkins oversaw the construction of John Root's Monadnock Building. Brick by brick. Other buildings under construction at this time (according to Thomas Hines) include the Masonic Temple, the Women's Temple, the Ashland Block and some half dozen houses. Mr. Perkins must have been one busy man.

Dwight Perkins (Credit UIC "To Protect and Preserve")

In 1895 Perkins left D.H. Burnham & Co (with the Steinway commission in hand) and a future with the Chicago Public Schools. His contributions to the Cook County Forest Preserve system, alone, would have (and did) put him on the map.

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A HOME GROWN BEAUX-ARTS SURPRISE

2010-12-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

By the early 1900's Massachusetts Institute of Technology had gone "toe to toe" with the Ecole in Paris to produce classically trained architects in the US. Below are two Beaux Arts projects from the 1916/1917 MIT Technology Architecutural Record. Above is A.G. Blackwell's "Municipal Pumping Station," a theoretical combination of Art and Science. Below is second year student E..A. Grunsfeld's Ornithological Museum.

BLACKWELL

GRUNSFELD

E. A. Grunsfeld later designed Chicago's beloved Art Deco Adler Planetarium -- sited near Burnham's neo-classical Field Museum and GAPW's Shedd. The "kids," carefully trained in the Beaux Arts tradition, "betrayed" classicism for Deco -- just as the Beaux Arts Architects had "betrayed" the Chicago School and Francis I for "Rome by the Lake". Just as........

Despite stylistic preferences and the issues of morality in architecture, I gotta say Blackwell drew onehelluva pumping station! Yes. He did.

Credit due "digitized by Google. Link here to the entire publication.

PORTRAITS. D. H. Burnham and Co.

2010-12-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

Relationships begun at the World's Columbian Exposition affected Chicago business and architecture for decades to come. Ed Shankland, Daniel Burnham's structural engineer through 1898, designed the revolutionary moment connections (and those remarkable span dimensions) for Charles Atwood's Reliance Building. The kid, below, is Ernest Graham. (Credit Charles Moore's "Burnham, Planner of Cities.")

E.C. SHANKLAND

ERNEST GRAHAM

Just another kid with a mustache and peacoat. Right?

ERNEST GRAHAM

WRONG. Graham (never shy of the photographer) (and btw,I've heard him referred to as a "steamroller") essentially took over the day to day operations of D.H Burmham & Co. in 1908 and led Burnham's successor firm, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White until his death in 1936.

PORTRAITS

2010-12-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

The man in the very fancy chair is Charles Atwood. This is one of the few photos I've found of the enigmatic Atwood, who served as Daniel Burnham's lead designer and partner from John Root's death in 1891 until his own demise in 1895. (Credit Charles Moore's "Burnham, Planner of Cities.") The man sitting to Atwood's right is the widely respected American classicist,Francis Davis Millett, responsible for color selection and decoration at the 1893 World's Fair.

Charles Atwood

Francis Davis Millet

(Millet is a story in his own right. After years of a "Bohemian lifestyle," Millet settled down, chosing Mark Twain to be best man at his wedding. He was last seen on the night of April 14, 1912 assisting women and children into the lifeboats of the Titanic).

D. H. BURNHAM and Company . Illinois Trust and Savings Bank

2010-12-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

Daniel Burnham's Illinois Trust and Savings Bank (northeast corner of LaSalle and Jackson)(now demolished) dates to 1896/1897 (depending on who's counting). Sequentially that's after Charles Atwood (died in 1895) and before Peirce Anderson (joined the firm in 1899). Possibly Frederick Dinkelberg (Atwood's one time assistant) designed this one -- from sketches begun by Atwood . More "neo" architecture followed, as Burnham filled the firm with Ecole Diplomes. This (and of course the Fair) were the first. Credit due Charles Moore's "Burnham, Planner of Cities."

Each of these photo studies is a (heavily photoshopped) detail taken from the same "base" photograph. The Rookery literally towers to the north. Horse drawn carriages and automobiles share the streets. Cobb's dome at the Federal Center (partially oabscured by filthy air) dates the scene sometime after 1905.

The First National Bank of Chicago

2010-12-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

As we lose Daniel Burnham's Architecture piece by piece (whether by demolition or renovation) we fall ever more to the mercy of our architectural "historians" who tell us "this" and "that." There a very few of us left to remember the original column ornament at the Conway. The dual concourses at the Continental and Commercial. Or the Banking Room at the First.

And so, for the most part, we must believe what we are told.

For the most part. Below is photograph of the Banking Room at the First National Bank of Chicago. (Taken from Architectural Record, Volume 38, July 1915 and Digitized by Google) (Thank-you Google). Following the Credit Photograph are Photoshopped enlargements of the original.

It would be a scholarly treat to compare the architecture at the First with its D.H. Burnham contemporary, The Railway Exchange. To compare column capitals. Horizontal and vertical emphases. Dinkelberg vs...Anderson, Bennett, Polk and Robard. Form and function. The slow mingle of Chicago School and Beaux Arts -- and the moment of change.

Wouldn't I like to be photographer for THAT book....

Best to All for the Holidays

2010-12-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

Digitized by Google.

2010-12-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

I recently re-read Hines "Burnham of Chicago." (Days are cold and short and nights are very, very long....) T'is a good thing I have a sense of humor. Listen at this --

"...we still cannot avoid assessing their weaknesses, significant weaknesses that affected our times. For the lapse into derivative historicism was, then as always, a reflection, in part, of a sipiritual and intellectual indolence, a lack of creative vision and courage. It involved, in some ways, a failure of nerve just as in other ways it suggested the opposite: for in its frequently swollen grandeur and magnitude, in the meglomania of its vast proportions, it represented, indeeed, an excresence of nerve, a compensating thrust of bravado......

Swollen magnitude? Thrust of Bravado? My guess is that the author wears a greasy bow tie and horned rim glasses in want of cleaning. And truly, we play the fools for allowing this book to be our definitive "Burnham." In Chicago of all places. Hog Butcher of the World.

But, thanks to Google and Architectural Record, it is no longer necessary. Volume 38, the July 1915 Issue of Architectural Record is now online. As is Charles Moore's "Burnham, Planner of Cities".

Architectural Record. Digitized by Google.

Primary source materials ... in the Christmas cloud ... along with green flannel and butter cookies proves that some things, at least, remain right with the world. Even on the darkest, shortest days of the year.

MORE CHICAGO ARCHITECTS

2010-12-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Following up on our previous post. These names should not be forgotten, or underestimated. You will be hearing more about them in posts to come.

THEODORE LESCHER ( ?-1910) worked with Edward Bennett on the Plan of Chicago and with Anderson on the Plan of Washington DC . He also assisted Anderson with work on the Field Museum, where it was intended that he would supervise construction. He died of appendicitis in 1910.

GEORGE ROBARD (?-?) drew plans of Orchestra Hall, donated by Daniel Burnham.

LOUIS BOURGEOIS (1856-1930) attended the Ecole des Beaux Art briefly (?), but left to travel to the Middle East and on to Iran. He designed the Bahai Temple in Wilmette, Illinois

CHARLES BEERSMAN (1888-1946 ) joined GAPW in 1919. He worked on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and designed the Wrigley Building and the Straus Bank.

ALFRED SHAW (1895-1970) The Merchandise Mart, the Pittsfield Building, the Civic Opera Block, and the State Line Generating Station in Hammond, Indiana, all for GAPW. Fired by Edward Probst in 1937.

MARIO SCHIAVONI (1883-1939?) Designed the Shedd Aquarium and the Chicago Historical Society.

There is conflicting information online about these men -- anyone with personal knowledge?? -- please contact me. Thanks.

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THE CHICAGO MERCHANDISE MART.

2010-12-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

ALFRED SHAW FOR GRAHAM ANDERSON PROBST AND WHITE.

I posted this photograph of the Merchandise Mart on Facebook, and a friend posted the comment "is this still the largest building in the world?" I didn't know.

THE MERCHANDISE MART

Alfred Shaw, working for Graham Anderson Probst and White designed this building for Marshall Field & Company in 1930. At 4.1 million square feet is was the largest commercial building in the world. (The Beijing and Dubai Airport terminals now hold first and second place based on size alone.)

Consolidating all of Marshall Field and Company's City warehouses into one location seemed to be just the ticket to James Simpson, president of Marshall Field & Company AND Chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission. Especially when that location was sited at the confluence of the country's railroad and steam shipping systems. And (btw) was a major component of the Chicago River improvement recommended in Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago

The only logical selection for a project of this scope, site and importance was the architectural firm of Graham Anderson Probst and White. Alfred Shaw was ready. Designer of the Straus Bank, the Pittsfield Building (tallest in the City at its time of construction) and the Civic Opera Block, Beaux-Arts educated Shaw had joined GAPW at the specific request of design Partner Peirce Anderson.

Talk about credentials!

But for me, the real story here is not the building. (Although the Merchandise Mart remains one of my favorite buildings in the City). The story is Alfred Shaw. Born in 1895, he worked his way into the direct architectural line of succession begun with Daniel Burnham. He was colleague and assistant to William Peirce Anderson. He designed four beloved Chicago Landmarks, still recognized, even today. And then went on to survive the Depression and War that crippled Chicago's architectural community for 25 years......reinvented himself and came out swinging. At the age of 60.

The United of America Building, the first McCormick Place, Mid-Continental Plaza and that elegant, poured in place concrete spiral staircase that leads straight to the Rodin at the Art Institute of Chicago. Not a bad second act, I'd say.

Not a bad first act, either.

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Anderson brought on other notables at GAPW, including Theodore Lescher, George Robard, Charles Beersman, Louis Bourgeois, Frederick Dinkelberg and Mario Schiavoni. (Credit to Sally A. Kitt Chappell's "Architecture and Planning of Graham Anderson Probst and White.) Thank, Anderson, too, for extending Daniel Burnham's direct influence far beyond his lifetime ... almost, even, to our own.

TRUMP TOWER. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

2010-11-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

I will admit to being concerned about the rapid changes of size that have redefined Chicago. A Twenty-First Century Scale imposed on a Nineteenth Century Plan. The Michigan Avenue Wall is out-sized and redefined by development on Wabash Avenue. Wacker Drive and the River are lined with development inconceivable in Daniel Burnham's consciousness of public space. Historic Landmarks have become.....toys within a backdrop of progress.

TRUMP TOWER

Still, when sunlight reflects from Trump Tower, or the Legacy, on certain evenings and mornings, and I allow myself to simply and emotionally accept a sense of beauty undefined by what I think should be right..... I find a photograph. Like this. And guess that there are no, never have been -- easy answers to the aesthetics of right and wrong.

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SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE. The Wall

2010-11-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

South Michigan Avenue is an humbling experience for an Architect. Not so much for the presence of so much fine architecture, but more for Architecture's singular lack of individual effect when placed into the consistency of plane and height of the universally loved South Michigan Avenue "Wall." Peirce Anderson's decadent Roman Columns of People's Gas, Frederick Dinkelberg's brilliant terra cotta facade at the Railway Exchange, and Charles Beersman's Buffalo and Beehive on the peak of the Straus Bank all play "second fiddle" to the Wall that defines the West edge of Grant Park. Even Sullivan's Auditorium (like Krueck and Sexton's Spertus) becomes a part of the whole.

Not to say that architecture, style, diversity and ornament don't contribute to the richness of the urban composition as a whole. They do. But it is the coherence of place and plan that that forever identifies South Michigan Avenue's Architecture with Chicago. And marks the City with a clear hierarchical relationship of solid and void, a defining line of public and private, and a city-scaled geometry that is inherently a Chicago Landmark.

"Make no little plans......" Who doesn't know?

But we seem to have forgotten. Or to have become incapable. No contemporary urban space in Chicago approaches, in quality or scale or impact, the Grant Park/Michigan Avenue composition. And though I'd like to see some "Big Plans" on the drawing boards, we are, today, defined by the foresight and accomplishments of a hundred years past

THE MICHIGAN AVENUE WALL

But for now, that's a good thing . A really good thing. What would Chicago be, after all, ......without the Park, the Lions, the Wall and the defining legacy of the last century's Beaux Arts Planners, Architects and Sculptors?

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CHARLES BOWLER ATWOOD. Biography

2010-10-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

CHARLES BOWLER ATWOOD, Daniel Burnham’s Senior Designer from 1891 until 1895 was born in Charlestown, Massachusets in 1849. He was educated at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University and in the Offices of Ware and Van Brundt. He practiced architecture in Boston and later in New York, where he was credited, while associated with the Herter Brothers, much of detail work of the Vanderbilt Mansion.

Daniel Burnham brought Atwood to Chicago in 1891, to replace John Root as Design Constultant to the Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Atwood’s years in Chicago were productive and remarkable. In addition to the Columbian Exposition, where he designed the Fine Arts Building (now the Museum of Science and Industry), the Peristyle, and the railroad terminal, he contributed to the chicago skyline with marshall field & company, the reliance building and the fisher building.

His Obituary in the New York Times said “...those who knew Atwood merely as a loveable companion, who had the failings of a somewhat artistic and erratic temperment hardly realized that he devoted much time to the serious study of his profession.....”

Facile designer, classicist, sure-handed contributor to the Chicago School of Architecture, and still, a personal enigma, Charles Bowler Atwood’s presence in Chicago tells a shadowed story that begs photography

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CHARLES ATWOOD. Architecture and Ornament

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GREGORY H. JENKINS AIA

CHARLES ATWOOD

2010-10-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

Design Partner for D.H. Burnham and Company.

I find myself, once in a while, (not often, mind you) rarely, (actually), at a loss. Unable to cope, momentarily, (of course), with rapid changes in technology, economy, taste, and scale. It would be nice if things would just...stay the same.....for a bit. So, it is inexplicable that I find some kind of solace in turn-of-the-century Chicago Architecture.

Charles Atwood was design partner for D.H. Burnham and Company, one the largest and most influential Architectural firms in the country, from 1891 to 1895 -- when upheavals in technology, economy, taste and scale rival our own. Electricity. Radio. Elevators. Steel columns bolted to steel beams. Automobiles. ...all new. A Magic City. Economic Bust. Immigrants. Unimaginable wealth. Unimaginable Filth. Classicism vs. Regionalism. Atwood, for 4 years anyway, was able to "deal." At the Fair, he detailed a Classic fantasy. For Marshall Field, a palace, for the ladies. At the Reliance Buillding, a delicate, un-ornamented structural frame that laid lightly on its foundations. And at the Fisher Building --Gothic ornament (for the locals) and a scheme to rival the Chicago Schoolers. Atwood was from New York.

I've enjoyed photographing Atwood in Chicago. Appreciated his flexibility. His expertise in detail. And wonder, -- if he was simply flawed when opium overtook his life, or if it was "the times". Daniel Burnham went on, undeterred, to even greater successes -- first with Frederick Dinkelberg and then with Peirce Anderson and Edward Bennett.

But Atwood quietly died. With just a few buildings remaining, each remarkable in its own right -- divergent in style and reason -- to tell us a story. One that is just out of reach.

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CHARLES ATWOOD. Architecture and Ornament

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GREGORY H. JENKINS AIA

OPEN STUDIO. 10.15.10. NOON TIL SEVEN

55 EAST WASHINGTON STREET - STE 420

CHICAGO 60602

ATWOOD. Museum of Science and Industry

2010-10-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

From Swamp to Fine Art in 18 Months

Charles Atwood began sketches for the Fine Arts Building at the Columbian Exposition in April of 1891. 18 months later this dome capped the rotunda. Daniel Burnham took a tremendous leap of faith in hiring Atwood to replace John Root as the Fair's design consultant. With no time for a personnel mistake. Daniel Burnham's reputation (not to mention the City of Chicago's) relied heavily on the right decision.

Burnham's capacity for "right decisions" stuck with him throughout his career. Root. Atwood. Dinkelberg. Anderson. Bennett. Burnham always, somehow, chose the right designer for the right time.

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CHARLES ATWOOD. The Fine Arts Building

2010-09-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

I would be hard put to identify which of Charles Atwood's projects for Daniel Burnham and Company made the greatest contribution to Chicago Architecture. Marshall Field & Company transitioned Burnham and Root's 19th Century designs (The Rookery and the Masonic Temple) to the 20th Century "Commercial" style. The delicacy of The Reliance Building ( see E. C. Shankland's contribution HERE) clearly expressed its steel frame construction. And the Fisher Building continued the early Chicago School's predilection to the Gothic. But, the greatest public impact, both then and now, is undoubtedly made by the Columbian Exposition's Fine Arts Building (now the Museum of Science and Industry).

Some 120 years after its conception, the Fine Arts Building still "holds its own, " thanks in large part to extensive care given the building by the Museum. Ongoing restorations allow us the luxury to "imagine"..... Wooded Isle is behind us. And Henry Ives Cobb's Fisheries. The World's Fair remains very "close" in Jackson Park. And Atwood's presence is clear.

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CHARLES ATWOOD. Marshall Field & Co.

2010-09-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

THE USE OF ORNAMENT. Light and Texture

"Neo-Renaissance." "Italian Palazzo." "A little of this and a lot of that......" Marshall Field and Company's building at Wabash and Washington, designed in 1891 by Charles Atwood for D.H. Burnham and Company, typifies late 19th Century "Style." It's easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of ornament. We're just not used to it --

Marshall Field. South Facade.

Marshal Field. South Facade Detail

Ornament, here, is used not only for decoration. It establishes texture and rhythm. The combination of "rough" and "smooth" seen in the upper photograph relies on the rhythmed application of VERY small scale ornament (below). D.H. Burnham & Company designers used this technique well into the twentieth century. Peirce Anderson's work at the PEOPLES' GAS is a late example.

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LOUIS SULLIVAN'S IDEA. At the Chicago Cultural Center

2010-09-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Curated by Tim Samuelson. Designed by Graphic Artist Tim Ware.

Rarely have I been as excited by an exhibit as I was, today, at LOUIS SULLIVAN'S IDEA. (So excited, in fact, that I've delayed the post I'd been planning on Charles Atwood.) Ranging through time, detail, and scale, focusing both on the well known and the obscure, this exhibit combines photographs, artifacts, construction documents and text to show facets of Sullivan that are so easily overlooked. Sullivan comes alive, bringing Adler, Edelman, Schneider, and the late 19th century with him. The photos below cannot do the Exhibit justice -- but hopefully they give a taste of what is in store at the Cultural Center.

Remarkable. In every way.

Take a look at ArchitectureChicago Plus' take on the Exhibit HERE along with comments by Tim Samuelson.

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D.H. BURNHAM and Company. Charles Atwood

2010-09-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

A BURNHAM DESIGNER and TEAM PLAYER

Charles Atwood, Daniel Burnham's "Outsider" from New York, gained his reputation for Beaux Arts design details at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and for pushing the envelope at the Reliance Building. But also, and maybe even more importantly, Atwood proved himself to be a team player at D.H. Burnham and Company. The Rookery, Marshall Field and Company, and Buffalo's Ellicott Square are clearly of the same heart, if not the same hand -- and show an evenhanded progression of the development of the highrise office building. (Even more so when one learns that Field's was originally designed as retail on the lower floors and offices above -- those three arches are the location of the now-remodeled light court. )

JOHN ROOT. The Rookery PHOTOCREDIT

CHARLES ATWOOD. Marshall Field and Company

CHARLES ATWOOD. Ellicott Square PHOTOCREDIT

CHARLES ATWOOD. Ellicott Square Interior. PHOTOCREDIT

JOHN ROOT. Roookery. Interiror

Add Burnham's (Dinkelberg's) 1904 Railway Exchange to the mix and you see, clearly, a strong hand guiding Root, Atwood, Dinkelberg (and later Anderson) within the corporate structure.

FRED DINKELBERG. Railway Exchange. Interior.

CHARLES ATWOOD. Marshall Field and Company. Detail

Still there was room for variations on a theme. And creativity best born from the synthesis of Art, Architecture, and Engineering.

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I am very pleased to post this blog from my new Studio in the Pittsfield Building. Overlooking Alfred Shaw's Atrium.

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Charles Atwood

2010-08-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Disciplined. Versatile. Prolific.

Charles Atwood (1849 - 1896). Daniel Burnham's lead designer from April of 1891 through most of 1896. The guy who "replaced" John Root. The opium addict who said he was a bachelor, but supported a wife in New York; who did a couple of interesting buildings (Fisher and Reliance) after the classical badstuff at the Fair (the Fine Arts Palace was "okay" though) and then smoked himself to death just before Christmas of '96. And, yes, there's a restaurant with his name on State Street (a good one, btw).

That's the story. Chicago is full of stories.

Previous posts have referenced some of Atwood's design versatility. They barely scratched the surface. Atwood produced over 30 structures for the Fair alone in a remarkable range of scales and styles. Link HERE for the list. Thomas Hines credits D.H.Burnham and Company with 42 more structures between the years of 1892 and 1896. (Some structures listed have been credited to John Root, some lesser commissions were delegated within the firm.) Still a conservative list would include some 40 or 50 buildings for which Atwood could claim at least partial responsibility in a five year period. This volume of work requires rigid discipline. It is not the product of an impaired mind. And let's look beyond the usual portfolio. Below are images of Terminal Station, The Forestry Building, La Rabida, Ellicott Square Building (Buffalo, NY), the Great Northern Theatre and Office.

THE TERMINAL BUILDING AT THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSTION

CREDIT Link Here

THE FORESTRY BUILDING AT THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSTION

CREDIT Link Here

LA RABIDA

CREDIT Link Here

THE GREAT NORTHERN OFFICE AND THEATER (RIGHT)

CREDIT Link Here

THE ELLICOTT SQUARE BUILDING (BUFFALO, NY)

CREDIT Link Here

I particularly like the Ellicott Square Building. It is a picture perfect transition from Root's Rookery (Atwoods' predecessor at D. H. Burnham) to Dinkelberg's Heyworth Building. (Dinkelberg was Atwood's assistant who followed). We forget that D.H. Burnham and Company was a firm with clients nationwide. And to get the whole story, sometimes we need to travel a little.

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Speaking of Buffalo, I highly recommend Architect David Steel's BUFFALO. Link here for preview and purchase.

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THE FIELD MUSEUM LIBRARY and the BROOKLYN MUSEM are amazing sources for photo images of the Columbian Exposition -- and worth as much time as you can give them.

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Glad to be back online. My new Studio is shaping up nicely, with some exciting new projects in the works.

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D. H. BURNHAM & CO. Charles Atwood.

2010-08-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

The COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION OF 1893. Brown City. White City.
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Architect Charles Bowler Atwood was born in Charlestown Massachusetts in 1849. He studied at Harvard and learned "the trade" in the Boston offices of Ware and Van Brundt. He designed the W. H. Vanderbilt mansion (that's the railroad Vanderbilt) for Herter Brothers, and continued working for the Vanderbilts on his own account.

Daniel Burnham brought Atwood to Chicago to replace John Root, whose death in January of 1891 left Daniel (and Chicago's 1893 World's Fair) without a lead designer. By April of 1891 Atwood, under Burnham's direction, had begun sketches of the Fine Arts Building. Additionally, between the spring of '91 and autumn '92 Atwood designed the Exposition's Peristyle, the Terminal Building and all other structures not assigned to other architects. (Also in 1891, Atwood was at work on the new Marshall Field & Company store at Washington and Wabash.) Frederick Dinkelberg (later a Burnham designer in his own right) was hired as Atwood's assistant.

CHARLES BOWLER ATWOOD

(Nice mustache!) Prior to January of 1891, the World's Columbian Exposition had been conceived as "American" Romanesque, polychromatic, and set in Olmsted's artificially "natural" landscapes. The Fair of 1893 was Classic, White, and Formal. From our viewpoint in the 21st Century the White City, as-built, looks "old fashioned." During the late 19th Century, however, Classicism was viewed as international and very much in fashion -- and Beaux Arts was the Future.

JOHN ROOT. Scheme for the Peristyle at the Chicago World's Fair.
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CHARLES ATWOOD. The Peristyle at the Chicago World's Fair.

JOHN ROOT. Scheme for the Fine Arts Building at the Chicago World's Fair.

CHARLES ATWOOD. The Fine Arts Building at the Chicago World's Fair.

I will not discuss here the change in stylistic direction. (Let's decide the War in Afghanistan, first) But it is of equal magnitude, (for example) to Mies' proposal to replace Charles Ives Cobb's Beaux Arts Federal Building with something of the New Chicago School. And has equal ramifications.

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My introduction to the 1893 Chicago Exposition was on South Shore Drive (in a Buick Roadmaster -- and probably on my birthday) heading north to the Museum of Science and Industry. The derelect "Pinta" was still docked in Jackson Harbor. (Link Here) My father said it was "from the Fair." Interesting. But the real highlight of the day was the U-505 propped on blocks, waiting to cross the Drive. To its new home. Alongside Atwood's Fine Arts Building.

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Credits Due Donald Hoffman's excellent "John Wellborn Root."

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D. H. BURNHAM & CO. Charles Atwood

2010-07-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

Style at the Turn-of-the- Century.

Charles Atwood's apparent stylistic schizophrenia from 1891 until his death in 1895 (his time with D. H. Burnham & Co.) has had me stumped. NO ONE is that ambidextrous. Still, the documentation is there: Atwood was responsible for the Fine Arts Building at The World's Fair, The Palazzo Marshall Field, The Reliance Building, and The Fisher Building. Serpents, goddesses and inverted volutes.

The Fisher Building. Serpent

Marshall Field & Company. Goddess.

The Fine Arts Building. Inverted Volute

But despite my architectural ponderings, the real questions of the day may have had nothing to do with architectural "style." Decision makers were weighing the advantages of alternating current vs. direct, the reliability of vertical transportation systems, and the calculations proving the stability of rigid frame construction.

The Chicago World's Fair. Ferris Wheel

The Chicago World's Fair. Power Generators

The Paris Exposition of 1889. The Eiffel Tower

And here is a tough one -- especially for someone as architecturally centered as I am. The importance of Style, in the scheme of things, at the turn of the century, may not have amounted to a "hill-of-beans". And Architects? We surely played second fiddle to Nicolas Tesla, Gustav Eiffel, and E.C. Shankland. (Remember that name). Industrialization. Mechanization. Electric power. Communications.

Root? Atwood? Sullivan? Anderson? White City? Brown? What did it matter ---- speeding to the top of the tallest building in the world in an open cage elevator -- looking across the Loop and Lake to the horizon.

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Charles Atwood.

2010-07-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

A TOUR DE FORCE. ONE AFTER ANOTHER.
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Charles Atwood, Daniel Burnham's 2nd design partner, made an immediate name for himself at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Augustus St. Gaudens believed that Atwood's Fine Arts Building (now, the Museum of Science and Industry) was the "finest thing done since the Parthenon." ( Burnham concurred.) (St. Gaudens was a master of turn-of-the-century hyperbole. Remember, it was also St. Gaudens who described the Architects' and Sculptor's' Exposition job meetings as the "greatest meeting of minds since the Renaissance.") More on this in future posts. (Quietly understated, I promise.)

But beyond the Fair (an amazing accomplishment in both quantity and quality), the thing that strikes me most remarkable about Atwood is his versatility. Below are photographs of the Fine Arts Building at the Columbian Exposition, the Reliance Building, the Fisher Building and Marshall Field at Wabash and Washington. All his and all completed within a four year period. Field's and the Reliance may have been on the boards at the same time!

THE FINE ARTS BUILDING

MARSHALL FIELD and COMPANY

THE RELIANCE BUILDING

THE FISHER BUILDING

A Greek Temple. An Italian Palazzo. Something kinda French. And Chicago School Gothic (with eagles!) What was he smoking??

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Daniel Burnham. A New Assistant.

2010-07-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

CHARLES B. ATWOOD

On January 15, 1891, in the midst of planning the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, John Wellborn Root died -- leaving his partner, Daniel Burnham, "holding the bag." What emotion, other than rage, would be appropriate?

"I have worked.." (quotes Thomas Hines in his Burnham biography) "I have schemed and dreamed to make us the greatest architects in the world. I have made him see it and kept him at it --- and now he dies ---damn! Damn! Damn!

THE ROOKERY. John Wellborn Root

THE FISHER BUILDING. Charles B. Atwood

Damn is right. I might have added sunnuvabich.

Daniel was often surrounded in his long career by roadblocks that might have stopped a lesser man. Recession. Panic. Drug Addiction. Corporate poltics. Earthquake. Ill health. But in 1891 D.H.Burnham picked himself up without missing a step, and went on to produce what was arguably the most successful World's Fair in the Country's history. It just took a shift of personnel.

Burnham selected New York architect Charles B. Atwood as his new Assistant.. Daniel paid handsomely - 27% of D. H. Burnham and Company's profits. But he was rewarded -- The Peristyle and The Fine Arts Building at the Exposition, Marshall Field and Company (Wabash at Washington), The Reliance Building, and the Fisher Building.

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CHICAGO SCHOOL

2010-07-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

VACATION RAMBLINGS.

Re-reading Donald Hoffman's JOHN WELLBORN ROOT while travelling I-15 north from Las Vegas to Cedar City...... Contemplating those elegant drawings. Yesterday's visit to Gehry's Center for Brain Health much on my mind. And Libeskind's shopping mall at City Center. The Arbiteurs of good taste had said that Vegas needed those accoutrements to be taken seriously. To be World Class. The desert, the mountains, and the neon alone, apparently, couldn't do that.

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Hoffman says that Chicago School Architects did not "express structure" in some deep-seated philosophical statement. Structure was simply exposed when unnecessary skin and ornament was removed from it -- to make it lighter -- to allow tall buildings to be built on the swamped onion fields of Chicago. The School did not channel the mystic aura of some future Mies. In fact all they really wanted (even John Root -- look at the Boatman's Bank, below) was to design something in the style of Francis I. Or Romanesque, maybe. Or Georgian. (Yes, Georgian). But they needed something lighter. (Damned engineers. And damned foundations.)

Chicago architects -- forced to "reason" by the Chicago swamp.

JOHN ROOT. Boatman's Bank

STUDIO LIBESKIND. Crystals. Las Vegas, Nev.

FRANK GEHRY. Center for Brain Research. Las Vegas, Nev.

Forced to reason.

So that the same mutant flower of Bilbao might not rebloom in Las Vegas. Or LA. So that the "metaphysics of presence" is, at least, contextually confrontational. Not idealogically static in its manifestations. Heaven knows that even Studio Libeskind can't compete in status with Louis Vuitton. Now, so does Daniel. I'll refrain from commenting re: convoluted logic. Or the appropriateness of a Frankish reincarnation in Cook County.

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The product of the Chicago School, those "bridgebuilders", cliffdwellers, (and Daniel Burnham foremost) was neither the product of an undisciplined hand nor unlimited resources. It was the product of a problem and a problem solved.

A remarkable creativity born of reason.

That simple. That durable. That inspiring. Reason. Found. Speeding north. Past Moapa. In the desert heat of a Nevada Fourth of July. 2010.

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Credit due Donald Hoffman, ARCHITECTURE OF JOHN WELLBORN ROOT, p 138. This is a great little volume produced by Johns Hopkins Studies in 19th Century Architecture.

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GOOD LINKS

2010-06-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

I will be on vacation through July 5. A well deserved rest, I think. In the meantime, enjoy my Flickr Site, ARCHITECTURE IN THE LOOP. There are 28 Photo Sets describing Chicago Architecture in the Loop. Link HERE.

And when you're done, enjoy the link page. Chicago has the best community of Architecture Bloggers in the Country. Link HERE for the list. (And if I've missed one, let me know!)

And if you're still interested in "more" Architecture, Sculpture and Photography, visit THE CHICAGO LOOP.org Link HERE

DANIEL BURNHAM. Orchestra Hall

2010-06-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

THE STORY

Within our lifetimes, dates blur. Facts are forgotten or rewritten Conjecture replaces truth. Men disappear. And so follow these paragraphs of speculation, best guesses from facts available......

Early 1904 may have been one of the happiest times of Daniel Burnham's life. Two young Beaux Arts Diplomes worked briefly together in Burnham's Chicago Office -- Peirce Anderson soon to be on his way to the Plan of Manila and Ed Bennett on his way to San Francisco. (These men were the future.) The MacMillan Plan for Washington DC and the 1903 Plan for Cleveland had been a success. D.H. Burnham & Company was a well-oiled machine, thanks in good part to Ernest Graham and the experienced staff. And Chicago was growing again. The dark years following the Fair were over. His sons , Hubert and Dan Jr.were to be educated as architects. More good news.
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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's new home was "on the Boards." Bryan Lathrop, President of the Chicago Symphony had requested that the facade of their "new home" be Georgian. Conservative, respectable Georgian. CSO Trustee Burnham was glad to comply. This was an important commission.

Burnham, true to form, assembled the most effecient team available for the Orchestra Hall project.. He, personally, oversaw the general building layout. Joachim Giaver took responsibility for structural engineering. The Beaux-Arts designers, Ed Bennett and Peirce Anderson, (working together for the first time since graduation from the Ecole), finished in charette, the Grainger Ballroom and the Beaux Arts ornament for the great Concert Hall. Frederick Dinkelberg was given primary responsibility for the facade. But for the Georgian detail, Burnham engaged old friend, Stanford White from New York's McKim, Mead, and White.

White had been in Chicago regularly for his work with Augustus Saint Gaudens (including the Standing and the Seated Lincolns and the Logan Memorial. He also worked with the Lincoln Park Commission and the South Parks Commission at Congress Plaza). Thoroughly trusted by Lathrop ( a good, close second choice to Charles McKim) White (that's Stannie White) had the added credential of being a good guy, a bon vivant, adept at all the luxiries that Gilded Age had to offer.

Orchestra Hall turned out beautifully, reflecting the varied talents of the team that produced it. (They all dunnit. Obviously!) But life takes turns. And truth is often better than fiction. (Here we return to fact)

The first concert took place in Orchestra Hall in December of 1904. In January of 1905, the Orchestra's conductor, Theodore Thomas was dead. Stanford White, whose architecture so carefully reflected order and reserve, had carried his private life to new extremes: an affair with 17 year old New York chorus girl, Evelyn Nesbitt, became public. (So much for Georgian respectability.) In 1906 (soon after the San Fransico earthquake) Evelyn's new husband, Harry Thaw, shot Stannie White three times in the face -- on the roof of Madison Square Garden. The sensational trial that followed destroyed McKim, Mead and White. Daniel Burnham had missed Orchestra Hall's opening Concert (and a good thing, too -- the Chicago Tribune panned the Hall's accoustics) , while travelling to Manila with Peirce Anderson. He was certainly beginning to feel the ill health that in 1906 brought him the prognosis of "three years to live." It was that prognosis that began the political machinations, within his office, for control of the Daniel Burnham empire. Dinkelberg lost to Anderson. Giaver and Bennett left. Burnham's sons eventually sold their stakes to Ernest Graham.

And so, for this post at any rate, and to complete the story (and without specific documentation it remains a story) (the happy story of 1904) I post, instead of architecture (we know the building), photographs of some of the characters. Characters we no longer know.

DANIEL BURNHAM

THEODORE THOMAS

PEIRCE ANDERSON

STANFORD WHITE

EVELYN NESBITT THAW

Instead of three years, Burnham lived for six. Plenty of time for what has become his crowning achievement: The Plan of Chicago.

Bryan Lathrop died in 1916. Rating an Obit in the New York Times. And an In Memoriam written by Edgar Lee Masters.

Evelyn Nesbitt died in Santa Monica in 1967.

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DANIEL BURNHAM.

2010-06-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

ORCHESTRA HALL
Charles McKim??

It would be an easy leap to guess that Charles McKim (partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White), designer of the Bryan Lathrop Residence on east Bellevue Place worked with Daniel Burnham, at Lathrop's request, on the design of Orchestra Hall. Lathrop, president of the Symphony, and an important, respected supporter of the Arts in Chicago, would have had the "clout" to select the structure's design. And Burnham had worked well with McKim Mead and White at the Columbian Exposition. The cache of a respectably "Georgian" Orchestra Hall created by the foremost architects of Chicago and New York would have been very attractive.

But it is my guess (and here I will admit to all speculation) that McKim was not the designer. I don't think the two structures came from the same "hand." The Lathrop Residence IS Georgian. Standing on the veranda (or sitting on the balustrade with your back to Bellevue Place) you are quite transported to London. Elegant, delicately scaled ornament touches the arches. The home rests horizontally on its veranda/plinth. Decorative stone bands define each story and further empasize the horizontal weight of the mass. But most importantly, it took a very confident hand to locate the front entrance off center and to further ornament that opening with assymetrical patterns. And let's not forget those little corbelled chimneys.
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Orchestra Hall, on the other hand, is an application of Georgian Style to an eight story building. (With an elevator.) It is solidly symmetrical. The Georgian is good. Very good. Right down to the brick's flemish bond. But the proportions hint of the vertical. The plinth is indicated by the entire first floor, and is surmounted by a piano nobile. And details are scaled to the larger mass of Orchestra Hall. (And I think I see a Burnham "bottom-middle-top" lurking in the facade.)

And one more thing would lead me to believe that McKim would not have contributed to our little Chicago project.

In those first years of the 1900's he was kinda busy.

With New York's Penn Station.

So whodunnit? Beaux Arts Anderson is headed for Manila, Chicago School Dinkelberg and Weber seem not to have the experience. McKim is tied up in New York........

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DANIEL BURNHAM. Orchestra Hall.

2010-06-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS.

Continuing our mystery (see previous post).....who designed Orchestra Hall?

Georgian Architecture is broadly described as late 18th C and early 19th C interpretations of neo-classicism. Which is code for what we generally call Colonial. In the late 19th C and early 20th C interest revived in Colonial Architecture (then renamed Colonial or Georgian Revival) particularly among those who defined themselves as America's upper class. So it is no surprise that the 1904 Orchestra Hall should have been constructed in, what was then, the very trendy, ultra respectable, Georgian motif. (Remember that description -- "ultra respectable") (You may need it in our next post)

But in 1904, Burnham's designers were not doing Georgian. I think that this is the right moment to say that "the Devil is in the Details."

Georgian Architecture was much simplified from the styles that preceded it. Balance, proportion, simplicty, and symmetry were of utmost importance. Link to additional photos of Orchestra Hall HERE.

The most famous example of Georgian Architecture in Chicago is the Bryan Lathrop House -- which preceded Orchestra Hall by some 12 years. Bryan Lathrop's selection of the very refined Georgian style in the face of Richardsonian Romanesque was a fairly gutsy step in 1892. Remembering that John Root and Louis Sullivan were Chicago's trendsetters.

But back to Orchestra Hall and our first interesting coincidence. Bryan Lathrop (among other cultural endeavors) was the President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1899 - 1916 and over saw the construction of Orchestra Hall.. The golden rule of any mystery (especially in the selection of Design Architects) is "to follow the money." And Bryan Lathrop had lots of it.

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The Art Institute has a very nice exhibit describing the Lathrop House at 120 East Belleview. Link HERE for details.

I can't take credit for connecting Bryan Lathrop to the Chicago Symphony: thanks are due Chicago Architecture Foundation docent (and FB friend) Rick Lightburn for that enlightenment. Link HERE for a schedule of the fine CAF walking tours of Symphony Center. Standing on the stage of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an experience not to be missed.

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D.H.BURNHAM & Co. Orchestra Hall. A Good Old-Fashioned Georgian Mystery.

2010-06-12T01:38:00.000-07:00

D.H. Burnham and Company produced a remarkable series of designers. Each with a clear sense of aesthetic and a stylistic signature. Following John Root (who is a separate story), Charles Atwood produced both Neo-classicism (the Fine Arts Building at the Columbian Expostion) and Chicago School Masterpieces (including the Reliance and the Fisher). Frederick Dinkelberg continued with Atwood's Chicago School aesthetic and began the transition of Burnham's work to the Beaux Arts (The Heyworth, The Railway Exchange and The Conway). Peirce Anderson took Burnham "international" in the Beaux Arts movement with remarkable interpretations of the classical including the Illinois Merchants Bank and the Field Museum. A few others including Peter Weber, George Nimmons, and Dwight Perkins also designed buildings for Burnham, but they tended to the Chicago School and were responsible primarily for lesser buildings.

So. What's this?
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Clearly Georgian, it is D.H. Burnham and Company's Orchestra Hall, built in 1904. GEORGIAN. Either designed by one of Burnham's own, whose penchant for Georgian (and this Georgian is well done) went somehow unnoticed -- or the design came from someplace or someone else.

I love a mystery.

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D.H. BURNHAM & COMPANY, Architect. Frederick Dinkelberg, Designer. The Effect of Ornament.

2010-06-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

The "rules" of ornament are nearly the same on D.H. Burnham's Heyworth Building as for Sullivan's adjacent Schlessinger and Mayer: separate (though varying) motifs for columns, lintels, conices and jambs. Sullivan added a couple of extras (a couple) -- at the intersection of column and lintel, and of course, at the great corner entry. But, conceptually, they are in the same ballpark. And I'll admit to getting a little emotional over both. (I'm looking forward to looking at Sullivan in detail -- after more than a year of blogging Burnham's Chicago buildings), But there are still some Burnham mysteries to be solved.

It appears that in the early "oughts" Daniel was concepturally running two offices: his at-home Chicago School (Dinkelberg included) and his national and international Beaux Arts applications, with Peirce Anderson (from Washington to Manilla). This must have made some interesting "political " maneuvering in the break room. Anderson didn't fully gain the upper hand until 1908, along with Mssrs. Graham, Probst and White. As the Heyworth took its place next to Schessinger and Mayer, and the existing Silversmith, it might have been possible to believe, for the moment, that Beaux Arts was not a "threat" to names like Nimmons, Perkins, Weber and Dinkelberg. What alliances were made, what promises given that solidified the future of "Paris on the Lake?" To be the proverbial "fly on the wall" .....

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Only a few more Burnhams to go. But I've started photography for the next round. And if you'd like to peek ahead, link HERE

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D.H. BURNHAM & COMPANY, ARCHITECT Frederick Dinkelberg, Designer The Heyworth. Organization of Ornament

2010-06-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

Frederick Dinkelberg chose different design motifs to ornament the Heyworth's architectural features.: Cornice (classic anthemion); Columns (a vaguely art nouveau complexity of interlocking panels); Lintels (a geometry of repetitive discs); and Jambs (interlocking circles).

CORNICE (Above)

COLUMN (Below

LINTEL (Above)

JAMB (Below)

While each of these patterns is common to the period, (Holabird and Roche particularly favored the anthemion) the assemblage draws a remarkable play of light accross the facade and depth of the Heyworth. I'm learning that one of best criteria to assess the quality of a building is how it looks in the lens. And the Heyworth looks very good.

The Heyworth doesn't even rate an entry in my well worn AIA Guide to Chicago. Happily the City of Chicago Landmarked it in September of 2000. Link HERE.

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D.H. BURNHAM and CO. The Heyworth Building

2010-05-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

AN ELEGANT COMBINATION OF ORNAMENT AND STRUCTURE.

My sense of of D.H.Burnham and Company's Heyworth Building is that Frederick Dinkelberg, the building's designer knew exactly what he was doing. And that his sense of scale was "spot on." The building "reads" first as an elegantly proportioned mass. Then its components (those Chicago School staples) the bottom, middle, and top come into play -- where the middle is particularly ordered (no missing the steel frame construction here) and the arched top and cornice is particularly well proportioned. Note that Dinkelberg did not rely on contrasting materials to emphasize his point: he used depth, shadow and a contrast of geometry. And finally there is ornament. Beautifully detailed ornament. Applied with full knowledge that the Heyworth would stand next to Louis Sullivan's Schlesinger and Meyer.

Though the selection of red terra cotta for the Heyworth's facade was no accident, its reason remains speculation. My vote is that Dinkelberg chose the darker color in deference to the designer next door he so clearly respected.

Credit due Pat Sabin for the Heyworth's postcard image.

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D.H.BURNHAM & Co's Heyworth Building.

2010-05-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

The Heyworth Building was constructed at 29 East Madison in 1903 (or so, depending on sources). And "despite the limitations of Burnham's stylistic vocabulary" (a direct quote from Burnham biographer Thomas Hines) this one seems to have turned out okay. Okay. This little Chicago School gem is one of my favorites in the Loop. Clearly expressed steel frame construction wrapped in terra cotta and brick. A bottom, a middle, and a top. Original ornament. And an intact cornice. Only a little modification at street level disturbs the effect.

Burnham's best Chicago School work happens AFTER the World's Fair of 1893. And that work was designed by East Coaster Charles Atwood and later by the man hired to be his assistant, Frederick Dinkelberg. (Dinkelberg occassionally gives Sullivan a run for the money when it comes to ornament.) (Both read Ruskin. See Dinkelberg's work at the Railway Exchange)

This block of Madison Street (and around the corner on Wabash) has become a surprising assemblage of good Architecture. Around the corner is the Silversmith (see previous post).

And the next door neighbor is good company too.

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