HUBERT BURNHAM

I remain fascinated by the aerial view of Chicago, 1950.  A time capsule of Chicago, 1935.    The "Gray Towers" rising from the City.  Buildings that, though today are dwarfed, remain Landmarks. The Board of Trade. The Civic Opera Block.  The Pittsfield. The Field Building. The Bankers and Engineering Buildings. Carbide and Carbon.  Foreman Bank.  Roanoke Tower.  They are the work of a very few men. Visionaries, I would say.  Alfred Shaw and  Charles G. Beersman at Graham Anderson Probst and White.  The younger Holabird and the younger Root.  Hubert Burnham and Dan Jr.  Karl Vitzthum. Frederick Thielbar.  Walter Ahshlager.  Their fathers were classicists, inventors.  But these were the architects of DECO. And a vertical scale without limits.    

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I physically ache when I see a photograph of the now demolished Diana Court.  Or stand in the lobby of the Board of Trade. Or the Field Building.  (And re-imagine  the mirrored elegance of Queen Azura's Light Bridge.) Such confident optimism!  Who can pass beyond the elevator doors at One North LaSalle and NOT know they are on the way to some very great height?   And I have the sense that this - might have been - just a beginning.  But it was not. It was lost on October 29, 1929.

Instead, these architects simply died or retired.  To Boca or La Jolla.  The few who survived Depression and War, though successful, were clearly diminished. The dream had died with the Century of Progress.

But their few buildings still, remarkably, live.  And so should their creators.

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 This is the man who imagined a gold champagne cork on a green bottle - at the 40 storey Carbide and Carbon.  Who proved he understood the essence of vertical statement at the Bankers Building.  Whose original ornamentation at the Engineering Building is among the best in the City.  And who in 1934 hired Louis Skidmore and Nat Owings.

HUBERT BURNHAM

Very special thanks to SBK.

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Fine Art Photographs of Chicago Landmark Architecture and Sculpture

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NO CHANGE.

From the completion of the Field Building in 1935 to the completion of the Prudential in 1955, there had been no major construction in the Loop. This 1950 photo could just have easily been taken in 1940.  But the world had indeed changed. Our view of the future at the Century of Progress had been THIS.   Our reality was THIS  .  And the question, "What do you do with 5 major railroad terminals, thousands of hotel rooms, and the millions of square feet of retail space that relies on an overnight stay in Chicago for anyone travelling cross county?" ..... had yet to be asked.

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Architectural sculpture disappeared from the American vocabulary during the years of depression and war.  Almost.  Sigurd Naess asked Alphonso Iannelli to sculpt the Rock of Gibralter on the 1955 Prudential Building.  Iannelli had worked with Frank Lloyd Wright (if anyone ever worked "with" Frank) on the Midway Gardens project.  Link here for Iannelli's less famous work at the Adler Planetarium

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THE WRIGLEY BUILDING

The City of Chicago prepares Landmark Designation Reports for all Chicago Landmarks. This one, for the Wrigley is spectacular.  All good wishes to the Department of Housing and Economic Development.  And especially to the project staff.  LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT. WRIGLEY BUILDING.  400-410 North Michigan Avenue.

Still need more Wrigley? Click on the PhotoLinks below  to visit
THE CHICAGO LOOP.org Wrigley Galleries.

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Faces with the Names

Some days, weeks even, it is possible to research Chicago Architecture without running across a single face. Not one hint of the men or personalities who built Chicago. Yesterday was different. A trove of portraits - new to me - brought some history to life. Irving Pond: Architect of Lorado Taft's Midway Studios. H.B. Wheelock: architect, mentor to Daniel Burnham. Elmer Jensen: partner to William Lebaron Jenney. John Reed Fugard: Frederick Thielbar's partner on the Jewelers Building. Max Dunning: the Chicago Architectural Club. George Nimmons: Burnham designer and architect of the Reid Murdoch Building.

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The portraits here were found HERE . Enjoy the Link.

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DANIEL BURNHAM

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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THE WRIGLEY BUILDING

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

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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