PORTRAITS. D. H. Burnham and Co.

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.