BURNHAM & ROOT: THE FAMOUS ARCHITECTS OF CHAMPAIGN'S BURNHAM HOUSEBurnham & Root designed the Burnham House in Champaign in 1883. It is one of only 10 residential properties designed by Burnham and Root existing in the world. Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root changed the character and aesthetics of architecture in Chicago, NYC, DC, and far beyond. Daniel Burnham designed iconic, beloved, and groundbreaking buildings in multiple states including IL, NY, DC, MD, CA, MA, PA, OH, IN, TX, MN, MI, IA, KY, WI, and countries such as England and the Philippines. The majority of these buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.
"Burnham believed that an attractive urban environment could improve health and social relations and ensure economic prosperity... Burnham's vision of an American metropolis grew from the appreciation of the past, and the commitment to improve the lives of city dwellers in the future." Burnham recognized the city in its context, not as an isolated collection of buildings but as an organic whole interconnected with and interrelated to its region. As a major figure in the evolution of modern urban architecture, Burnham understood the American city, its problems, and its prospects largely in physical and visual terms. Much of the Plan of Chicago’s reputation rests on the rhetorical power of its beautifully executed illustrations, which collectively offer a cohesive image of a rational metropolis. The Plan’s images and “logical diagrams” are an enduring legacy that continues to inspire comprehensive city planning in metropolitan Chicago and beyond. Sources: Newberry.org, Encyclopedia Britannica Famous buildings by D. Burnham and his firm include:
CHICAGO Union Stockyards Gate The Rookery Building The Field Museum Marshall Field's The Monadnock Building The Sidney Kent house NEW YORK CITY The Flatiron Building WASHINGTON DC Union Station Designs for the National Mall Post Office Building ELSEWHERE The Hooker Telescope, CA The Sydney Kent House, also designed by Burnham and Root in 1883 in the same year as the Burnham House. One of only 10 existing residential homes designed by Burnham and Root. On the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and declared a Chicago Landmark in 1987.
In the mid-1890s, architect Daniel Burnham began planning a park and boulevard that would link Jackson Park with Grant Park and downtown. As Chief of Construction for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, Burnham was known for developing the White City. After the fair, Burnham began designing a more functional Chicago. Burnham's plan, including a lakefront park with a series of islands, boating harbor, beaches, and playfields was published in his 1909 Plan of Chicago.[7] Burnham's famous 1909 plan eventually preserved Grant Park and the entire Chicago lakefront.
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Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever growing insistency.” Burnham made masterful use of the methods and men of his time... (as) an enthusiastic promoter of great construction enterprises... his powerful personality was supreme." |