Daniel Burnham
"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans. Aim high in hope and work." Daniel Burnham played a significant role in defining an American style of building and city planning. Born in Henderson, New York in 1846, Burnham began his architecture career working for William Le Baron Jenney in Chicago. In his second job, with Carter, Drake and Wight, Burnham met John Wellborn Root. In 1873, they established their firm, Burnham and Root, and created the future look of Chicago, and the skeleton skyscraper. Their Chicago buildings include the Masonic Temple Building, and buildings now designated as city landmarks, the Monadnock Building, Reliance Building, and the Rookery. As a coordinator of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in the 1890s, Burnham solidified his position as the leading visionary for urban life. In addition to buildings in Buffalo, Cleveland, and San Francisco, Burnham's accomplishments include the Fuller "Flatiron" building in New York, and Union Station in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Senate Park Commission for the lay-out and plans of the nation's capital. His designs for urban life and work influenced the development plans of Chicago and Washington into the 1950s. Burnham died in 1912.
