The Fathers of the Windy City

by K.F. and C.O.

"The presence of architecture seem to loom larger in Chicago than it does in any other city in America." (Bruegman 8) Many people may consider this to be true when we look back at the history of Chicago. Due to the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, it opened the door for many great architects, such as William Le Baron Jenney, Dankmar Adler, John Wellborn Root, Louis Henri Sullivan, and Henry Ives Cobb, to come and redevelop a new and more modern city. But perhaps some of the most influential and well-known architects of our time were Frank Lloyd Wright and Daniel Burnham. These two men created some of the most famous structures in Chicago, such as the Santa Fe Building, the unique design of the Robie House, and the magnificent skyline we can see from Lake Shore Drive. Both of these men, Frank Lloyd Wright and Daniel Burnham contributed to the making of this great city. "In 1991 the American Institute of Architects recognized Chicago as architecturally the most important city in the United States." (Bergner xxv)

The City of Chicago would not be as extravagant or wondrous as it is today if it weren't for the magnificent visionary Daniel Burnham. Daniel Burnham's life started on the fourth of September in the year of 1846. He was the fifth child of six and the youngest of all the boys. He went through three schools during the course of his childhood. Hines points out that Burnham's artistic abilities were evident even throughout his childhood years. (9) Whenever there was a bulletin board to be decorated in the school, Burnham was glad to take on the task. ". . . Dan was in his glory--there were the boards to be decorated and he was the only one who could do it." (Hines 9) Burnham had a special bond between all of his drawing teachers and himself. In fact, he kept most of them as life-long friends. Burnham tried to continue to pursue his education by taking the entrance tests to both Yale and Harvard. After he failed each of those tests, his ambitions were to travel to the West, stated Berger. (60) Although he could not continue his education he did, however, travel to Nevada with his friend Edward Waller. Burnham had high hopes to become widely famous while he was there. He even ran for the Nevada State Senate and again he failed terribly, indicates Berger. (71) While Daniel Burnham was out West fame seeking, he was beckoned to return to Chicago and further his architectural career by being a draftsman apprentice for Loring and Jenney.

In Burnham's return to Chicago, he set the following standard for himself:

I shall try to become, the greatest architect in the city or country. Nothing else will be near the mark I have set for myself, and I am not afraid but that I can become so. There needs one thing. A determined and persistent effort. (Hines 12)
Daniel Burnham did indeed become one of the greatest architects that Chicago has ever seen. Burnham had many wondrous ideas and plans for the city. His ambitious vision for the city would be the "Plan of Chicago." This, no doubt, was his best work. Burnham's plan did not overlook anything. It included space for growth, beauty, a system of roads, blocks, and buildings, and most of all, parks. Burnham's main concern was to have the people of Chicago to enjoy where they lived. He wanted parks so people could step out of their stressful and hectic lives to enjoy nature. He did not want Chicago to just be there, a place of concrete and buildings. He wanted people to be in awe and to dream about coming to Chicago in the same way that people dreamed of Paris and Venice. In fact, the ideas and plans that Burnham had for Chicago were to make it look like Paris. (McBrien 26) He also had an eye for the future. He recognized that the population of the city had doubled between the time that he came to Chicago and the time that he started his "plan." In realizing this factor, he made sure to leave enough room for more homes, office buildings, roads, and other necessities that growing cities require. Burnham made certain that Chicago maintained their railroads, proposing a clearing house so that the traffic could be controlled, stated Hines. (334) Burnham's reasoning for keeping, controlling and organizing the railroads of Chicago was to keep the city in touch with the way that it had become. "Chicago has been made largely by the railroads", said Burnham, "and its future prosperity is dependent upon them." (Hines 333) In his plan Burnham designed the whole lakefront, including the museums, the peninsulas that presently are the homes to the Adler Planetarium and Navy Pier. He also included harbors and a bay. Not only was the lakefront (buildings and all) designed in the plan, but so was Wacker Drive. Daniel Burnham's "Plan of Chicago" was comprised of a network of streets, parks, and waterways, stated Hines. (329)

Not only did Burnham design Chicago's lakefront, but he also designed, decorated and built various buildings throughout Chicago. For instance, he and Root designed and built a building by the name of Rookery. This at first was a challenge because they needed to come up with a new system of foundation. It was at this time when the "floating foundation" was invented. This foundation was made up of concrete rafts interleaved with iron rails for additional strength, said McBrien. (66) "This building was the site of Chicago's first city hall," Thomas Fromm stated. The Rookery's elegant design was enhanced by a lobby designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. "Many Chicagoans consider the Rookery their favorite building, and small wonder, for it epitomizes the work of some of its greatest architects and in many ways captures the spirit of the city." (Wolfe 31)

The Reliance Building


Railway Exchange
 Burnham also constructed the Reliance Building which "is considered the ultimate skeleton frame-and-glass representative of the Chicago School of Architecture." (McBrien 81) This building has a great example of a Chicago window. The Chicago window consists of one main window followed by two exceedingly smaller on each side of the main window and these smaller windows open upward. The Railway Exchange (now known as the Santa Fe Building) is one of Burnham's most successful designs. It has an open court in the middle of this building. He consistently used white brick and terra cotta in this building. It is said that Daniel Burnham produced his best plan in the Railroad Exchange Building. "In an office atop this skyscraper, a superb example of what Burnham could accomplish without Root, the Chicago Plan was conceived." (Wayne 44) These are not all of the things that have been built or designed by Daniel Burnham, however, they do contribute to his reputation as having pragmatic realism (practical realism) and having a visionary idealism (to foresee a perfect plan that was ideal). As Daniel Burnham was planning and designing the city we love, Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright was redesigning the way we live. Frank Lloyd Wright was a very gifted architect, and he put a great effort into his work. Wright was quoted as saying (in "Lloyd Quotes"):

Beautiful buildings are more than scientific. They are true organisms, spiritually conceived; works of art, using the best technology by inspiration rather than the idiosyncrasies of mere taste or any averaging by the committee mind.(123)

This shows the great passion and life that he put into his work. By reading this, it is clear that Wright believed that it took heart and soul to make a building great, not just physical materials. Perhaps this is why Wright is considered to be the greatest, and most "famous architect in America." (Chicago Landmarks)

Frank Lloyd Wright was born in 1867, in Richland, Wisconsin. His parents were William Russell Cary Wright and Anna Lloyd-Jones. Wright's parents took great interest in his education. Every since he was a young boy, his parents "pushed him to his limits." "Anna Wright had a deep respect for education, something that was to affect and influence her son's whole life." (Costantino 6)

When Wright was young, for some reason or another, his mother was set on the idea that he was destined to become an architect. When he was around the age of seven, his mother began home schooling him at the kindergarten level by using the Froebel approach. As stated by Costantino:

The Froebel approach to teaching kindergarten encouraged children to play; without their realizing it, their play was transformed into a recognition and appreciation of natural objects and the basic laws on which adult life depend. (6)
What this means is that instead of doing "kid stuff," such as play games that were fun, children were taught to play with toys that would help them later on in life. For example, children were given shapes such as squares and spheres with bright colors to play with. Wright's mother thought that this would be an early enhancement for his future career of being an architect.

Around the year 1880, Wright and his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin. During this time, his mother was going through financial trouble, probably because Wright's father abandoned the family. Wright was then forced to get a job to support his family. His mother arranged for him to work at the local building company. He was an apprentice under Allen D. Connover, a professional builder in Madison. For two years, Wright studied the basics of building by studying the concepts of structure and drafting. (Costantino 7)

By this time, around the year 1887, Wright had grasped just enough knowledge of architecture to get a job. So he left Madison and headed to Chicago. He found a job working for Joseph Lynman Silsbee, an architect in Chicago. According to Bergner, "Wright found Silsbee to be a bold and imaginative artist describing his work as having a 'charming picturesque effect.'" (124) It is clear to see that Wright learned very much from Silsbee and maybe even modeled his work after him.

While studying under Silsbee, Wright learned very much about constructing houses. Wright once said, "I have learned a great deal about a house from Silsbee . . ." (qtd. in Bergner 124). While he worked with Silsbee, Wright learned the art of using different geometric shapes in his work. It is easy to see where Wright learned this concept when we look back at Silsbee's work. Then in the fall of 1887, Wright decided to try and be bold and get a job working as a draftsman at the Adler and Sullivan office. According to Constantino, after showing Adler and Sullivan some of his drawings during an interview, they studied his work and gave him a job at twenty-five dollars a week. (7)

Wright had learned a lot while working with these men. During this time, he began working on his first big projects, which were houses. Many of the houses that he built are in the Oak Park and Chicago, Illinois area. The Prairie style is what Wright is most famous for. The basic idea of Prairie Style was that the house would be a great home for a typical American family. Frank Lloyd Wright once said, "The prairie has a beauty peculiarity of its own, and we should recognize and accentuate this natural beauty, its quiet level." (Tallmadge 228) An excellent example of this type of home is the Robie House (1906--located in Hyde Park, Illinois). In this structure, Wright used large gardens and large built-in flower pots as decoration. The interior was very modern for the time. It had a large kitchen, living room and dining room; in addition it had small rooms in the back of the house for privacy. This was unusual for the time because most houses were very enclosed. As the web page for Chicago Landmarks notes:

Under the guidance of Louis H. Sullivan, Wright learned to approach the practice of architecture as a creative abstract of the structure's function, environment and technology rather than relying upon accepted conventions and historical precedents.(108)
What this means is that Wright did not use the gothic approach in his building such as gargoyles, or ancient Greek or Roman columns, but he instead used nature. For example, when adding decoration on the exterior of the structure, he used vines and foliage. According to Thomas Fromm, Vice-President of the Santa Fe Architectural company in Chicago: "Wright built his houses and buildings using bricks going horizontally. He believed that it went more with nature because it laid flat with the earth." Wright, now working on his own, continued to design houses. Some of the most famous ones were the Fricke Residence (1901), the Dana-Thomas Residence (1902), and the Heurtley Residence (1902). These were all Prairie Style homes.

In 1907, Wright was asked to redesign the entrance way of the Rookery. He did this by adding an elegant marble staircases and floor. The ceilings were high with detailed design. Large light fixtures hung to add the extravagant detail to the lobby he designed. We can see in this lobby that Wright also used nature in this design by using a vine design on the staircase railing. Frank Lloyd Wright spent the last years of his life creating and building, until his death in 1959. When we look back at Wright's work, we can see why he was one of the greatest architects, and how he "redesigned the way we live." (Burns and Novick 18) Both Frank Lloyd Wright and Daniel Burnham are a part of a group of "Inspiring Chicagoans who have rebuilt their city -- bigger and better than before." (Berger xxv) These two architects were encouraged to help remake Chicago after the horrendous fire of 1871. Their architectural and designing genius is what people admire when they are visiting Chicago. Without Wright's ambition to build a better Chicago or Burnham's vision of Chicago, the city would not be anything close to what it is today (architecturally).

Works Cited

Andrews, Wayne. Architecture in Chicago and Mid-America. Tennessee: Kingsport Press, 1968.

Bergner, Miles, L. They Built Chicago. Chicago: Bonus Books, 1992.

Bruegmann, Robert and Company. A Guide to 150 Years of Architecture. Chicago: The Museum of Science and Industry, 1989.

Burns, K, and Novick, L. The Wright Stuff. USA Weekend. 6-8 November, 1998.

"Chicago Landmarks: Frank Lloyd Wright." No Date Given. Online. http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/Architects/Wright.html 11 November, 1998.

Costantino, Maria. Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: Crescent Books, 1991.

"Frank Lloyd Wright Quotes." http://marin.org/mc/parks/flw/flw.quotes.html 11 November, 1998

Fromm, Thomas. Interview. 7 November, 1998.

Hines, Thomas. S. Burnham of Chicago. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

McBrien, Paine, Judith. Pocket Guide to Chicago Architecture. New York: Norton, 1997.

Tallmadge, Thomas, E. The Story of Architects in America. New York: Norton, 1963.

Wolfe, Gerard, R. Chicago in and around the Loop. Chicago: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

This webpage was created by K.F. and C.O. for History and Thought of Western Man, Rich East High School, Park Forest, Illinois

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