Daniel H. Burnham Collection

Although he was never formally educated in architecture, Burnham (1846–1912) established a successful Chicago practice with John Wellborn Root, producing such significant buildings as the Rookery and the first building for the Art Institute of Chicago. As Director of Works for the World’s Columbian Exposition (1893) he supervised the design and construction process for all buildings on the fair grounds. During the next twenty years his firm became internationally known for commercial skyscrapers, department stores, and railroad stations primarily designed in the classical Beaux-Arts style. Burnham’s vision of the City Beautiful ideals, tentatively explored in the planning of the world’s fair, was realized in his report Plan of Chicago (1909). The plan has long served as the most important of City Beautiful documents and continues to be the benchmark for planning decisions in Chicago. The Art Institute holds the largest body of documents on Burnham’s life and works, including business and personal correspondence, diaries, project files, photographs, drawings, memorabilia, published and unpublished manuscripts for speeches, articles, and reports. View finding aid.View selected images from this collection.Find all Daniel H. Burnham digital images. Collection access:Collections may be accessed in the Franke Reading Room of the Research Center at The Art Institute of Chicago, by appointment only. For further information, consult the FAQ. Finding aids by subjectBrowse all finding aidsBrowse images and mediaOral histories Contact the Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives:archives@artic.edu