Daniel Hudson Burnham’s credo, Make no
little plans, reflected his career, which began
with designing buildings and concluded with
planning cities.

Daniel Burnham’s parents moved their family
to Chicago when he was nine years old. After
seeking his fortune in Nevada’s mines,
Burnham returned to Chicago at age 24 and
became an apprentice architect. In 1873,
Burnham formed a partnership with John
Wellborn Root, and in the 1880s lived with
his wife and young family here at 4300 South
Michigan Avenue.

Burnham and Root designed residences,
office buildings, railroad stations, churches
and hotels. Their most famous buildings
include the Montauk (1882), Rookery (1886),
and Monadnock (1891).

Despite Root’s death in 1891, Burnham continued with their commission to direct the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, laying out a monumental temporary city in Jackson Park.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Burnham pioneered the field of urban planning, developing plans for Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Manila. The 1909 Plan of Chicago called for a lakefront park system, straightening the Chicago River, extending Michigan Avenue north of the river, a double-level riverfront drive (now Wacker Drive), consolidating railroad terminals, and a grand civic center at Congress and Halsted Streets.