Megan Kearns Computers Mr. Smith 3 March 2016 The Life of Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham was born on September 4, 1846 in Henderson, New York City. He was the sixth of seven children. During January of 1855, 8-year-old Daniel and his family moved to Chicago. He had a very artistic talent from an early age. However, he never excelled in his academics. He applied, and failed to get admitted from both Yale and Harvard. After failing in his attempt at a career as a politician, he did an apprenticeship as a draftsman at the architectural firm of William Le Baron Jenny. Soon after he held a career in the firm of Carter, Drake and Wight where he befriended a fellow draftsman, John Wellborn Root. Burnham was eager to start his own firm, and persuaded Root to become his partner a year later. Root was primarily responsible for design while Burnham planned the layout of their building’s interiors and organized the business. …show more content…
It was known for its size and wide variety of projects. They quickly started securing a roll as one of Chicago’s major firms while rebuilding wealthy client’s houses after the Chicago fire. Burnham was always coming up with new opportunities. He was quick to recognize the needs of commercial clients. Their firm alone designed more than 165 private houses and 75 public and private buildings. Solving solutions architects had had for years about how to build higher structures provided great examples of how Burnham & Root took the forefront in the architectural community. One of their first major projects was creating the Montauk building, a 10 story office building, sometimes considered the first building to be labeled a skyscraper. All of the buildings they designed incorporated revolutionary techniques, but they all contained a European