Monadnock Building Essay

Burnham and his partner John Root were Chicago’s leading architects. Daniel Burnham had experience in designing buildings that had never been attempted. Despite the soil conditions, Burnham and Root built the very first skyscraper, The Montauk. Burnham had extraordinary managerial and organizational skills. Burnham and Root together were able to build their firm to be one of the best in Chicago. They continued to do many challenging projects such as the Rookery and the Monadnock. Daniel Burnham handled many difficult times before he made a positive name for himself. Burnham was also very good to all his employees, “He installed a gym. During lunch hour employees played handball. Burnham gave fencing lessons. Root played impromptu recitals on a rented piano,” (Larson 2003, 27). In 1885, a fire had destroyed the Grannis Block that was Burnham and Root’s flagship structure. In 1888, “a hotel they had designed in Kansas City collapsed during construction, injuring several men and killing one” (Larson 2003, 29). With all the verbal attacks on Burnham’s career over both of the incidences, he remained very calm, but he was still very heartbroken.

Post, in the Corinthian style. The Manufactures Building measures 787’ in width and stretched in length of 16897’.” (Burg 132) “Carl Conduit has judged that “The manufactures Building revealed the most extensive and elaborate system of hinged-arched framing ever undertaken in the United States.”” (Burg 97) The arches that are involved were not seen until the Roman’s dominated in the field of architecture.

built around a square or town plaza.  The central area of the square was left

These impossible lengths of the building gives the reader insight on how powerful Burnham is with architecture. Burnham’s mind “pioneered the erection of tall structures” (13). that gives the visual image that Burnham made the first tall buildings of his generation, a huge accomplishment for an architect. Larson uses Burnham as the “leading architect”

One of the first things that I noticed about The Met was its exterior architecture. Like many historical buildings and museums, The Met's architecture is highly influenced by European architecture; in this case, it appears as though the architecture is attempting to emulate the gothic style. Once inside the daunting faรงade, I was pleasantly surprised to see how richly illuminated the museum was. What made it even more remarkable was that much of the light appeared to permeate through skylights that had been built into the building's ceiling. Moreover, I was pleasantly surprised to see that The Met was considerably less crowded than the American Museum of Natural History, which I had visited the day before.

Another significant building of C. W. Dickey is the Alexander and Baldwin Building built in 1929. The Alexander and Baldwin Building is a four story building with steel frame with concrete casting, very much like its contemporary concrete-cast architecture in Chicago. However, what makes it Hawaiian is its overhanging Dickey Roof. In addition, this building is significant in its blend of Oriental ornament with Western design, reflecting upon the historical relevance of Hawaii.

The building is four stories high made of brick, tile, and concrete. The east façade also has Classical features such as a frieze, dentils, cornice, raking cornice, entablature and an architrave. The front of the façade was adorned with floral coffers, corbels, as well as post and lintels (Photo 2).

In the 1890’s, America was celebrating it’s 100th anniversary by creating the Columbian Exposition in Chicago which would hence establish Chicago and America’s place on the world’s stage. The Columbian Exposition would be visited and attended by millions of people from all different places and all different kinds of people would visit. America was competing with not only time but also with the Paris Exposition. With only a few years to plan everything and to have every building constructed, Burnham and Root found a team of dedicated architects who deliberately found a way to get the job done just in time for the grand opening. After an enormous amount of stress building the fair, it was completed and they were proud of their accomplishments.

The Columbian World’s Exposition of 1893 marked an important time in American history. The overall fame of the World’s Columbian Exposition, or also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, is in large part due to the spread of ideas and inventions that originated at the fair itself. The novel, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, depicts a clear portrait of the fair’s impact in the time leading up to, during, and after the exposition. The fair established itself as a metaphorical historical monument, in the way that it honored the past and served as a memorial to Columbus, and the way that it impacted future societies and events. The fair began as a show of superiority on part of American society, over all other countries, like France or England. Regarding competition, the fair sought to “Out-Eiffel” Gustave Eiffel, architect of the Eiffel Tower, for architecture, and to outclass the rest of the world in all other fields. The fair also served to foreshadow the growing powers of America both intellectually and militarily; the spirit and ideas shown at the fair showed the emergence of intellectual superiority that would only serve as a sample of the achievements of society that were yet to come. The intellectual productions of the fair can be attributed to the architectural firm coordinating the event, Burnham and Root. The firm was headed by Daniel Burnham and John Root, both accredited as the brightest in their field. Under their management, the Chicago World’s Fair

To start off I am somewhat confused on exactly what we are trying to accomplish, although I understand the basics in what we are doing in this paper. I would like to talk about and look up information on building large structures such as skyscrapers as well as complex buildings like the Darla Moore School of Business. How I plan to go about doing this is by showing you first what I already know about building structures that I have learned in previous building construction classes. I then plan on finding more information inside of The Carolina Rhetoric in order to better understand how you can come about constructing such a complex structure. There can be many problems that you face when trying to construct these buildings such as making sure

In 1890, Chicago is a quickly developing city and needing to substantiate itself something particularly to the more settled Eastern urban communities of the United States. Chicago wins its offer to have the World 's Fair, drove by its gigantic urban pride. Before long, two of the city 's driving engineers, Daniel Burnham and John Root, are given masterful control over the structures at the Fair.

Throughout the history of the United States, ingenuity and creativity have been a strong point in the development of the United States. In designing the buildings for the World’s Fair, Daniel Burnham shows his talent in architecture by creating new and innovative designs with his partner John Root. Both Burnham and Root had been already successful architects and known for their designs. Even before Chicago was confirmed as the site of the

The two buildings also differ in the way they interact with the city, since they have vastly differing neighbors. The main building is centered on Adams street and faces the Loop, the busiest area of the city. Flanking the main entrance are two large, bronze, lions that seem to protect the building from the city, while still allowing visitors to enter and exit the museum. The new Modern Wing, however, faces Chicago’s Millenium Park. The face of the building along the park side is a large face of windows. So, while the old building is trying to shut out the city to create a space for itself, the Modern Wing is opening itself up to let the park

“The idea was to incorporate a building that could be easily be built and taken down both constructively and economically. Most ideas involved a long, one-story building made of brick. The problem was that it looked far too solid difficult to remove later and it might be even harder to light- not to mention that it probably could not be built in time. Further debates and redrafting delayed the project even further.” (1)

Mies van der Rohe is one of the most prominent figures in modernist architectural history, the man who popularised some of the most influential phrases of the era, e.g. “less is more”, and strove to push his ideas and philosophies, not just on what he thought a building should be, but of what he thought architecture itself was. He changed the cityscape of America, showing the world a style that was simple and elegant, with such a controlled palette of expressions that shone through in its geometric beauty.