Plate 50 A from Plan of Chicago 1909: Chicago. View of the Proposed Park on the South Shore Looking Northwest Towards the City.
Medium
Pastel on paper
Dimensions
93.6 × 129.5 cm (37 × 51 in.)
Classification
architectural drawing
Department
Architecture and Design
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196324
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
One of the most significant results of the Plan of Chicago is the system of lakefront parks, which runs over 18 miles along Lake Michigan and spans nearly the entire length of the city. Building on the landscape developed for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, Burnham imagined these green spaces as providing a “continuous playground for the people,” with playing fields, lagoons for boating, and paths for promenades. In this drawing, the parks appear completely removed from the bus...
About the Artist
Daniel Hudson Burnham · 1846–1912
Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846–1912) was one of the most influential American architects and urban planners of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Born in Henderson, New York, he twice failed the entrance examinations for Harvard and Yale, eventually finding his calling through an apprenticeship in architecture. His transformative partnership with John Wellborn Root, formed in Chicago in 1873, establ...