Daniel Burnham

Daniel Burnham was an American architect and urban planner associated with the development of the modern skyscraper and the City Beautiful movement. He directed construction of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Burnham later helped prepare influential plans for Chicago, Washington and other cities. His work combined monumental civic design, transport planning and commercial architecture, shaping the appearance and ambitions of rapidly expanding American cities.

In Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, Chicago wins the right to stage the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and appoints architect Daniel Burnham to turn an ambitious national promise into a functioning city of exhibition halls, lagoons and public spectacle. Burnham coordinates designers including Frederick Law Olmsted while confronting financial panic, labour conflict, construction delays, illness and the pressure to surpass the Paris Exposition.