Burnham and Root

Burnham and Root. . , Daniel Burnham and John Root started their partnership in July 1873 in Chicago Illinois. They met while working at the architectural firm of Carter, Drake and Wright. Root had the artistic genius and Burnham had the business sense and charisma. The two soon created a reputation for designing truly original buildings. , Their most memorable buildings were built in the late 1880s and early 1890s. During this time, they came up with many ideas that changed architecture in America. Root paved the way for future skyscrapers by using steel support beams instead of relying on exterior masonry. This allowed him to create the first steel framed building, the Rand McNally Building, in Chicago in 1890, changing our skylines forever. , After Root’s death in January 1891 from pneumonia, Burnham continued to design buildings and completed many of Root’s ideas. Despite having only practical experience and no formal training in the field of architecture, Burnham was given the responsibility to finish coordinating the Columbian Exposition – Chicago’s first World’s Fair. He built the Reliance Building, the Marshall Field Department Store, and the Flatiron Building. , Burnham and Root were also designers for railroad companies. They designed depots in Chicago, Quincy and Galesburg Illinois, and in Burlington, Iowa. Burnham also designed Washington, D.C.’s Union Station. In May of 1891, Burnham and Root were hired to design the Union Depot, in Keokuk. , They designed the Depot in the same Romanesque style as the Rookery Building in Chicago. The Union Depot may be the last standing Romanesque building of Root’s design. The others having been demolished or never completed after Root’s death. The Keokuk Union Depot is a monument to Root’s unique engineering abilities with its curvilinear truss system, hammer brackets, pyramidal towers, and use of colorful organic native materials. , Daniel Burnham was born in Henderson, New York, September 4, 1846 and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He died in a car accident in Germany on June 1, 1912. John Root was born in 1850 in Lumpkin, Georgia and raised in Atlanta. At the outbreak of the Civil War, young Root was shipped off to school in England. , In 2011, the City of Keokuk acquired ownership and launched the restoration of the Keokuk Union Depot, located at the foot of Bank Street.