Encyclopedia o f Chicago
Interpretive Digital Essay : The Plan of Chicago
The Plan of Chicago
Chicago in 1909
Planning Before the Plan
Antecedents and Inspirations
The City the Planners Saw
The Plan of Chicago
The Plan Comes Together
Creating the Plan
Reading the Plan
A Living Document
Promotion
Implementation
Heritage
Burnham and Root, Commercial Architects
Return to "The Plan Comes Together"

In their eighteen-year partnership, Burnham and Root designed many striking commercial buildings, of which the Montauk Block and the Rookery are especially noteworthy for historical and personal reasons.

Montauk Block

 

The Montauk Block was located from 1882 to 1902 on Monroe Street near the northwest corner of Monroe and Dearborn Streets. It was the firm's first major commercial building. Standing 130 feet tall, it is regarded by many as the first "skyscraper."

See also: Architecture; Burnham & Root

Rookery Building

 

The Rookery, built in 1885-86 and still standing on the southeast corner of LaSalle and Adams Streets, is a magnificently detailed combination of iron framing and masonry bearing walls.

See also: Architecture; Commercial Buildings

Burnham and Root in their Rookery Office

 

Burnham and Root moved their firm to the Rookery, where, not long before Root's untimely death, they sat for this carefully posed portrait of a successful partnership.

See also: Architecture