tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post3017623063948405..comments2024-03-26T09:42:38.709-05:00Comments on ArchitectureChicago PLUS: Daniel Burnham Saved From DrowningLynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-7685377067700784192011-07-28T13:49:46.075-05:002011-07-28T13:49:46.075-05:00Great article.
I own two copies of the "Plan...Great article.<br /><br />I own two copies of the "Plan of Chicago": The Princeton Press edition (with Kristen Schaffer intro), and the Centennial Edition.<br /><br />I also own the Carl Smith book, and "The Plan of Chicago @ 100" collection of essays.<br /><br />I agree that Burnham was a very poor prophet. He completely missed the significance of the automobile, and how it would really drive development for the next 50 years. Bennett, having outlived Burnham, had to revise a lot the ideas from the plan to accommodate the automobile. Even then, some of his better concepts were not executed for the sake of expediency and cost.<br /><br />I do think that some of the diagonals would have worked very well if they had been built the way they were outlined in the Plan. Ogden Ave's failure was that it missed the main intersections it was supposed to link in the original Plan.<br /><br />As great a work of art and research as it was, the Plan was about 30 or 40 years too late in presenting the ideal 19th century city.Marionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-32491301888420965392011-06-20T18:39:15.563-05:002011-06-20T18:39:15.563-05:00I think you'd have to consider him as much bet...I think you'd have to consider him as much better than average. What about the Flatiron Bldg?W. Bagnuolonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-51619690226112982532010-01-05T06:58:29.175-06:002010-01-05T06:58:29.175-06:00thanks for the tip, pc. correction made. (althou...thanks for the tip, pc. correction made. (although a city planned by the Hindu monkey God would probably be a great improvement.)Lynn Beckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-91371163474884307712010-01-04T12:09:35.459-06:002010-01-04T12:09:35.459-06:00Good work. Somehow, "Burnham the Addam-ite so...Good work. Somehow, "Burnham the Addam-ite socialist" was a meme that I'd never picked up on; I'll have to check out Schaffer's essay sometime.<br /><br />BTW, a typo: Rosa's quoted as referring to Burnham's understanding of Hanuman's thoughts. Hanuman is a Hindu monkey god (Haussmann was Napoleon III's imperious prefect), and the mental image thus presented is quite amusing.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09283122571671344629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-61287414299465374852009-12-31T12:06:54.250-06:002009-12-31T12:06:54.250-06:00Thanks for the great article, very interesting. B...Thanks for the great article, very interesting. Burnham was a great planner and a slightly-better-than-average architect, certainly not one of the great Chicago architects.<br />The invited-only secretive competition for the Burnham memorial was a joke. Very sad.<br />And, there is nothing sacred about a "Chicago" school of architecture, but acting like it didn't exist ridiculous, - walk around a bit and look around you. New buildings in the city may want to speak to a more global context than to local, Chicago architecture, but to deny its existence, if not its influence and applicability in a celebration of Burnham is absurd.mgerwinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06016544596604384379noreply@blogger.com