Burnham, Sullivan and Wright

Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright are some of the most famous names in Chicago architecture. Tourists come from around the world to photograph their many buildings. Burnham, also, is credited with its impressive layout, making Chicago one of the grandest of the world's modern cities. Sullivan is studied because the appearance of his buildings broke away from the Euro-centric copying of ancient structures.  And Wright's works transformed the traditional "rooms" of houses into flowing "spaces."

Burnham was the corporate titan, making D.H. Burnham and Company into the equivalent of General Motors. He started with a partnership with John Wellborn Root as "Burnham & Root" to create some of the most impressive buildings for what became known as "The Chicago School of Architecture." When Root died in 1891, Burnham re-invented his firm to become the model for all large architectural practices today.

Louis H. Sullivan clothed his buildings in a kind of beauty that had never been seen before, celebrating its first floors with a type of natural geometry and its upper floors with a vertical emphasis that became known as a "skyscraper."

Sullivan also became the only architect Wright ever admired. And even though he died in 1959, Frank Lloyd Wright is still the most famous architect in the world.  His name may be remembered for a thousand years as he became one of the greatest artists of world history. His drawings are among the most sought-after works in the art world.

Daniel Burnham's sons continued their father's firm, designing one of the most splendid Art Deco skyscrapers in the gold and green Carbide and Carbon Building, modeling its color on a champagne bottle. They went on to create some of the more streamlined designs of the 1930s.

The destruction of Louis Sullivan's Stock Exchange building in 1972 enflamed preservationists so much that few historic structures in the city have met the same fate and its salvaged ornaments have become treasured icons to this day.

ArchiTech Gallery has collected drawings, blueprints, photographs and objects from the designs of these three great architects. "Burnham, Sullivan and Wright" opens September 5th and continues through November 29th, 2014 in a special show and sale of original works of these giants.