About This Artwork
Plan of Chicago: Civic Center1908
Ink, colored inks, graphite, and watercolor on toned paper
76.8 x 58.5 cm
Initialed & dated at bottom left, "JG-1908"
Gift of Edward H. Bennett, Jr., 1989.457
Architecture and Design
Not on Display
Daniel H. Burnham's renowned Plan of Chicago of 1909 was the first comprehensive metropolitan plan in America. One of the many views executed by Jules Guerin to illustrate Burnham's ideas is this proposal for a Civic Center. Never undertaken, the imposing classical structure would have been the centerpiece of a major new development at Halsted and Congress streets.
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Architecture and Design, 1872-1922: Birth of a Metropolis, cat. no. 234; traveled to Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Oct. 2, 1987–Jan. 4, 1988; Frankfurt am Main, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Feb. 5-Apr. 25, 1988; and Art Institute of Chicago, July 16–Sept. 5, 1988.
Art Institute of Chicago, D.H. Burnham and Mid-American Classicism, 1996.
Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, At the End of the Century: One Hundred Years of Architecture, 1998-2000.
Art Institute of Chicago, Unbuilt Chicago, Apr. 3, 2004-Jan. 16, 2005.
Publication History
Zukowsky, John, ed. 1987. Chicago Architecture and Design, 1872-1922: Birth of a Metropolis. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Prestel, no. 234.
Zukowsky, John, and Martha Thorne. 2004. Masterpieces of Chicago Architecture. Art Institute of Chicago/Rizzoli, p. 53.
Thorne, Martha. 2004. Unbuilt Chicago. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago, cat. no. 3, pp. 8-9.