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Plate 49 from Plan of Chicago 1909: Chicago. View of the City from Jackson Park to Grant Park, Looking Towards the West. The proposed shore treatment as a park enclosing a waterway (or a series of lagoons) is shown, together with the enlarged yacht harbor, recreation piers, and a scheme for Grant Park.

A sepia-toned aerial perspective drawing of Chicago's lakefront and the city behind it.

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  • A sepia-toned aerial perspective drawing of Chicago's lakefront and the city behind it.

Date:

1907

Artist:

Daniel Hudson Burnham, American, 1846-1912
Edward Herbert Bennett, American, born England, 1874-1954
Jules Guerin, delineator, American, 1866-1946

About this artwork

“Make no little plans,” Daniel H. Burnham reputedly exclaimed around the time he unveiled his Plan of Chicago, the first comprehensive metropolitan plan in the United States. Providing the vocabulary for Chicago architecture through the 1920s, the project was the legacy of Burnham, whose renown in large-scale city planning began when he was chief of construction for Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Commissioned by the Commercial Club of Chicago, the plan was developed with the assistance of architect Edward H. Bennett, who elaborated parts of it after Burnham’s death in 1912 and was responsible for executing many of its recommendations. Emulating the grand classical design of European cities, Chicago was to become “a Paris by the Lake.” Features included the development of Chicago’s lakefront and Lake Shore Drive, the construction of Grant Park, and the transformation of Michigan Avenue into a premier commercial boulevard following the completion of the Michigan Avenue bridge. Eleven of the seventeen perspective views were rendered by Burnham’s frequent collaborator, the Beaux-Arts-trained Jules Guérin. The draftsman’s stunning, impressionistic views, with their unusual perspectives and dramatic use of color, bring the Plan of Chicago to life, imbuing it, as Burnham stated about his own aims, with the “magic to stir men’s blood.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Daniel Hudson Burnham (Architect)

Title

Plate 49 from Plan of Chicago 1909: Chicago. View of the City from Jackson Park to Grant Park, Looking Towards the West. The proposed shore treatment as a park enclosing a waterway (or a series of lagoons) is shown, together with the enlarged yacht harbor, recreation piers, and a scheme for Grant Park.

Place

Chicago (Place depicted)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1907

Medium

Watercolor and graphite on paper

Dimensions

103.5 × 480 cm (40 3/4 × 189 in.)

Credit Line

On permanent loan to The Art Institute of Chicago from the City of Chicago

Reference Number

2.148.1966

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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