Proposed Chicago Civic Center, Chicago, Illinois, Perspective

Architecture and Design

1908

Daniel Hudson Burnham (American, 1846-1912)
Edward Herbert Bennett (American, born England, 1874-1954)
Jules Valée Guérin (American, 1866-1946)

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.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Architecture and Design

Artist: Jules Guérin (Delineator)
Title: Proposed Chicago Civic Center, Chicago, Illinois, Perspective
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.: Made 1908
Medium: Ink, colored inks, graphite, and watercolor on toned paper
Inscriptions: Initialed & dated at bottom left, "JG 1908"
Dimensions: 76.8 × 58.5 cm (30 1/4 × 23 1/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Edward H. Bennett, Jr.
Reference Number: 1989.457

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.

The Art Institute of Chicago, “Past Forward: Architecture and Design Collection at the Art Institute,” September 12, 2017 – January 21, 2018.
The 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 The Art Institute of Chicago, July 16–Sept. 5, 1988.
The 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.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Unbuilt Chicago,” Apr. 3, 2004-Jan. 16, 2005.

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