Contenido

A los 26 años, Burnham se trasladó a las oficinas de Carter, Drake y Wight") en Chicago, donde conoció al futuro socio comercial John Wellborn Root, que tenía 21 años y era cuatro años más joven que Burnham. Los dos se hicieron amigos y luego abrieron juntos una oficina de arquitectura en 1873. A diferencia de sus empresas anteriores, Burnham se apegó a esta.[7]​ Burnham and Root se convirtió en una empresa de gran éxito. Su primera comisión importante vino de John B. Sherman, el superintendente de Union Stock Yards") en Chicago, que proporcionó el sustento – directa o indirectamente – a una quinta parte de la población de la ciudad.

Sherman contrató a la empresa para que le construyera una mansión en Prairie Avenue en Twenty-first Street, entre las mansiones de los otros barones comerciantes de Chicago. Root hizo el diseño inicial. Burnham lo refinó y supervisó la construcción. Fue en el sitio de construcción donde conoció a la hija de Sherman, Margaret, con quien Burnham se casaría en 1876 después de un breve noviazgo.[8]​ Sherman encargaría otros proyectos a Burnham y Root, incluido Stone Gate"), un portal de entrada a los corrales que se convirtió en un hito de Chicago.[9]​.

En 1881, la empresa recibió el encargo de construir el Montauk Building,") que sería el edificio más alto de Chicago en ese momento. Para resolver el problema del suelo arenoso saturado de agua de la ciudad y el lecho rocoso de 38,1 m debajo de la superficie, a Root se le ocurrió un plan para excavar hasta una capa de arcilla "dura" sobre la cual se colocó una capa de 0,6 m plataforma gruesa de hormigón superpuesta con rieles de acero colocados en ángulo recto para formar una "parrilla" de celosía, que luego se rellena con cemento Portland.

Esta "base flotante" era, en efecto, un lecho de roca creado artificialmente sobre el que se podía construir el edificio. El edificio terminado era tan alto en comparación con los edificios existentes que desafiaba una descripción fácil, y se acuñó el nombre de "rascacielos" para describirlo. Thomas Talmadge, arquitecto y crítico de arquitectura, dijo del edificio: "Lo que Chartres fue para la catedral gótica, el bloque Montauk fue para el alto edificio comercial".[10]​

Burnham y Root continuaron construyendo más de los primeros rascacielos estadounidenses, como el Masonic Temple Building "Templo Masónico (Chicago)")[11]​ en Chicago. Con 21 pisos y 302 pies, el templo tenía reclamos como el edificio más alto de su tiempo, pero fue demolido en 1939.

Los talentos de los dos socios fueron complementarios. Ambos eran artistas y arquitectos talentosos, pero Root tenía la habilidad de concebir diseños elegantes y pudo ver casi de inmediato la totalidad de la estructura necesaria. Burnham, por otro lado, se destacó en atraer clientes y supervisar la construcción de los diseños de Root. Cada uno apreciaba el valor del otro para la empresa. Burnham también tomó medidas para asegurarse de que sus empleados estuvieran contentos: instaló un gimnasio en la oficina, dio lecciones de esgrima y dejó que los empleados jugaran balonmano a la hora del almuerzo. Root, pianista y organista, ofreció recitales de piano en la oficina en un piano alquilado. Paul Starrett"), quien se unió a la oficina en 1888, dijo: "La oficina estaba llena de trabajo, pero el espíritu del lugar era deliciosamente libre, fácil y humano en comparación con otras oficinas en las que había trabajado".[12]​.

Aunque la empresa tuvo un gran éxito, hubo varios reveses notables. Uno de sus diseños, el Grannis Block en el que se encontraba su oficina, se quemó en 1885 y requirió un traslado al último piso de The Rookery, otro de sus diseños. Luego, en 1888, un hotel de Kansas City "Kansas City (Misuri)") que habían diseñado se derrumbó durante la construcción, matando a un hombre e hiriendo a varios más. En la investigación del forense, el diseño del edificio fue objeto de críticas. La publicidad negativa sacudió y deprimió a Burnham. Luego, en un revés adicional, Burnham y Root tampoco lograron ganar la comisión para el diseño del gigantesco Auditorium Building, que fue a parar a sus rivales, Adler & Sullivan.[13]​.

El 15 de enero de 1891, mientras la firma estaba inmersa en reuniones para el diseño de la Exposición Mundial de Columbia, Root murió después de un curso de neumonía de tres días. Como Root tenía solo 41 años, su muerte sorprendió tanto a la sociedad de Burnham como a la de Chicago.[14]​ Después de la muerte de Root, la firma de Burnham and Root, que había tenido un gran éxito en la producción de edificios modernos como parte de la Escuela "Escuela de Chicago (arquitectura)") de Arquitectura de Chicago, pasó a llamarse D. H. Burnham & Company. Después de eso, la firma continuó con sus éxitos y Burnham extendió su alcance al diseño de ciudades.[15]​.

World Columbian Exposition

Burnham and Root had accepted responsibility for overseeing the design and construction of the Columbia World's Fair in Chicago's then-desolate Jackson Park on the south shore of the lake. The largest fair in the world until that date (1893), celebrated the 400th anniversary of the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus. After Root's sudden and unexpected death, a team of distinguished American architects and landscape architects, including Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Richard M. Hunt, George B. Post, Henry Van Brunt") and Louis Sullivan, radically changed Root's colorful modern style to a Classical Revival style. To ensure the success of the project, Burnham moved his personal residence to a wooden headquarters, called "the shanty" at the burgeoning fairgrounds to improve its capacity to oversee construction.[16] Construction of the fair faced enormous financial and logistical obstacles, including a global financial panic and an extremely tight deadline to open on time.

Considered the first example of a comprehensive planning document in the nation, the fairgrounds featured grand boulevards, classical building facades, and lush gardens. Often called the "White City", it popularized neoclassical architecture in a monumental but rational Beaux-Arts style. As a result of the fair's popularity, architects across the United States were said to be inundated with requests from clients to incorporate similar elements into their designs.

Control of the design and construction of the fair was a matter of dispute between several entities, notably the National Commission headed by George R. Davis"), who served as general manager of the fair. It was also led by the Exposition Company, which was made up of the city's leading merchants, headed by Lyman Gage"), which had raised the money needed to build the fair, and Burnham as director of works. Additionally, the large number of committees made it difficult for construction to proceed at the pace necessary to meet the opening day deadline.[17] After a major accident that destroyed one of the fair's most important buildings, Burnham took tighter control of construction and distributed a memo to all fair department heads stating "I have assumed personal control of active work within the grounds of the World's Columbian Exposition... From now on, and until further notice, "[18]​.

After the opening of the fair, Olmsted, who designed the fairgrounds, said of Burnham that "too high an estimate cannot be made of the industry, skill and tact with which this result was secured by the master of us all." Burnham himself rejected the suggestion that Root had been largely responsible for the design of the fair, later writing:

However, Burnham's reputation was considerably enhanced by the success and beauty of the fair. Both Harvard and Yale awarded him honorary master's degrees that made up for failing his entrance exams in his youth. The common perception while Root was alive was that he was the architectural artist and Burnham had run the commercial side of the firm; Root's death, while devastating for Burnham personally, allowed him to develop as an architect in a way he might not have if Root had lived.[21]​.

City Planning and the Plan of Chicago

Begun in 1906 and published in 1909, Burnham and her co-author Edward H. Bennett prepared a Plan of Chicago that laid out plans for the city's future. It was the first comprehensive plan for the controlled growth of an American city and an outgrowth of the City Beautiful Movement. The plan included ambitious proposals for the lakefront and river. It also stated that all citizens should be within walking distance of a park. Sponsored by the Commercial Club of Chicago"),[31] Burnham donated her services in hopes of furthering her own cause.

Based on World's Fair plans and conceptual designs for the south shore of the lake, Burnham envisioned Chicago as a "Paris on the prairie." French-inspired public works buildings, fountains, and boulevards radiating from a domed central city hall became Chicago's new backdrop. Although only parts of the plan were implemented, it set the standard for urban design, anticipating the future need to control urban growth and continuing to influence the development of Chicago long after Burnham's death.

Plans in additional cities

Burnham's city planning projects did not stop in Chicago, however. Burnham had previously contributed to plans for cities such as Cleveland (the Group Plan of 1903),[33]​ San Francisco "San Francisco (California)") (1905),[34]​ Manila (1905),[35]​ and Baguio in the Philippines, details of which appear in the 1909 publication of the Plan of Chicago. Her plans for the redesign of San Francisco were delivered to the Board of Supervisors in September 1905,[36]​ but in the rush to rebuild the city after the 1906 earthquake and fires, Burnham's plans were ultimately ignored. In the Philippines, Burnham's Manila Plan never materialized due to the outbreak of World War II and the transfer of the capital to another city after the war. However, some components of the plan came to fruition, including the coastal highway that became Dewey Boulevard (now known as Roxas Boulevard) and the various neoclassical government buildings around Luneta Park, which closely resemble a miniature version of Washington, D.C., in their arrangement.

In Washington, D.C., Burnham did much to shape the 1901 McMillan Plan that led to the completion of the overall design of the National Mall. The Senate Parks Commission, or McMillan Commission established by Michigan Senator James McMillan, brought together Burnham and three of his Columbia World's Fair colleagues: architect Charles Follen McKim, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Going far beyond Pierre L'Enfant's original vision for the city, the plan called for extending the Mall beyond the Washington Monument to a new Lincoln Memorial and a "pantheon" that eventually materialized as the Jefferson Memorial. This plan involved the significant reclamation of swamp land and the Potomac River and the relocation of an existing railroad station, which was replaced by Burnham's design for Union Station "Union Station (Washington D.C.)"). Burnham served on the commission until her death in 1912.[38]​.

In his career after the fair, Burnham became one of the country's most prominent advocates of the Beaux-Arts movement, as well as the revival of neoclassical architecture that began with the fair. Much of Burhham's work was based on the classical style of Greece and Rome. In his 1924 autobiography, Louis Sullivan, one of the leading architects of the Chicago School, but who had a difficult relationship with Burnham for a long period, criticized Burnham for what Sullivan considered her lack of original expression and her reliance on classicism. By the turn of the century he had demonstrated a strong preference for Burnham's architectural style over Sullivan's.

Burnham is famous for saying: "Don't make small plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and they probably won't come true themselves." This slogan has been taken to capture the essence of Burnham's spirit.[41][42]​.

A man of influence, Burnham was considered the preeminent architect in America at the turn of the century. He held many positions during his lifetime, including the presidency of the American Institute of Architects.[43] Other notable architects began their careers under his aegis, such as Joseph W. McCarthy. Several of his descendants have worked as influential architects and planners in the United States, including his son, Daniel Burnham Jr., and his grandchildren Burnham Kelly and Margaret Burnham Geddes).

Burnham married Margaret Sherman, the daughter of his first major client, John B. Sherman, on January 20, 1876. They met at the construction site of his father's house. His father had a house built for the couple to live in. During their courtship, there was a scandal in which Burnham's older brother was accused of having forged checks. Burnham immediately went to John Sherman and offered to break off the engagement as a matter of honor, but Sherman rejected the offer, saying "There is a black sheep in every family." However, Sherman remained wary of his son-in-law, who he thought drank too much.[44]

Burnham and Margaret remained married for the rest of their lives. They had five children, two daughters and three sons, including Daniel Burnham Jr., born in February 1886,[45] who became an architect and town planner like his father. He worked in his father's company until 1917 and served as Director of Public Works for the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair "Chicago World's Fair (1933)"), known as the "Century of Progress."

The Burnham family lived in Chicago until 1886, when they purchased a 16-room farmhouse and estate on Lake Michigan in the Evanston, Illinois suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Burnham had become wary of Chicago, which he felt was becoming dirtier and more dangerous as its population increased. Burnham explained to her mother, whom she did not tell about the move in advance, "I did it, because I can't stand having my kids on the streets of Chicago anymore..."[45] When Burnham moved to "the shanty" in Jackson Park to better supervise the construction of the fair, his wife, Margaret, and their children remained in Evanston.[46]

Burnham was an early environmentalist, writing, "Strict economy in the use of natural resources has not been practiced up to our time, but it must be so, unless we are immoral enough to harm the conditions in which our children must live," although he also believed that the automobile would be a positive environmental factor, and that the end of horse transportation would bring "a real step toward civilization."...Without smoke, without fumes, without horse waste, your air and your streets will be clean and pure. This means, doesn't it, that men's health and spirit will be better?" Like many men of his time, he also showed interest in the supernatural, saying: "If I could take the time, I think I could prove the continuation of life beyond the grave, reasoning from the necessity, philosophically speaking, of a belief in an absolute and universal power."[50]

When Burnham was in her fifties, her health began to deteriorate. He developed colitis and in 1909 was diagnosed with diabetes, which affected his circulatory system and caused a foot infection that would continue for the rest of his life.[51]​.

On April 14, 1912, Burnham and his wife were aboard the White Star Line's SS Olympic, traveling to Europe for a tour of Heidelberg, Germany. When he attempted to send a telegram to his friend Frank Millet who was traveling in the opposite direction, from Europe to the United States, on the SS Titanic, he learned that the ship had sunk in an accident and Millet did not survive. Burnham died just 47 days later[52]​ from colitis complicated by her diabetes and food poisoning from a meal eaten in Heidelberg.[53][54]​.

At the time of his death, D. H. Burnham and Co. was the largest architectural firm in the world. Even the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, although highly critical of Burnham's European Beaux Arts influences, still admired him as a man and praised him, saying: "[Burnham] made masterful use of the methods and men of his time...[As] an enthusiastic promoter of great construction companies...his powerful personality was supreme." The successor firm to Burnham's practice was Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, which continued in some form until 2006. Burnham was buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.

Tributes to Burnham include Burnham Park "Burnham Park (Chicago)") and Daniel Burnham Court in Chicago, Burnham Park in Baguio City in the Philippines, Daniel Burnham Court in San Francisco (formerly Hemlock Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street), the annual Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan (run by the American Planning Association),[57]​ and the Burnham Memorial Competition which was held in 2009 to create a memorial to Burnham and her Plan of Chicago.[58] The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago hold collections of Burnham's personal and professional papers, photographs, and other archival materials.

Additionally, the Reliance Building in Chicago, which was designed by Burnham and Root, is now the Burnham Hotel, although Root was the principal architect before his death in 1891.

Contenido

A los 26 años, Burnham se trasladó a las oficinas de Carter, Drake y Wight") en Chicago, donde conoció al futuro socio comercial John Wellborn Root, que tenía 21 años y era cuatro años más joven que Burnham. Los dos se hicieron amigos y luego abrieron juntos una oficina de arquitectura en 1873. A diferencia de sus empresas anteriores, Burnham se apegó a esta.[7]​ Burnham and Root se convirtió en una empresa de gran éxito. Su primera comisión importante vino de John B. Sherman, el superintendente de Union Stock Yards") en Chicago, que proporcionó el sustento – directa o indirectamente – a una quinta parte de la población de la ciudad.

Sherman contrató a la empresa para que le construyera una mansión en Prairie Avenue en Twenty-first Street, entre las mansiones de los otros barones comerciantes de Chicago. Root hizo el diseño inicial. Burnham lo refinó y supervisó la construcción. Fue en el sitio de construcción donde conoció a la hija de Sherman, Margaret, con quien Burnham se casaría en 1876 después de un breve noviazgo.[8]​ Sherman encargaría otros proyectos a Burnham y Root, incluido Stone Gate"), un portal de entrada a los corrales que se convirtió en un hito de Chicago.[9]​.

En 1881, la empresa recibió el encargo de construir el Montauk Building,") que sería el edificio más alto de Chicago en ese momento. Para resolver el problema del suelo arenoso saturado de agua de la ciudad y el lecho rocoso de 38,1 m debajo de la superficie, a Root se le ocurrió un plan para excavar hasta una capa de arcilla "dura" sobre la cual se colocó una capa de 0,6 m plataforma gruesa de hormigón superpuesta con rieles de acero colocados en ángulo recto para formar una "parrilla" de celosía, que luego se rellena con cemento Portland.

Esta "base flotante" era, en efecto, un lecho de roca creado artificialmente sobre el que se podía construir el edificio. El edificio terminado era tan alto en comparación con los edificios existentes que desafiaba una descripción fácil, y se acuñó el nombre de "rascacielos" para describirlo. Thomas Talmadge, arquitecto y crítico de arquitectura, dijo del edificio: "Lo que Chartres fue para la catedral gótica, el bloque Montauk fue para el alto edificio comercial".[10]​

Burnham y Root continuaron construyendo más de los primeros rascacielos estadounidenses, como el Masonic Temple Building "Templo Masónico (Chicago)")[11]​ en Chicago. Con 21 pisos y 302 pies, el templo tenía reclamos como el edificio más alto de su tiempo, pero fue demolido en 1939.

Los talentos de los dos socios fueron complementarios. Ambos eran artistas y arquitectos talentosos, pero Root tenía la habilidad de concebir diseños elegantes y pudo ver casi de inmediato la totalidad de la estructura necesaria. Burnham, por otro lado, se destacó en atraer clientes y supervisar la construcción de los diseños de Root. Cada uno apreciaba el valor del otro para la empresa. Burnham también tomó medidas para asegurarse de que sus empleados estuvieran contentos: instaló un gimnasio en la oficina, dio lecciones de esgrima y dejó que los empleados jugaran balonmano a la hora del almuerzo. Root, pianista y organista, ofreció recitales de piano en la oficina en un piano alquilado. Paul Starrett"), quien se unió a la oficina en 1888, dijo: "La oficina estaba llena de trabajo, pero el espíritu del lugar era deliciosamente libre, fácil y humano en comparación con otras oficinas en las que había trabajado".[12]​.

Aunque la empresa tuvo un gran éxito, hubo varios reveses notables. Uno de sus diseños, el Grannis Block en el que se encontraba su oficina, se quemó en 1885 y requirió un traslado al último piso de The Rookery, otro de sus diseños. Luego, en 1888, un hotel de Kansas City "Kansas City (Misuri)") que habían diseñado se derrumbó durante la construcción, matando a un hombre e hiriendo a varios más. En la investigación del forense, el diseño del edificio fue objeto de críticas. La publicidad negativa sacudió y deprimió a Burnham. Luego, en un revés adicional, Burnham y Root tampoco lograron ganar la comisión para el diseño del gigantesco Auditorium Building, que fue a parar a sus rivales, Adler & Sullivan.[13]​.

El 15 de enero de 1891, mientras la firma estaba inmersa en reuniones para el diseño de la Exposición Mundial de Columbia, Root murió después de un curso de neumonía de tres días. Como Root tenía solo 41 años, su muerte sorprendió tanto a la sociedad de Burnham como a la de Chicago.[14]​ Después de la muerte de Root, la firma de Burnham and Root, que había tenido un gran éxito en la producción de edificios modernos como parte de la Escuela "Escuela de Chicago (arquitectura)") de Arquitectura de Chicago, pasó a llamarse D. H. Burnham & Company. Después de eso, la firma continuó con sus éxitos y Burnham extendió su alcance al diseño de ciudades.[15]​.

World Columbian Exposition

Burnham and Root had accepted responsibility for overseeing the design and construction of the Columbia World's Fair in Chicago's then-desolate Jackson Park on the south shore of the lake. The largest fair in the world until that date (1893), celebrated the 400th anniversary of the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus. After Root's sudden and unexpected death, a team of distinguished American architects and landscape architects, including Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Richard M. Hunt, George B. Post, Henry Van Brunt") and Louis Sullivan, radically changed Root's colorful modern style to a Classical Revival style. To ensure the success of the project, Burnham moved his personal residence to a wooden headquarters, called "the shanty" at the burgeoning fairgrounds to improve its capacity to oversee construction.[16] Construction of the fair faced enormous financial and logistical obstacles, including a global financial panic and an extremely tight deadline to open on time.

Considered the first example of a comprehensive planning document in the nation, the fairgrounds featured grand boulevards, classical building facades, and lush gardens. Often called the "White City", it popularized neoclassical architecture in a monumental but rational Beaux-Arts style. As a result of the fair's popularity, architects across the United States were said to be inundated with requests from clients to incorporate similar elements into their designs.

Control of the design and construction of the fair was a matter of dispute between several entities, notably the National Commission headed by George R. Davis"), who served as general manager of the fair. It was also led by the Exposition Company, which was made up of the city's leading merchants, headed by Lyman Gage"), which had raised the money needed to build the fair, and Burnham as director of works. Additionally, the large number of committees made it difficult for construction to proceed at the pace necessary to meet the opening day deadline.[17] After a major accident that destroyed one of the fair's most important buildings, Burnham took tighter control of construction and distributed a memo to all fair department heads stating "I have assumed personal control of active work within the grounds of the World's Columbian Exposition... From now on, and until further notice, "[18]​.

After the opening of the fair, Olmsted, who designed the fairgrounds, said of Burnham that "too high an estimate cannot be made of the industry, skill and tact with which this result was secured by the master of us all." Burnham himself rejected the suggestion that Root had been largely responsible for the design of the fair, later writing:

However, Burnham's reputation was considerably enhanced by the success and beauty of the fair. Both Harvard and Yale awarded him honorary master's degrees that made up for failing his entrance exams in his youth. The common perception while Root was alive was that he was the architectural artist and Burnham had run the commercial side of the firm; Root's death, while devastating for Burnham personally, allowed him to develop as an architect in a way he might not have if Root had lived.[21]​.

City Planning and the Plan of Chicago

Begun in 1906 and published in 1909, Burnham and her co-author Edward H. Bennett prepared a Plan of Chicago that laid out plans for the city's future. It was the first comprehensive plan for the controlled growth of an American city and an outgrowth of the City Beautiful Movement. The plan included ambitious proposals for the lakefront and river. It also stated that all citizens should be within walking distance of a park. Sponsored by the Commercial Club of Chicago"),[31] Burnham donated her services in hopes of furthering her own cause.

Based on World's Fair plans and conceptual designs for the south shore of the lake, Burnham envisioned Chicago as a "Paris on the prairie." French-inspired public works buildings, fountains, and boulevards radiating from a domed central city hall became Chicago's new backdrop. Although only parts of the plan were implemented, it set the standard for urban design, anticipating the future need to control urban growth and continuing to influence the development of Chicago long after Burnham's death.

Plans in additional cities

Burnham's city planning projects did not stop in Chicago, however. Burnham had previously contributed to plans for cities such as Cleveland (the Group Plan of 1903),[33]​ San Francisco "San Francisco (California)") (1905),[34]​ Manila (1905),[35]​ and Baguio in the Philippines, details of which appear in the 1909 publication of the Plan of Chicago. Her plans for the redesign of San Francisco were delivered to the Board of Supervisors in September 1905,[36]​ but in the rush to rebuild the city after the 1906 earthquake and fires, Burnham's plans were ultimately ignored. In the Philippines, Burnham's Manila Plan never materialized due to the outbreak of World War II and the transfer of the capital to another city after the war. However, some components of the plan came to fruition, including the coastal highway that became Dewey Boulevard (now known as Roxas Boulevard) and the various neoclassical government buildings around Luneta Park, which closely resemble a miniature version of Washington, D.C., in their arrangement.

In Washington, D.C., Burnham did much to shape the 1901 McMillan Plan that led to the completion of the overall design of the National Mall. The Senate Parks Commission, or McMillan Commission established by Michigan Senator James McMillan, brought together Burnham and three of his Columbia World's Fair colleagues: architect Charles Follen McKim, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Going far beyond Pierre L'Enfant's original vision for the city, the plan called for extending the Mall beyond the Washington Monument to a new Lincoln Memorial and a "pantheon" that eventually materialized as the Jefferson Memorial. This plan involved the significant reclamation of swamp land and the Potomac River and the relocation of an existing railroad station, which was replaced by Burnham's design for Union Station "Union Station (Washington D.C.)"). Burnham served on the commission until her death in 1912.[38]​.

In his career after the fair, Burnham became one of the country's most prominent advocates of the Beaux-Arts movement, as well as the revival of neoclassical architecture that began with the fair. Much of Burhham's work was based on the classical style of Greece and Rome. In his 1924 autobiography, Louis Sullivan, one of the leading architects of the Chicago School, but who had a difficult relationship with Burnham for a long period, criticized Burnham for what Sullivan considered her lack of original expression and her reliance on classicism. By the turn of the century he had demonstrated a strong preference for Burnham's architectural style over Sullivan's.

Burnham is famous for saying: "Don't make small plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and they probably won't come true themselves." This slogan has been taken to capture the essence of Burnham's spirit.[41][42]​.

A man of influence, Burnham was considered the preeminent architect in America at the turn of the century. He held many positions during his lifetime, including the presidency of the American Institute of Architects.[43] Other notable architects began their careers under his aegis, such as Joseph W. McCarthy. Several of his descendants have worked as influential architects and planners in the United States, including his son, Daniel Burnham Jr., and his grandchildren Burnham Kelly and Margaret Burnham Geddes).

Burnham married Margaret Sherman, the daughter of his first major client, John B. Sherman, on January 20, 1876. They met at the construction site of his father's house. His father had a house built for the couple to live in. During their courtship, there was a scandal in which Burnham's older brother was accused of having forged checks. Burnham immediately went to John Sherman and offered to break off the engagement as a matter of honor, but Sherman rejected the offer, saying "There is a black sheep in every family." However, Sherman remained wary of his son-in-law, who he thought drank too much.[44]

Burnham and Margaret remained married for the rest of their lives. They had five children, two daughters and three sons, including Daniel Burnham Jr., born in February 1886,[45] who became an architect and town planner like his father. He worked in his father's company until 1917 and served as Director of Public Works for the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair "Chicago World's Fair (1933)"), known as the "Century of Progress."

The Burnham family lived in Chicago until 1886, when they purchased a 16-room farmhouse and estate on Lake Michigan in the Evanston, Illinois suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Burnham had become wary of Chicago, which he felt was becoming dirtier and more dangerous as its population increased. Burnham explained to her mother, whom she did not tell about the move in advance, "I did it, because I can't stand having my kids on the streets of Chicago anymore..."[45] When Burnham moved to "the shanty" in Jackson Park to better supervise the construction of the fair, his wife, Margaret, and their children remained in Evanston.[46]

Burnham was an early environmentalist, writing, "Strict economy in the use of natural resources has not been practiced up to our time, but it must be so, unless we are immoral enough to harm the conditions in which our children must live," although he also believed that the automobile would be a positive environmental factor, and that the end of horse transportation would bring "a real step toward civilization."...Without smoke, without fumes, without horse waste, your air and your streets will be clean and pure. This means, doesn't it, that men's health and spirit will be better?" Like many men of his time, he also showed interest in the supernatural, saying: "If I could take the time, I think I could prove the continuation of life beyond the grave, reasoning from the necessity, philosophically speaking, of a belief in an absolute and universal power."[50]

When Burnham was in her fifties, her health began to deteriorate. He developed colitis and in 1909 was diagnosed with diabetes, which affected his circulatory system and caused a foot infection that would continue for the rest of his life.[51]​.

On April 14, 1912, Burnham and his wife were aboard the White Star Line's SS Olympic, traveling to Europe for a tour of Heidelberg, Germany. When he attempted to send a telegram to his friend Frank Millet who was traveling in the opposite direction, from Europe to the United States, on the SS Titanic, he learned that the ship had sunk in an accident and Millet did not survive. Burnham died just 47 days later[52]​ from colitis complicated by her diabetes and food poisoning from a meal eaten in Heidelberg.[53][54]​.

At the time of his death, D. H. Burnham and Co. was the largest architectural firm in the world. Even the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, although highly critical of Burnham's European Beaux Arts influences, still admired him as a man and praised him, saying: "[Burnham] made masterful use of the methods and men of his time...[As] an enthusiastic promoter of great construction companies...his powerful personality was supreme." The successor firm to Burnham's practice was Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, which continued in some form until 2006. Burnham was buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.

Tributes to Burnham include Burnham Park "Burnham Park (Chicago)") and Daniel Burnham Court in Chicago, Burnham Park in Baguio City in the Philippines, Daniel Burnham Court in San Francisco (formerly Hemlock Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street), the annual Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan (run by the American Planning Association),[57]​ and the Burnham Memorial Competition which was held in 2009 to create a memorial to Burnham and her Plan of Chicago.[58] The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago hold collections of Burnham's personal and professional papers, photographs, and other archival materials.

Additionally, the Reliance Building in Chicago, which was designed by Burnham and Root, is now the Burnham Hotel, although Root was the principal architect before his death in 1891.