Architect, United States Daniel Hudson Burnham’s directive to “make no small plans” remains a fitting summary for a man whose life and work was defined by the expansion, growth, and prosperity of well-to-do Americans in the decades that surround the turn of the 20th century. Not only did Burnham house businessmen and statesmen who drove the American commercial and political engine to its unmatched expansion, but he also defined and gave architectural expression to the building types and urban forms they brought to life. Burnham was born into a family of modest means in rural New York. In 1855 his family moved to Chicago, drawn by the thriving new city’s opportunities. At first, seeking his fortune elsewhere, Burnham made unsuccessful attempts to get an Ivy League education, mine for silver in the West, and run for public office in the late 1860s. Upon returning to Chicago, Burnham fell into architecture, rather than having been led by a muse to express himself in built form. From the s...