Architecture & design
Daniel Burnham
1846–1912 · architect, urban planner
Chicago architect and planner whose firm built two of downtown Detroit's early skyscrapers, the Ford Building and the Dime Building.
- Born
Henderson, New York- Died
Heidelberg, Germany
aged 65- Birth name
- Daniel Hudson Burnham
- Also known as
- Daniel H. Burnham
- Detroit years
- 1890s–1912
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Burnham, director of works for Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and author of the Plan of Chicago, led one of the busiest architecture firms in America, and Detroit's early-twentieth-century business boom brought it several commissions. D. H. Burnham & Co. designed the Ford Building on Griswold Street, completed around 1909 for the Ford family of glass fame, not the automaker; clad in white terra cotta, it is one of the oldest surviving skyscrapers in the city. The firm followed with the Dime Savings Bank Building (1912), a 23-story tower on Griswold that was renamed Chrysler House in 2012 after a restoration. Burnham died in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1912, but his firm's Chicago-school skyscrapers still frame Detroit's financial district.
Highlights
- Ford Building (1907–1909), among Detroit's oldest skyscrapers
- Dime Building (1912), now Chrysler House
- Director of works of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
- Author of the 1909 Plan of Chicago
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1907–1909
Ford Building
White terra-cotta office tower by his firm, one of the oldest surviving skyscrapers downtown.
Worked here · 1910–1912
Dime Store
His firm's 23-story bank tower, restored and renamed Chrysler House in 2012.