John Wellborn Root
Born January 10, 1850 in Lumpkin, Georgia
Died January 15, 1981 in Chicago, Illinois
John Wellborn
Root
Born January 10, 1850 in Lumpkin, Georgia
Died January 15, 1981 in Chicago, Illinois
Root spent the Civil War years in Liverpool, England study music and
architecture. After the Civil War, his parents sent for him and they moved
to New York. He went to New York University and graduated with a civil
engineering degree in 1869.
In 1872, Root moved to Chicago and secured a job as head draftsman in the
firm of Carter, Drake, and Wight where he met Daniel H. Burnham. In 1873
Burnham and Root established their own company.
John Root served on the planning commission for the World's Columbian Exposition
of 1893. He was the one who recommended the area around Jackson Park
as the best site for the Exposition to be held. He drew a classically
influenced structure plan, the Court of Honor, to be situated around a basin
that contrasted with a series of modern buildings in front of the lagoons.
Root envisioned a city with many colors and shades that reflected the
innovative Chicago school and expressed the vibrant architecture of the American
heartland. Root's conception of a modern American exposition was never
realized. He died January 15, 1891 at the age of forty-one of
pneumonia.
Root was a popular figure in Chicago. His standing in the artistic
community grew when he married the sister of Poetry magazine founder,
Harriet Monroe who was also a biographer. She wrote a well-received
study of her brother-in-law in 1896.
Copyright 1997, Researched & Created by Nancy Petranovich