Hotels in buildings by Daniel Burnham

Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) shaped the look of modern Chicago as much as any architect. With his partner John Wellborn Root he led Burnham & Root, the firm behind pioneering early skyscrapers such as the Reliance and the Rookery; after Root’s death the practice continued as D. H. Burnham & Company, which produced a string of monumental Loop office buildings.

Two hotels share a single Burnham building. The 1914 Continental and Commercial National Bank at 208 S. LaSalle was among the last designs he supervised, completed after his death by the successor firm Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, and was the most expensive skyscraper built in the city to that date. The JW Marriott occupies its first twelve floors and The LaSalle Chicago the top floors; the addresses differ only because it is a corner building. It became a Chicago Landmark in December 2007.

Earlier still, Burnham & Root began the 1895 Reliance Building, finished by Charles Atwood and now Staypineapple — a National Historic Landmark whose glass-and-terracotta skin is the direct ancestor of the modern curtain wall.

The line continued through his sons. Burnham Brothers designed the 1929 Carbide & Carbon Building, said to be modeled on a champagne bottle and crowned in twenty-four-karat gold leaf, now Pendry Chicago; and the 1927 Bankers Building, now Club Quarters Central Loop.