John Wellborn Root

John Wellborn Root 1850-91, American architect, b. Lumpkin, Ga. He worked in New York City with James Renwick and became a partner of D. H. Burnham in Chicago. The firm created the modern type of highly organized architectural office suited to the planning of metropolitan buildings. Its partners were pioneers in the development of the steel-frame office building, and won international attention by their planning of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. Root developed a type of ornament, based upon Romanesque design, that was later further developed by Louis Henry Sullivan .

Bibliography: See studies by H. Monroe (1896) and D. Hoffmann (1973).

Root, John Wellborn (1850–91). American architect educated in England and NYC. In 1873 he formed a partnership with Daniel H. Burnham as Burnham & Root, which became a successful practice and influenced the development of the Chicago School. See Burnham.

Bibliography

Hines (1974);
D. Hoffmann (ed.) (1967);
D. Hoffmann (1973);
Monroe (1966);
Jane Turner (1996)

Root, John Wellborn (1850–91), Chicago architect, was influenced by the honesty of structure of Richardson, and in turn influenced the work of Louis Sullivan. He was a pioneer in the construction of steel‐frame office buildings, as in the 15‐story Monadnock Building (Chicago), a straight vertical design with an unornamented façade. His firm planned the Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1893). He was a brother‐in‐law of Harriet Monroe, who wrote his biography (1896).