AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE
39
Before settling down to the profession, Dan Burnham spent
some time on a mining venture in Nevada, ran unsuccessfully for
the office of State Senator there, and later, back in Chicago, his
home town, sold plate glass. In 1872, Burnham's father, anxious
to curb his son's roving disposition, got him a job with a firm of
architects which, with others, was busily renovating the fire-gutted
city. Working by day for other architects and at night for them·
selves in their own wretched, tiny, unheated office, Burnham and
his partner, John W. Root, built up enough reserve in the form of
cash and clients to stay in business on a small scale. The event
which opened a new chapter in the history of the firm was Bum–
ham's marriage to the daughter of John
B.
Sherman, o_ne of their
rich clients. Commission followed commission until by 1893
Burnham
&
Root had built about forty million dollars worth of
buildings, most of them in Chicago. To his partner, Burnham dele–
gated the tasks of design, taking upon himself business dealings
with clients. Between them they apportioned detail and routine
