author
Edward H. (Edward Herbert) Bennett
1874–1954
Best known for helping shape the 1909 Plan of Chicago, this British-born architect and city planner brought Beaux-Arts training to some of the most ambitious urban projects of the early 20th century. His work helped turn big civic ideas into detailed plans for streets, parks, and public spaces.
1 Audiobook
Plan of Chicago
by Commercial Club of Chicago, Edward H. (Edward Herbert) Bennett, Daniel Hudson Burnham
About the author
Born in England in 1874, Edward H. Bennett trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris before building his career in the United States. He worked with architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham, and that partnership placed him at the center of major American planning efforts at a time when cities were being reimagined on a grand scale.
Bennett is most closely associated with the 1909 Plan of Chicago, which he coauthored with Burnham. The plan became one of the best-known documents of the City Beautiful movement, calling for a more orderly, monumental, and livable city with improved transportation, civic centers, and public access to the lakefront.
He later continued in private practice as an architect and planner, contributing to plans for other American cities as well. Today he is remembered less for a single building than for the larger civic vision behind his work and for the lasting mark he left on Chicago's development.