Daniel H. Burnham- the values and beliefs that stood out to me in Burnham would be that of reputation and status, both for himself and the city of Chicago. Even though he was a very accomplished architect within the City of Chicago with his own firm and innovative buildings he designed, the fact that he wasn’t able to get into one of the prestigious schools of the time and earn a degree made him an outsider. When he was named Director of Works for the World Fair, people did not think it was possible to complete it and have a successful fair with such a short amount of time. With this, he would do whatever it took to make sure that the fair was the greatest of all times and complete by dedication day. It did not matter how much money, lives or employees it took to accomplish this. “ Burnham in particular embodied this insecurity. Denied admission to Harvard and Yale and the “right” beginning, he had become a self-conscious connoisseur of fine things.” (210)

Frederick L. Olmsted- the values and beliefs that stood out to me in Olmsted would be that of environmentally conscientious, liked things natural along with being controlling with his work. He liked to use landscape to bring out the natural environment and beauty within an area and make sure that everything blended well together. His style was not flashy, as he did not like to have the landscaping calling attention to itself. He was a perfectionist and wanted to make sure he took the time to do things correctly and was very assertive in not letting anyone get in the way of his vision or even delegating tasks to others. “His frustration with Ulrich grew, his distrust depend. Later, in another note to John, he said, “Ulrich is unwittingly faithless to us. The difficulty is that he is ambitious of honors outside of his proper line; cares more to be extraordinarily active, industrious, zealous & generally useful, than to achieve fine results in L.A. [Landscape Architecture].” (224-225)

H.H Holmes- the values and beliefs that stood out to me in Holmes would be that of kindness and an entrepreneur. These of course were not used in a good way. He used kindness to manipulate people for his own selfish reasons whether it was a creditor, lover or family and friends. “Pitezel had exaggerated Emeline’s beauty, Holmes saw, but not by much. She was indeed lovely, with luminous blonde hair. Immediately Holmes deployed his tool of seduction, his soothing voice and touch and frank blue gaze. (162-163) Most of the businesses he started or items he sold where to solve a “problem” and he was able to sell most of these ideas to people for a quick profit. He did not think of anyone but himself and his urges. “With Emeline gone and neatly disposed of, he now was able to concentrate on his growing web of enterprises. He savored his scope: He owned a portion of a legitimate company that produced a machine for duplicate documents; he sold mail-order ointments and elixirs and by now had established his own alcohol-treatment company, the Silver Ash institute, his answer to Keeley’s gold cure; “(198)

 

Daniel Burnham is one of the main characters in the story and his belief is ambition. Daniel Burnham is constantly haunted by the rejection from Yale and Harvard as a young man. Through out the book he constantly thinks about being snubbed from both universities. This drives him to sacrifice all else and bend everything and anything to gain power and show his worth as an architect. On page 105, Sullivan describes Burnham, “Daniel Burnham was obsessed by the feudal idea of power.” Burnham is highly motivated to complete this fair and is even willing to sacrifice seeing his family to pursue this ambition.

 

John Root- Creativity, This may seem very easy to pick for John Root, because his creativity and innovation is what allowed him to get a contract with Burnham on the World Fair. What stood out to me the most about John Root’s creativity was the admiration and respect he was given by Burnham and other architects. Root was known as the architectural genius between him and Daniel Burnham. The biggest insight to John Root’s innovation and creativity came from Burnham. At the end of part I (pg. 108), when Root dies you can see how much Root meant to Burnham and the genius he brought to their partnership.

 

Holmes is the other main character in this story and his main belief is power. He enjoys having this control over young women traveling to Chicago and he uses his charismatic demeanor to attract these women. I think he obsesses over this power and enjoys this rush when he kills. He benefits greatly from the World Fair and uses his hotel to further his quest for power.