repeatedly documenting burnham and root's rookery building yields new discoveries

the scope of burnham and root’s 1888 rookery building isn’t something that can be understood in a few visits. with each visit, one leaves with a greater insight, a better understanding and also plagued by a perpetual need to ask for more – more detail, more questions. it’s allure is mystifying and has kept me coming back, searching for additional research and ephemera from its early days for years.

on a more recent trip, i repeatedly photographed the interior and exterior ornament, hoping to search it’s details for a greater degree of insight into the building's design program articulated in terra cotta, metal, marble, glass, and stone.

not without purpose, this documentation was critical by a more recent acquisition pictured below. the original drawings shown here are of the rookery’s the light court skylight.

painstakingly documenting the skylight is a key component to mapping the methods and materials used to construct it and its subsequent alterations over time, a visual tracing of this hard to come by architectural draft. comparing its design characteristics to skylight systems used in other burnham and root buildings from the late 19th century has yielded additional insights that i am eager to explore when time permits.

further reading:

19TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS OF BURNHAM AND ROOT'S ROOKERY'S SKYLIGHT ACQUIRED BY BLD. 51 MUSEUM ARCHIVE

ORNAMENTAL CAST IRON ROOKERY BUILDING PILASTER PANEL JOINS BLD. 51 MUSUEM COLLECTION

A PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF JOHN WELLBORN ROOT'S ROOKERY BUILDING ORNAMENTAL TERRA COTTA