Plate 129 from The Plan of Chicago, 1909: Chicago. The Business Center of the City, Within the First Circuit Boulevard, Showing the Proposed Grand East-and-West Axis and Its Relation to Grant Park and the Yacht Harbor; the Railway Terminals Schemes on the South and West Sides, and the Civic Center 1909

This detailed architectural drawing, “Plate 129 from The Plan of Chicago” by Daniel Hudson Burnham, is a blueprint for the proposed restructuring of Chicago’s downtown, completed in 1909. The plan envisioned a large-scale civic center and a grand boulevard system connecting the city’s core to its outskirts. The city’s layout is neatly organized, with streets forming a grid pattern. The artwork, held by The Art Institute of Chicago, illustrates Burnham’s ambition to modernize Chicago’s infrastructure and create a more unified, aesthetically pleasing urban environment.