Edward J. Burling (April 24, 1819,

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

– February 1892) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

architect who designed buildings in

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in the 1840s through the 1890s.

Personal life

Edward J. Burling was born April 24, 1819, to Nathaniel Burling (1778-1828) and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) Burling (1798-1886) in

, a town located along the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. He was never formally trained nor completed his education, but began a carpentry apprenticeship as a teenager, heading up the design and construction of a few homes after having experience. In 1843, Burling moved from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to start his career in

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. Burling was married to Eliza Burling and had six children together. He died in February 1892.

Architecture

Burling’s first project was in 1845. He was hired to build a Greek Revival home for Eli B. Williams, one of

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’s earliest settlers and real estate developers. Burling's career first took off after this project: designing churches, government buildings, and grand homes. Real Estate mogul

William B. Ogden William Butler Ogden (June 15, 1805 – August 3, 1877) was an American politician and railroad executive who served as the first Mayor of Chicago. He was referred to as "the Astor of Chicago." He was, at one time, the city's richest citizen. ...

, who was Chicago’s first mayor in 1837, hired Burling to work for his firm, Ogden, Jones & Co., as general superintendent. Burling eventually split from Ogden's firm, forming a partnership with Frederick H. Baumann in 1852 and creating the firm Edward Burling & Co. in 1855. One record shows that Burling had, at one point, construction moving forward on one church, one residence, one public building, three hotels, and twelve commercial buildings. Burling had many architectural works during these early years. Unfortunately for Burling’s architectural legacy, nearly all of his early work was consumed by the Great Fire in 1871. The fire practically wiped

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

’s slate clean. Despite his work getting destroyed, his Tribune Building—the first supposedly fireproof building in the city—saw its iron beams melt into liquid rivers in the blasting heat, and its stone baked and crumbled to dust. Still, a stone-walled survivor of Burling’s early work stands next to the

Driehaus Museum The Richard H. Driehaus Museum is a museum located at 40 East Erie Street on the Near North Side in Chicago, Illinois, near the Magnificent Mile. The museum is housed within the historic Samuel M. Nickerson House, the 1883 residence of a wealthy ...

today: St. James Cathedral, which he built in 1857 and rebuilt in 1875. Later in Burlings career, he created a firm with architect

Dankmar Adler Dankmar Adler (July 3, 1844 – April 16, 1900) was a German-born American architect and civil engineer. He is best known for his fifteen-year partnership with Louis Sullivan, during which they designed influential skyscrapers that boldly addr ...

. They reconstructed four miles’ worth of streetscape in the single year after the fire, more than 100 buildings created in all. Some were rebuilds, including the second Tribune Building and Marine Bank Building—while others were new, important commissions, including the Chicago Post Office and Customs House and Methodist Church Block, a religious denomination with which Burling was affiliated.

References

External links

Life & Work of Edward J. Burling, Driehausm Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burling, Edward J. 1819 births 1892 deaths 19th-century American architects 19th-century American male artists Architects from Chicago Architects from New York (state) Great Chicago Fire People from Newburgh, New York