Heaven on Earth:   Swedenborgian Correspondences in the Plan of Chicago

Kristen Schaffer

doi:10.6092/issn.2036-1602/6290

Authors

Kristen Schaffer School of Architecture at North Carolina State University
Architectural and urban historian, an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at North Carolina State University, and currently co-editor of the North Carolina section of Archipedia, the website sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians. Her area of expertise is late-nineteenth and early twentieth century American architecture and urban development. She is an internationally recognized expert on Daniel H. Burnham and the 1909 Plan of Chicago, author of Daniel H. Burnham: Visionary Architect and Planner and articles on his work. Dr. Schaffer has given lectures at the National Building Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Humanities Festival, the Burnham Plan Centennial Committee, the Swedenborg Foundation and the Swedenborg Library, as well as at universities, conferences, and professional societies in the U.S., Germany, and Italy. She has been interviewed for radio, television, and independent documentaries, and in 2009 was a juror for the Burnham Memorial Competition sponsored by The American Institute of Architects, Chicago Chapter. Dr. Schaffer earned a B.A. at the State University of New York at Buffalo; an M.A. and Ph.D. at Cornell University. Before coming to North Carolina State University, she taught at Syracuse University, Syracuse, new York. In her distant past, she worked for an architectural and engineering firm and a healthcare planning agency.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2036-1602/6290

Keywords:

Burnham, Plan of Chicago, Swedenborg, New Jerusalem, Correspondence, Uses

Abstract

Daniel Hudson Burnham, the Chicago architect and city planner, is recognized for his work on the development of American tall office building; for the construction of World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893; and for his city plans for Washington, D.C., Cleveland, San Francisco, and Chicago. He is also remembered for the quote “Make no little plans.” What is not recalled is his Swedenborgian faith nor how it influenced his work. Emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish scientist and engineer who, beginning in the mid 1730s, underwent a spiritual awakening. The focus of his work changed to the mystical aspects of human experience. He believed that all Christian churches were dead and in need of revitalization and the key to revitalization was to be found in a new interpretation of scripture. His followers founded the Church of the New Jerusalem, sometimes referred to as the New Church or the Swedenborgian Church.

References

William Ross Woofenden compiler, “Glossary of Swedenborgian Terms” in Emanuel Swedenborg: A Continuing Vision, Robin Larsen, ed., Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., New York, 1988

Louis H. Sullivan, The Autobiography of an Idea, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1956 [1924]

Narciso G. Menocal, Architecture as Nature: The Transcendentalist Idea of Louis Sullivan, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1981

William E. Parsons, “Burnham as a Pioneer in City Planning,” The Architectural Record, July 1915, XXXVIII

Joan E. Draper, Edward H. Bennett: Architect & City Planner, 1874-1954, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1982

Robert Avens, “The Subtle Realm: Corbin, Sufism, and Swedenborg,” excerpted and compiled by Kate Davis, in Robin Larsen, et al., eds., Emanuel Swedenborg: A Continuing Vision, Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., New York, 1988

Arthur Sherburne Hardy, “Last Impressions,” The Cosmopolitan Magazine, December 1893, XVI

Thomas A. Janvier, “The Chicago Legacy,” The Cosmopolitan Magazine, December 1893, XVI

Daniel H. Burnham & Edward H. Bennett, Plan of Chicago, The Commercial Club, Chicago, 1909

Emanuel Swedenborg, Divine Providence, William Frederic Wunsch, trans., Swedenborg Foundation, New York

Emanuel Swedenborg, Divine Love and Wisdom, George F. Dole, trans., Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1985

Heaven on Earth: Swedenborgian Correspondences in the Plan of Chicago

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