Background
Root, John Wellborn was born on January 10, 1850 in Lumpkin, Stewart County, Georgia, United States. Son of Sidney and Mary (Clark) Root.
Root, John Wellborn was born on January 10, 1850 in Lumpkin, Stewart County, Georgia, United States. Son of Sidney and Mary (Clark) Root.
Attended Oxford (England) University, 1866. Graduate University City New York, 1869.
Head draftsman firm Carter, Drake, & Wight, Chicago, 1871. Formed partnership with Daniel H. Burnham, 1873, firm became well known after 1875. 1st outstanding work was a house for John B. Sherman, 1874.
Devised system of grillage foundations which largely replaced the more expensive cut stone foundations.
Designer Monadnock Building. Consultant architect World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1890, credited with final choice of a lakeside site, settlement of basic plan.
Organizer Western Association Architects. Secretary American International Assurance Author: (with Russell Sturgis, Bruce Price, Donald G. Mitchell and others) Homes in City and Country (to which he contributed The City House in the West), published 1893.
Married Mary Louise Walker, 1880. Married second, Dora Louise Monroe, December 12, 1882.