AIA Illinois Great Places - AIA Illinois Great Places (original) (raw)

AIA Illinois Great Places

Bishop Hill, IL
Bishop Hill was the site of a utopian religious community founded in 1846 by Swedish pietist Eric Janson (1808-1850) and his followers. Many historically significant buildings from the religious sepa...

Bloomington, IL
The David Davis House and site is one of Illinois’ best preserved Italianate houses from the post-Civil War period. The house, called “Clover Lawn,” was constructed for the Sarah and Judge Davi...

Carlinville, IL
The Macoupin County Courthouse could easily be mistaken for a state capitol, with its immense porticos on the north and south elevations, both impressive in scale and exquisite examples of the Corinth...

Champaign, IL
Architect Max Abramovitz, distinguished University of Illinois alumnus and principal of the New York firm of Harrison and Abramovitz, designed the 1963 Assembly Hall on the University’s Urbana-Champ...

Pontiac, IL
The Livingston County Courthouse was designed by architect John C. Cochrane and completed in 1874. The Second Empire structure is the signature building in the Pontiac town square, with its highly-det...

Decatur, IL
In 1909, several local manufacturing executives purchased land just west of the James Millikin House on Pine Street in Decatur, which is thought to have been designed by William LeBaron Jenney. There...

Moline, IL
The Deere & Company Administration Center is a striking example of architect Eero Saarinen’s (1910-1961) desire to create an architecture that reflects the client’s identity as it fits into its en...

Monticello, IL
For over 40 years, Robert Allerton (1873-1964) crafted his country estate in rural Illinois, continually changing, modifying, and improving the landscape he so loved. Allerton began construction in 18...

Normal, IL
The Normal Theater is a restored Art Deco/Art Moderne movie theater in downtown Normal. Unlike earlier movie ‘palaces’ that combined vaudeville acts and film, the Normal Theater was designed by l...

Peoria, IL
The result of local skill and labor, the Peoria City Hall is civic architecture at its most impressive. Built in the German-Renaissance style, the building is elaborately embellished both inside and ...

Pittsfield, IL
The Pike County Courthouse is the literal and figurative centerpiece of the Pittsfield town square. The building was completed during an era when many county governments were proclaiming their promin...

Lansing , IL
Architect Albert Khan designed the original hangar at Lansing Municipal Airport to connect Henry Ford’s Motor Company manufacturing plants in southland Chicago with his factories in Detroit, and to ...

Quincy, IL
The Quincy East End Historic District contains every formal architectural style known to have been used in the Midwest from the 1830s until the 1930s. The rich architectural heritage with tremendous ...

Quincy, IL
The 1835 John Wood Mansion is one of the finest examples of Greek-Revival architecture in the Midwest. Its builder, noted Quincy resident John Wood, was not only the first white man to settle permane...

Springfield, IL
The design for this, Illinois’ 5th state capitol, was the winning entry into an 1867 competition. Though architects such as Chicago’s John Mills van Osdel (1811-1891) and New York’s Alexander J...

Springfield, IL
The 1903 Dana-Thomas House is one of the largest and most intact of the Prairie School houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the first decade of the 20th Century, which marked a major change in Ame...

Springfield, IL
Officially opened to the public in 2005, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum stands at the corner of Sixth & Jefferson Streets in the State Capitol. The massive contemporary complex in...

Springfield, IL
The Abraham Lincoln Home, like Lincoln the man, is part of the cultural literacy that is basic to the state’s residents. This is the only home Lincoln ever owned. Abraham, his wife Mary and first ...

Springfield, IL
The Old State Capitol was designed by local architect, John Francis Rague (1799-1877). Construction began in 1837 and was finished in 1839. Following the designs of the North Carolina and Indiana Cap...

Urbana, IL
The Quad, located in the heart of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, consists of a 200 by 900 foot rectangle defined by thirteen buildings, with diagonal pathways and lawns in between...

Chicago, Central, IL
The two primary Marina City towers, affectionately known as the “Corncobs,” stood out immediately on the Chicago Skyline and were the tallest apartment buildings in the world when completed in 195...

Chicago, Central, IL
The Printers’ Row Historic District embodies the richness of the Chicago School of architecture, and is one of the few places in the country that includes four National Historic Landmarks. This coll...

Chicago, Central, IL
The Michigan-Wacker Historic district is significant as the site of the original Fort Dearborn, and the northern springing point for the 20th-Century City conceived in Burnham’s Plan for Chicago. Th...

Chicago, Central, IL
Washington Square, Chicago’s oldest park, was created in 1842 when the American Land Company donated a three-acre parcel to the city for use as a public park to spur upscale growth in the surroundin...

Chicago, Central, IL
Voted as Chicago’s favorite building in 1995 by the readers of the Chicago Tribune, 333 West Wacker Drive occupies one of the most prominent sites along the Chicago River. Directly across from the ...

Chicago, Central, IL
One of the most impressive museum campuses in the world, the 57-acre lakefront park that surrounds Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History opened in 1998 ...

Chicago, Central, IL
Two of the most influential buildings of the 20th-century span 860-880 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. These modernist masterpieces, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, became the prototype for the ste...

Chicago, Central, IL
Heald Square, situated along the Chicago river, is a city Landmark, named after Captain Nathan Heald, commander of Fort Dearborn from 1810-1812. The statue in the center depicts Robert Morris and Haym...

Chicago, Central, IL
Formerly the world’s tallest building at a height of 1,451 feet, the Sears tower still holds the record for the highest ‘tip height’ thanks to its two antennae, which add an additional 274 feet....

Chicago, Central, IL
Less a formal park and more a cultural attraction, since its opening in mid-2004, 24.5-acre Millennium Park, at the north end of Grant Park has become a favorite spot in Chicago. Since the 1850,s the...

Chicago, Central, IL
The Water Tower and Pumping Station were constructed to house Chicago’s early water supply system. They were designed in a castellated, Gothic Revival style by one of Chicago’s earliest architect...

Chicago, Downtown, IL
The system of elevated commuter train lines in the center city is so essential to the identity of Chicago that it is sometimes hard to image it any other way. This “Loop,” the name that identifies...

Chicago, Downtown, IL
This powerful, 31-story tower was designed by Jacques Brownson (b. 1923) of C. F. Murphy Associates. Composed of three massive structural bays, each an unprecedented 87-feet wide and nearly 48-feet d...

Chicago, Downtown, IL
Although Mies van der Rohe began designing the Chicago Federal Center in the late 1950s, due to budgetary constraints the complex was not completed until 1974. What is now regarded as one of the great...

Chicago, Downtown, IL
The LaSalle Street Financial Corridor is one of the most visually stunning districts in the city. A long canyon of buildings, unlike any other area of Chicago, terminates at the Chicago Board of Trad...

Chicago, Downtown, IL
One of the great places in the world to study the history of curtain-wall construction and retail history is at the intersection of State and Madison Streets in Chicago. The Reliance Building, designe...

Chicago, Downtown, IL
Exelon plaza, fronting the First National Bank, now Chase Bank, is one of three significant urban spaces between Clark and Dearborn Streets, along with the Richard J. Daley Center and the Chicago Fede...

Chicago, Downtown, IL
The Chicago Cultural Center was originally constructed in 1897 as the city’s main public library. Boston architectural firm Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, with its expertise in designing library buildin...

Chicago, North, IL
These row houses were built to provide rental income for the McCormick Theological Seminary, which was located in this vicinity from 1863 to 1975. The architect of these dwellings was the firm of A.M....

Chicago, North, IL
Located near the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool Gardens (formerly The Rookery) has long been a thriving sanctuary for both people and wildlife. First created in 1889 as a place in whi...

Chicago, North, IL
Old Town was first settled in the 1850s by German produce farmers. St. Michael’s Parish, established in 1852, erected a Cathedral in 1869 and designed by architect August Wallbaum. The 1871 Chicag...

Chicago, North, IL
Tucked away in the West Ridge neighborhood sits Indian Boundary Park and Cultural Center, a community treasure where visitors will discover a beautifully restored, duck-filled lagoon, a children’s s...

Chicago, North, IL
Dwight H. Perkins was an architect of the Chicago School period who trained at M.I.T. and in the office of Burnham & Root, producing many school designs for the Chicago Board of Education between 1905...

Chicago North, IL
The homes on Hutchinson Street in Chicago, built between 1894 and 1912, represent one of the largest groupings of architect George W. Maher’s work, reflecting his professional design evolution from ...

Chicago, North, IL
Graceland Cemetery & Crematorium is a privately-owned cemetery of 119 acres in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Its exceptional landscape displays an important array of historic design elements rangin...

Chicago, North, IL
The Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens was founded in 1868 after Chicago Park Commissioners were given a pair of swans from New York’s Central Park menagerie. In 1888, the Zoo’s first director, Cyrus...

Chicago, North, IL
In 1882, when Potter and Bertha Palmer moved from Prairie Avenue to 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive, other wealthy families followed, some buying land from Palmer, who made speculative investments as he relo...

Chicago, North, IL
Unlike most other 19th century Chicago neighborhoods, the Wicker Park Historic District is not identified with one particular class of society. Within it, one finds virtually the entire gamut of the ...

Woodstock, IL
The Woodstock Town Square represents a Midwestern version of the New England “village green.” The square was the site of the county’s first courthouse, but it was converted to a landscaped park...

Chicago, North, IL
Located on Chicago’s near North Side, the ivy-studded Wrigley Field has been the home of Chicago Cubs since 1916. The oldest extant National League ball park was built in 1914 for Charles E. Weeghm...

Orland Park, IL
The Orland Park Public Library has a civic presence suitable for its public mission and its location in the Village’s municipal center, establishing a landmark of egalitarian culture, knowledge and ...

Chicago, IL
Situated on a high lakefront bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, North Shore Congregation Israel was designed by Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986) in 1964. The synagogue brilliantly combines structural ingenu...

Chicago, South, IL
Often called the original Gold Coast, Prairie Avenue was the most prestigious neighborhood in Chicago from the late 1870s to the early 1890s. Home to over 70 millionaires during its heyday, Palace Ave...

Chicago, South, IL
One of Chicago’s most important sculptures is “The Fountain of Time,” a masterpiece of renowned Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft. Located in the southeast corner of Washington Park, the 102-foot-lon...

Chicago, South, IL
Designed in 1940 by a founder of Modern architecture, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Academic Campus is comprised of 26 buildings on 60 acres in a very urban sett...

Chicago, South, IL
In 1870, noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted was commissioned to design Chicago’s southern parks, mostly situated on land that had been sold to the city by Mary Jackson, after whom the ...

Chicago, South, IL
On the south side of Chicago, George Pullman created a world in furtherance of a business. Planned between 1880 and 1884, this 300-acre model industrial community was established to provide ideal livi...

Chicago, West, IL
In 1869, the State of Illinois passed legislation creating North, South, and West Park Districts to plan and construct a system of interconnected parks just outside the City of Chicago. In 1870, the W...

Chicago, West, IL
Located in Chicago’s west side Austin neighborhood, the 135-acre Columbus Park is considered the masterpiece of nationally-renowned landscape architect and father of the Midwestern conservation move...

Chicago, West, IL
The Garfield Park Conservatory was originally constructed between 1906 and 1907, in a collaborative effort by landscape architect Jens Jensen, the firm of Schmidt, Garden & Martin; and New York engine...

Chicago, West, IL
In 1988, architect Helmut Jahn created one of the most invigorating transportation spaces in the county at O’Hare’s United Airlines Terminal. It was an elegant solution to the challenge of a high-...

Chicago, IL
In 1870, William Le Baron Jenny was selected to design the western district parks in Chicago, including Garfield, Douglas, and Humboldt Parks, and their connecting boulevards. Heavily influenced by Fr...

Ottawa , IL
St. Columba Catholic Church has been serving the people of Ottawa since 1838, when the Illinois and Michigan Canal builders, many of whom were of Irish descent, began arriving. The current building wa...

Evanston, IL
University Hall, the oldest remaining building on the Northwestern campus, and its most recognizable landmark, has seen significant interior changes, though its exterior appears much like it did 131 y...

Evanston, IL
Grosse Point Lighthouse was built in 1873 to mark the maritime approach to Chicago on Lake Michigan. During the late 1800s, Chicago was one of the leading shipping ports in the country. However, the ...

Glencoe, IL
Glencoe has the third largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the world. The Ravine Bluffs subdivision in Glencoe was commissioned in 1911 by Sherman Booth, Sr., Wright's lawyer and friend ...

Grayslake, IL
The land that comprises Prairie Crossing was purchased in 1987 by a group of neighbors who formed a company to preserve open space and agricultural acreage. The design of Prairie Crossing resulted in ...

Highland Park, IL
U.S. Fort Sheridan was planned and designed by the newly-formed Chicago firm of Holabird & Roche, which eventually would design 66 buildings at the fort between 1889 and 1908. The Romanesque-Revival ...

Highland Park, IL
Ravinia Festival, known worldwide as the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has a compelling history that is less obvious to the crowds gathered for listening to music on a warm summer nig...

Kenilworth, IL
In 1890, wealthy businessman Joseph Sears, whose young daughter died of cholera, envisioned an ideal community, free from the city’s disease, danger, and grime. This motivated Sears to purchase 224...

Lake Forest, IL
Market Square is widely credited as being the first outdoor shopping mall in America. Few central business districts in the country so well define their communities’ character. In the early 1900s ...

Lake Forest, IL
In 1897, architect Howard van Doren Shaw (1869-1926) was only 28 when he designed Ragdale for himself and his family in the increasingly wealthy suburb of Lake Forest. Entering private practice only ...

Libertyville, IL
In 1918, prominent Chicago society architect David Adler (1882-1949) began remodeling an 1864 farmhouse into a modestly scaled and tremendously refined estate for himself and for his wife, Katherine. ...

Matteson, IL
Serving as the worship center for a growing African-American congregation, New Faith Baptist Church International represents a new approach in the design of large, contemporary, multi-media based reli...

Vernon Hills , IL
Originally built as a private residence for Samuel Insull, the founder of Commonwealth Edison Company, the Cuneo Mansion is now a historic house museum. Designed by Benjamin Marshall in 1914, the Medi...

Wilmette, IL
This imposing yet airy structure by Louis Bourgeois (1856-1930) echoes Baha’i principles of universality through its composite architecture. Readily discernible are details of Early Egyptian, Persia...

Winnetka, IL
Crow Island School is a nationally significant example of mid-20th-century design for both its architectural expression and its re-thinking of the school environment. Four classroom wings are arrange...

Chicago, IL
Designed by Charles Sumner Frost, Chicago’s Navy Pier was inspired by the 1909 Burnham Plan for Chicago, which called for two large piers projecting into Lake Michigan. Built at a time when Chicago ...

Chicago, IL
Designed by Parisian architect Jean-Paul Viguier, Sofitel Chicago Water Tower Hotel is currently the tallest all-hotel building in Chicago. In the lobby, a bar and restaurant, the Café des Architects...

Chicago, South, IL
The 1910 Robie House is one of the last and most perfectly-executed houses of the “Prairie School” period of Wright’s work during the first decade of the 20th Century. Its striking horizontal li...

Chicago, South, IL
The University of Chicago received its charter in 1890, and began to build a campus on land donated by and purchased from civic leader Marshall Field. The result was a series of traditional Gothic qua...

Chicago, South, IL
The collection of buildings on Cermak Road along the Chicago Riverfront comprises one of the City’s best districts of early 20th century industrial architecture. Built for utilitarian purposes, thes...

Chicago, IL
Suggested by Daniel H. Burnham’s Plan for Chicago of 1909, the Congress Plaza, designed by Edward Bennett, is framed by massive, muscular bronzes; ”The Spearman” and the” Bowman of 1928,” by...

Chicago Heights, IL
Bloom Township High School is an outstanding example of Art Deco architecture, which first appeared as a result of the Exposition des Art Decoratifs et Industriels in Paris in 1925. The original four...

Joliet, IL
The Joliet Township High School building of 1901 originally served both as the City’s high school, and as Joliet Junior College. Undergoing four additions between 1917 and 1931, the structure expan...

Joliet, IL
Joliet Union Station was designed and built when virtually all distance travel was done by train, and stations were ceremonial places of arrival. Designed by Jarvis Hunt, Joliet’s classically-detail...

Joliet, IL
The “Rubens Rialto Wonder Theatre” was designed in 1926 by nationally prominent theater architects, Rapp & Rapp. The sumptuous classical and exotic ornamentation, scale and beauty of the many lobb...

Kankakee, IL
Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1902 design for the Bradley House, on its Kankakee River setting is regarded as his first complete example of the Prairie-Style residential designs, which would dominate his wor...

LaSalle, IL
Edward Hegeler commissioned W. W. Boyington (1818-1898), the architect of Chicago's famous Water Tower, to design this house. Built in the Second Empire style, the mansion has a grand presence, as im...

Lockport, IL
In 1836, Joseph Wampler, a surveyor for the Illinois & Michigan (I&M) Canal Commission, platted downtown Lockport at the same time that he laid out the Canal itself. Lockport was to be the headquarte...

Manhattan, IL
The barn has an iconic place in the architecture of rural America, and the round barn is among the most distinctive of types. The Baker-Koren Barn’s polygonal shape and large size, which differs fr...

New Lenox , IL
For many years New Lenox had been missing a real downtown and community center. In 1998, planning began for a five-acre park that would provide that focal point. During the Park’s six-year developme...

Olympia Fields, IL
Olympia Fields Country Club was founded in 1915 by a group of investors headed by prominent Chicago businessman Charles Beach, who found a suitable site alongside the Illinois Central Railroad line, s...

Orland Park, IL
Designed by Ralph Johnson of Perkins & Will, the Orland Park Village Center, comprised of a village hall, a civic center, and a recreation center, has brought a new identity to the southwest suburban ...

Dwight, IL
The 1857 Pioneer Gothic Church is a rare example of wooden “Carpenter Gothic” architecture in Illinois. The Gothic Revival is often associated with masonry buildings and cathedrals, but this wood...

Park Forest, IL
America’s first Post-War planned community, Park Forest has been recognized for its innovative design, which made it a model for towns throughout the world. In 1946, American Community Builders dev...

Regional, IL
On July 4, 1836, ground was broken at Lockport and Bridgeport for the construction of the Illinois & Michigan (I&M) Canal, which was completed in April of 1848. The Canal was a one-hundred-mile water...

Tinley Park, IL
Tinley Park’s Oak Park Avenue Metra Station reclaims the traditional role of the train station as a ceremony place of arrival. It features stone walls, slate roofs, wood rafters, and cedar shingle ...

Utica, IL
Built on a wooded bluff overlooking the Illinois River, the Starved Rock State Park Lodge, reflects the increasing democratization of American recreation in the first half of the 20th Century. The Lod...

Wheaton, IL
Cantigny Park is located on the estate of Robert R. McCormick, featuring the historic 35-room house museum designed by architect Charles Allerton Coolidge in 1897, for his grandfather, Joseph Medill,...

Hoffman Estates, IL
Located on a site near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, along a sloping wetlands in the Prairie Stone Office Park, the Serta International corporate headquarters, styled along the historical lines of Fra...

Schaumburg, IL
The 783,800 square foot Zurich North America’s suburban Chicago headquarters is located on a 40 acre campus surrounded by beautiful, native landscape. The building, designed by Goettsch Partners h...

Rosemont, IL
The John Portman-designed, iconic 1969 Hyatt Regency O’Hare, one of world’s largest convention hotels undertook a $60 million, cutting edge design transformation which was completed in 2007. Sign...

Aurora, IL
William George, president of Aurora’s Old Second National Bank from 1895 to 1933, selected Prairie-School architect George Grant Elmslie to execute a structure that would embody the spirit of a new ...

Riverside, IL
The suburb of Riverside, America’s first planned, model community was established in the late 1860s as an investment opportunity by Riverside Improvement Company, which originally purchased 1,600-ac...

Aurora, IL
Located on the Fox River, in the heart of Aurora’s central business district, lies the city’s earliest settlement, reflecting its industrial, business and cultural development history. Stolp Islan...

Aurora, IL
In 1856, the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad built a major railroad-car building and repair complex in Aurora. Reportedly, now the oldest remaining limestone roundhouse in the country, it was bu...

Bartlett, IL
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, Illinois is the largest traditional Hindu Mandir (temple) of stone and marble to be constructed in the United States. Created entirely according to anci...

Broadview, IL
Structure and light underpin the design of this church for a large African-American congregation in suburban Chicago. The design by Harding Associates reflects the pastor’s enduring vision of the c...

Downers Grove, IL
The Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove opened in 1928 as the second theater in the world designed for sound motion pictures. Designed by Van Gunten & Van Gunten, the building occupies a full block and a...

Elgin, IL
The city of Elgin has begun a comprehensive plan to transform the riverfront from downtown’s “backside” to a public place for recreation and entertainment. The focus of this effort is a two-mil...

Elmhurst, IL
The McCormick House is one of only three homes in the United States designed and built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). It was built in 1952 as a weekend and summer home for Robert McCormick,...

Hinsdale, IL
The Legge Memorial Lodge was designed by architect R. Harold Zook in the early 1920’s for Alexander Legge, President of International Harvester, as a weekend retreat for him and his wife. His wife, ...

Itasca, IL
The Village of Itasca’s new Municipal Center, comprised of a Village Hall and Police Station, is located adjacent to the nearby Nature Center. The primary challenge for the project was to integrate...

Lisle, IL
The Morton Arboretum is comprised of gardens of various plant types and groupings of plants from specific geographical areas, it includes some native woodland forest preserves and a restored Illinois ...

Lombard, IL
Lilacia Park contains an 8.5-acre horticultural park, a greenhouse and a historic house. The park had its origins as family garden created by Col . William Plum and his wife, Helen Maria Williams Plu...

Lombard, IL
Also known as the First Church of Lombard, the current building from 1870 replaced an earlier house of worship lost in a fire. A significant example of Gothic Revival, the church retains much of its ...

Naperville, IL
North Central College’s Old Main was designed in 1870 by John Mills Van Osdel (1836-1891), one of Chicago’s earliest architects. Most of Van Osdel’s buildings were destroyed in the 1871 Chicago...

Naperville, IL
Recreational facilities of all types are a major part of the built environment. However Naperville’s Centennial Beach is a rarity - a public swimming pool crafted from a stone quarry. In 1930, Cen...

Niles, IL
The Niles Police Station, a gateway to the Village, features the engaging, contemporary design of PSA Dewberry, which created a municipal landmark with an identity that distinguishes it from other mun...

Oak Brook, IL
A landmark in American shopping center development, Oakbrook Center was designed in 1959 by Leobl, Schossman & Bennett, the same firm that helped define the shopping mall genre with its Park Forest Pl...

Oak Park, IL
The 1907 Unity Temple stands as a remarkable work of religious architecture for its bold break with traditions and innovative use of concrete. Frank Lloyd Wright’s design for this building, with its...

Oak Park, IL
The Oak Park Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio served as the private residence and workplace of Frank Lloyd Wright from 1889 to 1909. During this period in Wright’s career, his home/office was the ...

Chicago, IL
Old rail yards along the South Branch of the Chicago River‘s east bank edge have been transformed into the Ping Tom Memorial Park, celebrating the neighborhood’s Asian heritage. Gingko trees and a...

Park Ridge, IL
This exotic masterpiece by idiosyncratic architect R. Harold Zook and his partner William McCaughey is a 1,540-seat movie palace abuzz with Art Deco and Mayan motifs. Beyond the elaborate marquee is a...

Plano, IL
The Farnsworth House was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) in 1951 for Dr. Edith Farnsworth (1903-1978), a successful Chicago physician and researcher. Built as a weekend retreat, the ...

Schaumburg, IL
The place that was both home and studio of architect Paul Schweikher, from 1938 to 1953, combines influences of the Prairie School, International Style and Japanese architecture, creating a modernist ...

St. Charles, IL
During the roaring 1920s, St. Charles became a destination for entertainment and a playground for the wealthy. Much of this can be attributed to two local businessmen, Lester Norris and Colonel Edward...

Wheaton, IL
The DuPage County Historical Museum is an early example of the adaptive reuse of civic properties. Charles Sumner Frost (1856-1931) designed the building in 1892 as a public library, making it an ear...

Naperville, IL
Begun in 1981, the Naperville Riverwalk, a linear park built along the West Branch of the DuPage River through downtown, was designed by the team of Charles Vincent George Design Group and Hitchcock D...

DeKalb, IL
The atmospheric Egyptian Theatre was part of the Egyptian Revival that swept America after the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Its architect, Elmer F. Behrens, was well accomplished in t...

Galena, IL
Galena’s Main Street contains one of the best collections of mid-19th century commercial buildings in the country. The street is even more significant because of its curve, which follows the topogr...

Grand Detour, IL
This historic site is where John Deere (1804-1886) first developed and produced his steel plow, changing the face of farming in the Midwest. After moving from Vermont in 1836, Deere set up shop in Gr...

Rockford, IL
The Poplar Grove United Methodist Church traces its roots to the first settlers who arrived in the area in the late 1830s and constructed a simple wooden frame church in 1877. The expanding congregat...

Rockford, IL
On a visit to Portland, Oregon, Rockford industrialist John Anderson found himself at the Japanese garden in Washington Park. Anderson, an admirer of Japanese culture, was awestruck. He immediately ...

Rockford, IL
The ingenuity that characterizes live performance is on display in this theater that dissolves the boundary between stage and sky. Jeanne Gang (b. 1964) and her firm, Studio Gang, designed a copper-cl...

Rockford, IL
After Robert H. Tinker returned from a tour of Europe in 1862, he built a 20-room home that emulated the chalets he saw in Switzerland. Under a broad, gable roof, two main floors with verandahs and ba...

Rockford, IL
The Coronado Theater, designed by Peoria architect Frederick J. Klien, is an excellent example of the atmospheric style of historic movie palaces. Through the use of lighting, paint and plaster ornam...

Anna, IL
It has been supposed that Prairie School architect Walter Burley Griffin won the commission for this rural library in 1912 because he attended the University of Illinois with the son of one of the lib...

Belleville, IL
Construction of National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows began in the summer of 1958. Founded by Fr. Edwin J. Guild, OMI, and overlooking the Mississippi River Valley, it is one of the largest outdoo...

Belleville, IL
Illinois’ largest cathedral, St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church serves the Catholic Diocese of Belleville, which includes all of southern Illinois. After a 1912 fire destroyed everything but the br...

Cahokia, IL
The Holy Family Parish Log Church in Cahokia is arguably the finest example in the United States of a vertical log French Colonial church. The building is a rare example of a once common construction...

Cairo, IL
Begun in 1869 and completed in 1872, the Cairo Custom House was designed by A.B. Mullett, the Supervising Architect of the U. S. Treasury, between 1865 and 1880. The design of the Customs House combin...

Carbondale, IL
The only home of Buckminster Fuller, who was an internationally-known inventor, designer, educator, and philosopher is located near the campus of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Until Bucky ...

Collinsville, IL
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the preserved central section of the largest prehistoric Native American city north of Mexico. Occupied from 700 to 1400, the city grew to cover 4,000 acres, wit...

Edwardsville, IL
The master plan and development of an entire new university campus in a few years was a major achievement in planning and design. As the “Baby Boomers” got ready for college, Southern Illinois Uni...

Elsah, IL
Renowned San Francisco architect Bernard Maybeck (1862-1957) convinced the Director of Principia College in 1931 that a campus designed after an English village would “express the spirit of home, of...

Grafton, IL
Built on a hill overlooking the Mississippi River, the 1935 Pere Marquette Lodge and cabins, in addition to several other state park lodges and cabins, were part of a decades-long construction effort ...

McLeansboro, IL
Designed by the architecture firm of Reid & Reid of Evansville, Indiana, the Cloud State Bank is a diminutive but exceedingly elaborate Second-Empire confection. Among the more prominent details are ...

Prairie du Rocher, IL
First built in 1753, this mostly reconstructed stone structure is the third fort to bear the name Fort des Chartres, named for the son of Philip II, Duke of Orleans, Regent of France. The first of two...

Rockford, IL
In 1949, Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Laurent House in Rockford, his only house for an owner with a disability. Beautifully-sited with wooded views, the one-story house carefully accommodated whee...

Rockford, IL
The Peacock Brewery complex was originally constructed in 1902, following the design of local architects Widmann, Walsh & Boisscher. The Brewery complex served its original function until it was close...

Peoria, IL
The Second Presbyterian Church in Peoria was originally built in 1889, converted into the Eastern Star/Donmeyer Temple, and later, in 2016 reopened as a microbrewery and restaurant. The original archi...

Quincy, IL
Governor Richard Ogilvie, a crowd of 16,000, and the Blue Angels gathered for the dedication of the Quincy Regional Airport. In a May 5, 1972 article Quincy’s Herald-Whig, Central Illinois architec...

Peoria, IL
The Peoria Riverfront Museum, opened in 2012 was designed by Dewberry, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP as the successor to the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences. It is a privately funded, no...

Charleston, IL
The Doudna Fine Arts Center, designed by architect Antoine Pedrock, uses a multi-faceted, crystalline interior concourse to connect performance spaces, classrooms and exhibits. The central campus loca...

DuQuoin, IL
The DuQuoin, Illinois State fairgrounds is a 1,200-acre site with a major horse racing venue dating to 1923. The architectural significance of the fairgrounds complex stems from its collection of 194...

Champaign, IL
University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana graduate, Carol Ross Barney and her fellow architects designed the City of Champaign’s Public Library mastering the constraints of a small site, a tight budge...

Moline , IL
The new Health Sciences Center at Black Hawk College, Quad-Cities campus in Moline, designed by Demonica Kemper Architects, has been certified LEED Gold, a high achievement for a community college to ...

Normal, IL
The Children’s Discovery Museum in downtown Normal opened in 2004 and became the first children’s museum in the country to be LEED certified by the United States Green Building Council. The buildi...

Springfield, IL
Illinois’ Governor’s Mansion is the third-oldest continuously-occupied governor’s residence in the United States. Designed by architect John Mills Van Osdel, the Italianate structure was comple...

Dekalb, IL
Haish Memorial Library in DeKalb is a gem of a 1930’s Indiana Bedford Limestone building that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The original construction of the library,...

Mt. Vernon , IL
Cedarhurst Center for the Arts is a visual and performing arts institution in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Located on a 90-acre campus, it features regional art exhibits, an exquisite collection of late 19...

Batavia, IL
When Fermilab’s founding director, Robert Wilson, imagined an ideal laboratory, he wanted it to be architecturally impressive and artistically inspiring. With this in mind, he installed remarkable s...

Addison, IL
Williams Architects captured additional space from throughout the building to invent new spaces for group collaboration, meetings, technology, and creation at the 54,000 square foot Addison Public Li...

Oak Park, IL
Architect Tom Bassett-Dilley led a team to create the blueprint for a new building that will provide 2,100 square feet of space for the Austin Gardens Environmental Education Center. The design provid...

Skokie, IL
With a theme based on the journey from darkness to light, the Stanley Tigerman design of Illinois’ Holocaust Museum & Education Center is steeped in both cultural and religious significance. Affirmi...

Cicero, IL
This four-story, gently curving structure contains classrooms that are divided into “houses,” which provide space for an intimate education experience where Cicero Junior High students spend most ...

Chicago, IL
The winner of a highly publicized 1988 design competition, the Harold Washington Library was the most traditional of the diverse proposals designed to house the city’s main library collection. Class...

Chicago, IL
Of the four giants that dominate the early twenty-first-century Chicago skyline, the Willis Tower, Trump Tower, and Aon Center may be taller, but the John Hancock Center best exemplifies the Chicago t...

Chicago , IL
Impressive for its size and beautiful in its detail, the Merchandise Mart, known simply as the MART, remains a major Chicago icon. Built as a wholesale store by Marshall Field & Co., it long served as...

Chicago, IL
Established in 1906, South Shore prospered along with the neighborhood to become one of the city's renowned country clubs. Marshall & Fox's modest 1906 clubhouse was replaced with this palatial Medite...

Chicago, IL
The Helmut Jahn-designed center of state government, named for former governor James R. Thompson is unabashedly a reaction against the austerity, formality, and the lack of variety in its architectura...

Chicago , IL
One of the last of the grand American railroad stations, Union Station was a major element in West Loop development, under Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. When opened in 1925, it replaced an earlie...

Chicago, IL
The Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist stands in graceful contrast to its massive surroundings on a prominent site near Taft’s Heald Square Monument, yet still retains the human scale that invi...

Chicago, IL
A significant aspect of Chicago's culture is its richly-developed live theatre scene. The Theater District is a tight cluster of venues which offer dramatic historic spaces, combined with thriving the...

Chicago, IL
Aqua is the tallest building in the United States designed by a woman-owned firm, Studio Gang, and is often seen as a brilliant new approach to a challenge first identified by Louis Sullivan. That is...

Chicago, IL
The DuSable Museum, located in the historic Hyde Park area of Chicago is the oldest and was one of the largest collections of African American culture in the United States, until the opening of the n...

Chicago , IL
A visitor experiences the subtle modernist building that is the first permanent home for Poetry Magazine in its 100-year history, one layer at a time, starting with the delicately-perforated screen of...

Chicago, IL
The new Chinatown Branch of the Chicago Public Library serves as a civic, educational, and social hub for Chicago’s vibrant Asian community. Features such as the south-facing entrance, softened tria...

Chicago, IL
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership is an educational center in Chicago that hosts public programs, films, speakers, seminars, concerts, and exhibits. Not affiliated with any single b...

Chicago, IL
Mies Van der Rohe’s last American building and his largest at 52 stories, the one-time corporate office of IBM followed his familiar model. The anodized aluminum and bronze-tinted glass tower transf...

Chicago , IL
In 1960, the $35 million McCormick Place lakefront facility, which was named for the iconic publisher of the Chicago Tribune, was opened. After a spectacular fire in 1967, Chicago Mayor, Richard J. D...

Chicago, IL
The Bloomingdale Trail is the backbone of a parks and trail network called "The 606,” named in homage to the city's zip codes, the prefix for nearly all of which is 606. The 606 Bloomingdale Trail,...

Chicago , IL
Hyde Park’s Art Center is the only Chicago building by Doug Garofalo, one of the city's most respected and lauded architects. When he died in 2011, he was in his early fifties, a time when architect...

Chicago , IL
Designed by Henry Ives Cobb to impress the crowds that flocked to the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Chicago Athletic Association building projects a lavish display of Venetian Gothic, i...

Chicago , IL
In 2011, Brinshore Development and the Rebuild Foundation, which was established by acclaimed artist and planner Theaster Gates, commissioned Landon Bone Baker Architects to design the Dorchester Arti...

Chicago, IL
The Washington/Wabash Chicago Loop ‘L’ station was a consolidation and replacement for two closely-placed Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) elevated train line stations along Wabash Avenue. The...

Chicago, IL
Located on the southern edge of Chicago’s Midway neighborhood, the Logan Center for the Arts unites the University of Chicago’s visual arts, film, music, and theater programs, under one roof. The ...

Chicago, IL
William Jones College Prep brings a new model of urban education design to the downtown Chicago South Loop, in a successor building to a 1960s reinforced-concrete tower. The location of a public high...

Chicago, IL
In September 2016, after years of advocating for the Rosenwald Court Apartments, formerly known as the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, Landmarks Illinois joined public officials and community re...

Chicago , IL
Designed to recall the shifting sand dunes that earlier occupied the site, in its color and hard angular massing, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum was originally founded in 1857 by the Chicago Academ...

Chicago, IL
Chicago’s Powerhouse High School is the result of historic preservation rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the 90,000-square foot power supply house transforming it into a successful charter schoo...

East St. Louis, IL
Designers from HOK Inc. of St Louis and Wolf Co of Granite City participated in the $4.2-million project at Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park, situated directly across the Mississippi River from St. Lou...

Glencoe, IL
For 25 years, Writers Theatre, located on the North Shore of Chicago, has captivated audiences with inventive interpretations of classic and contemporary works, and dedication to creating an intimate ...

Danville, IL
The Holland Apartment Building is a noteworthy example of Dutch Revival style architecture, with its complex roof forms, stepped gables and oriel windows. The building was quite popular, with a major ...

Chicago, IL
The range of buildings in Chicago’s Motor Row district illustrates the evolution of the automobile showroom with its related product and service buildings, from simple two-story structures used for ...

Chicago, IL
Designed for Samuel M. Nickerson by one of Chicago’s most prominent early architects, Edward J. Burling, the mansion was reportedly the most expensive and elaborate private Chicago residences at th...

Chicago, IL
The Northeastern Illinois University El Centro project is the first component in a satellite campus master plan, envisioned to provide educational, career and cultural opportunities to include the Lat...

Chicago, IL
The Method plant, in the Historic Pullman neighborhood, is the first new factory to be built on the South Side in nearly 30 years and brings much needed jobs to the community. The Method company produ...

Special Thanks to:

AIA Illinois

AIA Chicago

AIA Eastern Illinois

AIA Northeast Illinois

AIA Prairie

Site Selection Committees

What makes a "Great Place"?

A consistent theme of the selected places is that of utilizing the AIA's 10 Principles of Livable Communities. First on this list was the principle of "design on a human scale," which emphasizes "compact, pedestrian-friendly communities." Other Principles include that of "mixed-use development," "preserved urban centers," and "vibrant public spaces." The list of Great Places includes many examples that illustrate these principles and more.

What kinds of Great Places are there?

The AIA Illinois Great Places encompass the built environment of Illinois. The list included planned communities as well as individual houses. There was no specific limit on the types of places that could be nominated, but they all had to be publicly accessible. The requirement of public access makes the list tend towards civic and commercial structures and limits private houses to those that have been turned into "house museums." The Great Places list includes churches, schools, offices, court houses, museums, and planned communities. The Great Places list can be sorted by type of use, location, and decade, which will provide the viewer with a way to use this list for educational and tourism purposes. The Great Places list includes notable structures by famous architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, but also includes structures by anonymous builders and urban places with multiple designers.

How were the Great Places selected?

An AIA Illinois Great Place had to meet several criteria. First among these was the sense of how well did the place meet the AIA's 10 Principles of Livable Communities? These guiding principles help establish an overall framework. Secondly, the places had to be publicly accessible, which limited individual private homes and other structures that might be architecturally distinctive but did not help educate the public. A third and more difficult definition was that of size. How big could a place be and still be a place? The working definition for our selections is that of a place that could be experienced by standing in one location. The only exception to this was a designed landscape that was created by an identified planner or landscape architect. There are several communities that are listed because of their importance in urban planning and several parks that were designed by landscape architects. We did not include structures such as bridges which are primarily transportation infrastructure and not a pedestrian experience.

The selection committee for this project was created by the AIA chapters of Illinois, under the leadership of AIA Illinois. Each chapter nominated a core of places based upon the population of their region. Each chapter developed its own nominating committee, and was encouraged to work with other local organizations. The total list was then developed to provide a range of place types, eras and designers that represent a wide spectrum of Illinois.

How do I find out more information about specific Great Places?

The AIA Illinois Great Places web site is the host location for visitors and includes links to individual location websites.

What is AIA Illinois doing to recognize these Great Places?

Each local AIA Chapter in Illinois will work with the sites for a recognition ceremony. AIA Illinois has created a graphic identity package of framed certificates, window stickers and wall plaques that can be used for local commemoration. The AIA Illinois Great Places web site will be maintained by AIA Illinois into the future.

What if I want to visit these Great Places?

The AIA Illinois Great Places web site contains a map feature to help plan an itinerary or see if there is a great place near you.

Note about Dates

Many of the Great Places were constructed over a period of time. The list includes two dates. The first date would be the year a building was completed. The second date could represent several different possibilities. For a place that includes a number of buildings, it could be the end date of the construction of all the buildings. In other cases, the second date could be the period of major renovation.