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Photo of Big Daddy's Patio abandoned drive-up restaurant

Landmark Illinois Launches New Recent Past Survey Database

Nearly 15 years after first launching the Recent Past Survey of Suburban Cook County, Landmarks Illinois has released an updated and revamped online database that allows visitors to easily search for and learn about non-residential architectural resources built between 1935 and 1975 in dozens of Chicago suburban communities.

Learn more about Landmark Illinois

The Forum

The Forum served the Bronzeville community with a variety of functions focused on both the arts as well as other cultural and social institutions throughout its history. After standing vacant for almost four decades, the building was purchased with the goal of restoration.  

Learn more about The Forum

Walt Disney Birthplace Exterior Paint and Finish Analysis

The students extracted samples from three exterior sides of the house while carefully documenting the location of the removed paint. Students then performed a microscopic analysis of the layers of paint from the exterior trim, bargeboard, and clapboard siding.

Learn more about the analysis of Disney's birthplace

Frances Willard House Paint Analysis

The objective of the project was to determine the historic paint colors and wallpapers of the extant first floor of the office, hall, parlor, and dining Room on the Frances Willard House in Evanston, Illinois, and to select paint colors and coatings for future restoration purposes that are appropriate to the period of significance - 1890.

Learn more about the Frances Willard House analysis

workers-cottages tour

The Chicago Workers Initiative

The Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative celebrates this housing style, seeking to preserve the unique features of these houses, protect them from demolition, and continue their use and reuse for the next century. There are currently as many as 60,000 workers cottages in Chicago. Most were built during Chicago's dramatic expansion of population and area from the 1880s to 1910s. These modest houses were built for working class families and represent the origins of the "American Dream" of homeownership and the investment and pride of Chicago's new immigrants. In many of Chicago's neighborhoods undergoing redevelopment, these homes are increasingly targeted for demolition. Preserving workers cottages will retain the continuity of neighborhood history, scale, and character as well as stabilize affordable housing where housing costs are increasing.

Learn more about the Chicago Workers Initiative

News

Still from Nicholas Lowe's 2018 Vide, Sixteen Frames
New Media Series: Nicholas Lowe presents the 2018 video Sixteen Frames—a moving mirror of the overland trail. This video is part of a group of works by the Chicago-based artist Nicholas Lowe, inspired by the landscape paintings and travels of 19th-century American artist James Wilkins.
  • Historic Preservation
Charles Pipal and Discusses Workers Cottages
Historic Preservation faculty member, Charles Pipal, featured in Block Club Chicago.
  • faculty
  • Historic Preservation
Photo of Big Daddy's Patio abandoned drive-up restaurant
Landmarks Illinois has released an updated and revamped online database (1935-1975)
  • Historic Preservation
Chelsea Lombardo's recreation of the Thompson Center as piñata.On Monday, a trio of historic preservationists trying to save the Thompson Center will open an exhibition to broaden the public’s understanding and (perhaps) appreciation of the building. (H

Chelsea Lombardo (BFA 2019) has created an architectural piñata in the shape of the James R. Thompson Center, which is under threat of destruction, reports the Chicago Tribune. Instead of...

  • alumni
  • faculty

Charles Pipal, adjunct professor of Historic Preservation and Jim Peters, lecturer of Historic Preservation are featured on the Chicago Sun-Times. During the 1990s, Pipal conducted fieldwork to...

  • Historic Preservation
LEDs to Bees - SAIC

From LEDs to bees and renewable energy in between, for the past 10 years the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been busy becoming a sustainable and resilient campus. SAIC ...

  • alumni
  • faculty
  • student
  • students
Linda Keane

Professor Linda Keane (Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects) was recently honored with the 2019 American Institute of Architects Illinois Nathan Clifford Ricker Award...

  • AIADO
  • faculty
  • Historic Preservation
Surrounds: 11 Installations exhibit at MoMA

On October 21, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will reopen after a summer-long closure and an ambitious renovation project of its gallery spaces. Among the 10 fall shows opening,...

  • alumni
  • faculty
Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Historic Preservation at SAIC, Nicholas Lowe, to present research at international, juried conference in Atlanta, GA. 

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is pleased to welcome new full-time faculty members who are joining the School. These faculty members represent a diverse range of practices,...

  • alumni
  • faculty
An evening of Historic Preservation, featuring final thesis presentations by Alyssa Frystak and Palak Shah, with guest speaker Arijit Sen, and a panel discussion between Alyssa Frystak, Palak Shah, Arijit Sen, Carla Bruni, and Nicholas Lowe. 
"The Sea & Poison" was Goat Island's sixth full-length piece.

goat island archive—we have discovered the performance by making it, an exhibit and accompanying performances which pay homage to the performance art group Goat Island, was reviewed...

  • faculty
  • Historic Preservation
  • Performance

Past Events

Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Wednesday, April 25, 2018Thursday, April 26, 2018
Thursday, April 20, 2017Friday, April 21, 2017

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