Starting Points: From the Commission on Chicago Landmarks
Your House Has a History: A Step-by-Step Guide to Researching Your Property
A clear and concise step-by-step guide to researching your home.
Chicago Historic Resources Survey: An Inventory of Architecturally and Historically Significant Structures
City of Chicago website that includes maps, an architectural style guide, a database of architecturally and historically significant structures, landmark status of each listed building, and an extensive bibliography.
American Contractor Index
Online index to American Contractor’s Chicago building permits issued between 1898 and 1912.
Cook County Assessor’s Office
Online database of property transactions searchable by address or property identification number.
Cook County Recorder of Deeds
Online database of all property transactions in Cook County. Ledger books at the Recorder of Deeds Office will also contain all transactions prior to 1985.
Encyclopedia of Chicago
Encyclopedic history of Chicago and its neighborhoods. This site is a good source for maps, including an annexation map of the city. A print version of the Encyclopedia is available in the Ryerson Library Reading Room.
Explore Chicago Collections
Website with searchable index to archival collections of more than 20 Chicago-area cultural institutions. More than 100,000 digitized images are available. Tabs for Cities and Neighborhoods help locate resources, images and finding aids for a particular community.
Forgotten Chicago
Website maintained by an organization that seeks to document little-known elements of Chicago’s infrastructure, architecture, neighborhoods, and general cityscape. It provides links to an excellent collection of Chicago neighborhood maps.
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Website with searchable database of Illinois properties under the care of the IHPA. This site includes photos, maps, timelines, reports, and other information collected by the agency.
Landmarks Illinois
Online database of significant architectural resources for Northern Cook County. Information in the survey database is based on field inspections conducted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. The dates of construction for a building are often approximate and are not based on detailed permit research. Some information is based on interviews with property owners, period publications, and other background research.
Architectural Styles
American Architecture since 1780: A Guide to the Styles
Marcus Whiffen (1992)
Contains descriptions, histories, and illustrations of more than 40 architectural styles.
The American House
Mary Mix Foley (1980)
This line-illustrated book attempts to clarify the astounding variety of American domestic architectural styles, from early 17th century huts to the postmodern period. More than a field guide, it covers a lot of territory with a good deal of historical background, but it can be confusing.
American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home
Gerald L. Foster (2004)
An historical survey of the architecture of the American home from 1620 to 2000, this work provides images of facades as well as floorplans, photographs, and drawings of interiors and exteriors. An illustrated glossary is also included.
A Field Guide to American Architecture
Carole Rifkin (1980)
Handbook to American architecture up to the 1940s describes the historical background, construction materials, and basic structures and styles (Colonial, Federal, Victorian, Greek Revival, Romanesque, etc.) The book is divided first by building function (residential, commercial, etc.) and then by specific architectural period.
A Field Guide to American Houses
Virginia McAlester (2013)
A survey of the American house from Native American architectural styles through 2008, this work is fully illustrated with photographs, line drawings, and floor plans. This work includes essays on topics such as style, form, structure, and neighborhoods, as well as a section on approaches to construction in the 20th and 21st centuries, an index, and a pictorial key.
Great American Houses and their Architectural Styles
Virginia McAlester (1994)
This book presents 25 American houses which are open to the public. Included are floor plans for each dwelling and a schematic diagram that point out representative architectural characteristics of the style in question.
Identifying American Architecture
John J.G. Blumenson (1981)
Will enable the reader to determine architectural styles and terms by comparing real buildings with the books’ many photographs.
Architects
American Architects from the First World War to the Present: A Guide to Information Sources
Lawrence Wodehouse (1976)
This two-volume reference work on American architects and their architecture. Selected annotated biographical bibliography of American architects from the period of the Civil War to present (1977). Also included is a building location index.
Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)
Henry and Elise Withey (1956/1970)
This reference presents biographical and career information on some 2,000 American architects. Coverage ranges from about 1740 to 1952. Entries are alphabetical by last name and include dates of birth and death, city and state of practice, a biographical profile of the architect’s professional career, and references.
History of Chicago (3 vols.)
Alfred T. Andreas (1884–86)
A history of the city of Chicago for the earliest period to the present time (1885). Includes biographical information of the prominent men of the time.
Industrial Chicago: The Building Interests (Vol. 1)
Goodspeed Publishing Co. (1891)
Includes information on architects’ and bulders’ associations, brick and Terra Cotta companies, carpenters, masons, roofers and other construction related laborers, as well as building laws and ordinances.
MacMillan Encyclopedia of Architects (4 vols.)
Adolf K. Placzek (1982)
These four volumes are completely indexed by name of architect and by the name of building. A typical entry includes a biographical statement, a list of works, and a bibliography of source material.
Chicago Architects’ Blue Book; Endorsed by Henry Ives Cobb, Dankmar Adler, and Many Others.
Milton E. Lowitz and Co. (1900)
A complete classified directory of all the construction industries of Chicago, and all architects in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Also includes an index to business classifications.
Cumulative Index of Names and Buildings: the Chicago Architects Oral History Project.
Compiled under the auspices of the Chicago Architects Oral History Project, the Ernest R. Graham Study Center for Architectural Drawings Department of Architecture, the Art Institute of Chicago; contains an index of the architects that participated in the oral history project.
See also: Chicago Architects Oral History Project Online
Chicago Building Histories
AIA Guide to Chicago
Alice Sinkevitch (2014)
This guide to the architecture of Chicago begins with several essays on the shaping of Chicago. Architectural events from the great fire of 1871 to the tax reform acts of 1986 and 1989 are traced. The bulk of this book is dedicated to a street-by-street survey of the city. Also available through JSTOR in our Reading Room.
Building Chicago: The Architectural Masterworks
John Zukowsky (2017)
A lavishly illustrated overview of Chicago architecture from the 19th century through 2009.
Chicago Architecture: 1872–1922: Birth of a Metropolis
John Zukowsky (1987)
Architectural history of the city after to the Great Fire of 1871 to the early 1920s.
Chicago Architecture and Design
George A. Larson and Jay Pridmore (2005)
Covers the evolution of modern architecture from the building boom after Chicago’s Great Fire of 1871 through the 1992 completion of the Harold Washington Library. Reviews the careers of Chicago’s seminal architects, including John Wellborn Root, William Holabird, Daniel Burnham, David Alder, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Fred Keck, and William Keck. Moving forward in time, they discuss the work of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill as well as the controversial and flashy structures of Helmut Jahn.
Chicago Architecture and Design 1923-1993: Reconfiguration of an American Metropolis
John Zukowsky (1993)
Billed as the first major study of Chicago’s 20th-century architectural achievements, this is an in-depth survey of the formative years of Chicago’s modern architecture.
Chicago Historic Resources Survey
Commission on Chicago Landmarks and Chicago Department Of Planning and Development (1996)
It lists each of the 17,371 properties that were identified by The CHRS surveyors as having architectural and/or historical significance, either individually or as part of a concentration of significant structures. In addition to the property’s address, the report provides information about the structure’s date of construction, architect, building style and type, and landmark status. The report also includes a guide to various architectural styles, as well as: street names, community areas, building styles, and building types. Finally, the report’s appendix contains an explanation of the methodology and research information that was used by the CHRS surveyors. The report is also available online.
Chicago’s Famous Buildings
Franz Schulze (2003)
Pocket guide to the architecture of Chicago. Covers more than a decade of extraordinary new architecture and takes a fresh look at the early Chicago architecture of Adler, Sullivan, Burnham, Root, Wright, and Mies van der Rohe.
Half Century of Chicago Building
John H. Jones (1910)
Arranged by types of buildings, problems, etc. Illustrations of buildings, some interiors and a few building techniques. Detailed section on building codes.
Hyde Park Houses
Jean F. Block (1978)
This book is intended to show how, in the period between 1856 and 1910, a settlement metamorphosed into a heavily populated and thriving urban neighborhood. The story of this growth, to which geographical, economic, social, and intellectual forces all contributed, can still be read in the streetscapes of the neighborhood and in the architecture of its houses.
Lost Chicago
David Lowe (2010)
This book explores Chicago’s architectural history by examining a number of important buildings that have been demolished, and includes countless photographs and drawings.
Residential Chicago
Chicago Plan Commission (1942–43)
Presents summaries of city-wide data on residential land use and the most complete statistical information now available on the physical, social, and economic character of residential properties in Chicago.
The Sky’s the Limit: A Century of Chicago Skyscrapers
Pauline A. Saliga (1990; 1998 printing)
This illustrated survey of Chicago skyscrapers traces the history of the Chicago School buildings that influenced generations of architects worldwide. Beginning with the S.S. Berman Fine Arts Building of 1885 and its neighbor, the Adler and Sullivan Auditorium of 1889, the author discuss 110 extant buildings dating from 1885 through 1989, concluding with a series of contemporary, modernist skyscrapers by the “new” generation of Chicago architects.
They Built Chicago: Entrepreneurs who shaped a Great City’s Architecture
Miles L. Berger (1992)
The book has been organized into four major periods, spanning more than 150 years of Chicago history: 1830 to 1879; 1880 to 1899; 1900 to 1929; and the years from the end of World War II to the present. Although the distinction in terms of dates is somewhat arbitrary, each of these periods presented its own opportunities and challenges and each manifested a characteristic development style. The four sections are introduced by a brief overview defining significant development issues in the period and each developer profiled is placed within the period during which he was most active
General Chicago Histories
Chicago, 1910-29: Building Planning and Urban Technology
Chicago, 1930-70: Building Planning and Urban Technology
Carl Condit (1973–4)
In these two volumes Condit expanded his scope beyond the “Chicago School,” to cover other aspects of the physical city including urban planning and transportation. The bibliographies, arranged by chapter, include newspaper articles as well as traditional sources.
Chicago and its Makers
Paul Gilbert and Charles Lee Bryson (1929)
This book is divided into four sections, which include a on the city and its founders, a section devoted to landmarks and other buildings, and two sections of biographies.
Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis
Harold M. Mayer and Richard C. Wade
This is the story of Chicago and its growth. In little over a century it rose from a mere frontier outpost to an urban metropolis.
The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area 1875-1925
Carl Condit (1964)
Traces the history of the Chicago School of Architecture from its beginnings with the functional innovations of William La Baron and others to their imaginative development by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.
History of Chicago (3 vols.)
Alfred T. Andreas (1884–86)
A history of Chicago written in the 1880s. Includes biographical information of the prominent men of the time.
History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago Frank Randall (1999)
An important reference work on Chicago building and development up to 1946. It includes an introductory essay, a detailed list of milestones in building construction, indexes to architects and engineers, buildings, and locations. It also includes a detailed bibliography.
Chicago Neighborhood Histories
Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods: the Loop and South Side
Glen E. Hoyt and Dominic Pacyga (1979)
This guide to some of Chicago’s historic South Side neighborhoods uses both words and images to create a historical and social iconography.
Chicago and its Suburbs
Everett Chamberlain (1874)
The last quarter is given over to short narratives of subdivisions and suburbs that were outside the city in 1874. Many of these, obviously, are now in the city.
Chicago, City of Neighborhoods
Dominic Pacyga and Ellen Skerrett (1986)
In addition to describing the origins and development of the neighborhoods, the book uses historic and contemporary photographs to illustrate changes, which have taken place over the years. Also included are fifteen selected tours based on these neighborhood histories.
Forty-Four Cities in the City of Chicago
Chicago Plan Commission (1942)
A short narrative history of each of the 75 communities outlined by Burchard in 1935
Construction Reports
The Construction News (1895–1916)
Construction News Co.
Information on Chicago building permits, in library’s microfilm collection.
The Economist (1888–1929)
Economist Publishing Co.
Information on Chicago building permits, in library’s microfilm collection.
Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune (1849–1985)
Online database of this historical newspaper with searchable first-hand accounts and coverage of politics, society, and events of the time. Using Advanced Search, Chicago building permit information can be found, as well as articles about architects, city planning, and new buildings. Access note: This resource is available at the Art Institute of Chicago, the SAIC campus, and from other locations with an ARTIC username and password.
Inland Architect (1883–1908)
Inland Publishing Co.
Information on construction and other building news, available in the microfilm collection.
Homeowner Information
Book of Chicagoans: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of Chicago
A.N. Marquis (1905–1917)
The Book of Chicagoans is modeled on the Who’s Who in America series, but is limited to prominent men of Chicago and surrounding areas.
Library has 1917, 1936, 1941, 1945, and 1950.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois (2 vols.)
Newton Bateman (1923)
Provides neighborhood histories and illustrated commemorative biographies for prominent Chicago figures of the time.
History of Chicago (3 vols.)
Alfred T. Andreas (1884–86)
A history of the city of Chicago for the earliest period to the present time (1885). Includes biographical information of the prominent men of the time.
Chicago Blue Book
Chicago Directory Co. (1890–1916)
Names and addresses of prominent residents arranged alphabetically and numerically by streets. Also a street directory and other valuable information. Does not claim to be either a City Directory or an absolute Elite Directory; but is simply a compilation of thirty thousand names of the most prominent householders of Chicago, and suburbs within a radius of thirty miles.
Library has 1904, 1980-1911, 1913, 1915, and 1916
Polk’s Chicago, Illinois Numerical Street and Avenue Directory (1928)
This directory includes names of home and building owners, occupants, and occupations; it also includes a Complete Street and Avenue Guide—all streets are arranged alphabetically. Each street is described as to starting point, termination and relative position to other streets and landmarks. Arrangement is by numerical progression of all house numbers on the street with intersecting streets noted at their respective crossing points. In business blocks containing offices the occupants are listed by room numbers. When the name of a business is not self-explanatory the nature of the business is indicated. The profession and business of individuals and firms are stated at their place of business. To find the occupations of householders refer to the alphabetical list of names.
Chicago Tribune Archive (1849–1985)
Contains Chicago building permit information such as: address, building description, owner, architect, masons, carpenter, and building cost.
Access note: This resource is available at the Art Institute of Chicago, the SAIC campus, and from other locations with an ARTIC username and password.