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From Olmsted to Wright: The Making of Riverside, Illinois, America’s First Planned Suburb.

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FEATURE Image: 124 Scottswood Road, Riverside, Illinois, 1871, by William LeBaron Jenney (1832-1907). A full description of this house is in the post. June 2022. Author’s photograph.

Riverside, Illinois, is not simply an early suburb of Chicago but one of America’s most significant planned communities, where the visionary landscape design of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux created a setting that attracted generations of distinguished architects, producing an extraordinary architectural legacy that spans Gothic Revival, High Victorian Gothic, Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, Prairie School, and other styles.

John P. Walsh, 2022-23. All rights reserved. All text and photos are the property of the author, except for materials explicitly credited as public domain or licensed content.

INTRODUCTION.

The location of today’s Riverside, Illinois, has been an active and important historical area since before the 17th century. It was part of an active trading route and the center for Native American Indian settlements – The Green Bay, Barry Point, Portage Trails, and numerous smaller Indian trails, all passed through the area. It was only a couple of miles from the so-called Chicago Portage which connected Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River centuries prior to the building of the I&M Canal before 1850. French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet passed by Riverside in 1673 when they were shown the portage by Native Americans. The Chicago Portage is a National Historic Site because it opened the western continent to trade and settlement as well as became the key to the founding and development of Chicago, just 11 miles away.

Riverside was originally inhabited by the Illinois and Miami Indians. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Potawatomi became the dominant tribe together with the Chippewa and Ottawa and formed an alliance called the “Council of Three Fires.” These tribes lived on wild game and roots, but later adapted to farming, with fields of corn, beans, and squash.

During these many centuries, Indian burial grounds and encampments were located in Riverside on grounds besides the Des Plaines River and towards the east to today’s Fairbank Road.

The state of Illinois was founded in 1818. For the next 24 years, the Illinois volunteer army fought local native American tribes and forced them to sign treaties and migrate west of the Mississippi.

After the Indians were first forced off their land by treaty in the early 1800’s, brothers David and Barney Lawton (or Laughton) came to the area from Michigan and established an outpost in Riverside in 1827 or 1828. Into the 1840s Illinois was the edge of the wilderness. These fur traders chose the area for similar reasons that the Native Americans had – its proximity to the Chicago Portage and the convergence of established trails whose traffic made it conducive to a thriving trading business.

Riverside grew from an important Native American and transportation corridor into one of America’s earliest planned suburban communities.

The Scout Cabin on the Des Plaines River in Riverside, Illinois, is situated in an historic area of Native American and pioneer settlements. February 2023. Author’s photograph.

In July 1832 the U.S. Government sent General Winfield Scott (1786-1866) to help with the Black Hawk War that started in April of that year and ended in August. That short war also involved a young 23-year-old captain from New Salem, Illinois, named Abraham Lincoln. Upon leaving Chicago, Scott and his army camped in Riverside along the Des Plaines River for several days and then marched further west. Scottswood Road, one of Riverside’s primary residential arteries, is named after the general.

In 1831, the first white permanent settlers came to Lawtons’ Tavern in Aux Plaines (the name for Riverside then) and settled in the first houses west of Chicago. Once Gen. Scott’s military campaign was over, he returned to Chicago and dispersed the volunteers. Federal law required the state to have a standing army, so the state legislature passed a law requiring counties to form militia. In 1834, Cook County formed the first militia when Stephen Forbes, Cook County’s first sheriff, called up volunteers to Laughton Tavern. Over 1000 enterprising men assembled in Riverside and elected Jean Baptiste Beaubien (1787-1864) the first colonel of the Cook County Militia.

The first stage of modern transit development was the Southwest Plank Road (later Route 66) completed from Chicago to Riverside in 1849. The road, called Ogden Avenue today, was eventually extended to Naperville, Illinois. It was operated as a toll road whose proceeds went to the private concerns that built it. Toll amounts depended on whether the traveler was a four-horse vehicle or a single horse and rider. Since its installation, the plank road has been a successful endeavor as it was the only road through areas that were often inaccessible.

Commercial enterprises in this period included additional taverns that offered lodging and board for travelers and their horses. There was also a brewery and distillery.

A bend of the Des Plaines River in Riverside, Illinois. February 2023. Author’s photograph.

Riverside was mostly wooded tracts and farmland until the Civil War when the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad built a rail line through the area in 1863. With the rail a group of businessmen in 1869 formed the Riverside Improvement Company and set out to develop “a perfect village in a perfect setting.”

These Riverside businessmen hired landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) and Calvert Vaux (1824-1895), who had previously designed Manhattan’s Central Park, to design one of America’s first planned suburban communities. Their innovative plan set a template for suburban community planning such as curvilinear streets and modern amenities. Their vision was to design a mostly rural community with the conveniences of urban life such as utilities and broad streets. Whereas these curvilinear streets were utilized to fit an expansive community into limited open space it was also inspired by the community’s relationship to its natural environment, particularly the curves of the abutting Des Plaines River.

In addition to its legendary landscape architects (like Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux) and world-renowned residential architects (such as Frank Lloyd Wright), the development of Riverside, Illinois relied heavily on civil engineers, sanitation and drainage planners, and bridge/infrastructure architects.

Portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903). Public Domain.

Calvert Vaux (1824-1895). Public Domain.

The 1869 plan by Olmsted and Vaux established curving streets, parks, and a design philosophy that integrated architecture with the natural landscape of the Des Plaines River.

The design of Riverside included important public spaces including a central square and park system that contained several large parks and scores of small triangular parks scattered through the village.

General Plan of Riverside · Olmsted, Vaux & Co. Landscape Architects 1869. Public Domain.

By 1871, Riverside had several larger homes, the water tower, and one of the country’s first multi-shop arcade buildings. There was a church, train depot, and grand hotel. Following the Chicago Fire in October 1871 there was a time of regional financial panic accompanied by frenzied renewed building. In the wake of Riverside Improvement Company going out of business, local Riverside residents came together to see Olmsted and Vaux’s design plan completed and built upon.

The Wesencraft residence is Riverside’s oldest home. It is located at 78 Pine Avenue on the north side of the railroad tracks. Public Domain.

Riverside grew slowly in its first decades but by the 1920s and 1930s had doubled and tripled its population of mostly middle class and upper middle Chicago commuters. This bedroom community grew steadily until its peak in 1970 (10,357 residents). Since then, Riverside’s population has dropped slightly and leveled off to a lower growth number so that by 2020 there were nearly 9,300 residents. (See – https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html – retrieved 3.3.23)

Since its incorporation as a village in 1875, Riverside also attracted increasing numbers of eminent architects to contribute to the diversity of Riverside’s historic architecture. These include Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907), Charles Frederick Whittlesey (1867-1941), Joseph Lyman Silsbee (1848-1913), R. Harold Zook (1889-1949), Frederick Clarke Withers (1828-1901), Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926), and William Eugene Drummond (1876-1948). Much of their work remains today evident in scores of historic landmark structures in Riverside.

Riverside became a showcase for the work of major architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, William Le Baron Jenney, Frederick C. Withers, Howard Van Doren Shaw, R. Harold Zook, Joseph Lyman Silsbee, and William Drummond.

Frank Lloyd Wright in 1903, likely a self-portrait. Public Domain.

William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907). Public Domain.

Charles Frederick Whittlesey (1867-1941). Public Domain.

Joseph Lyman Silsbee (1848-1913). Public Domain.

R. Harold Zook (1889-1949). For image, go to – http://www.zookhomeandstudio.org/r-harold-zook.html

Frederick Clarke Withers (1828-1901). Public Domain.

William Eugene Drummond (1876-1948). Public Domain.

Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926). Public Domain.

Public buildings such as the Water Tower, Arcade Building, train depot, Town Hall, and churches are as significant as the residential architecture.

OLD WATER TOWER, 1869, 10 Pine Avenue. Designed and built by William Le Baron Jenney of Jenney, Schermerhor & Bogart, Architects and Engineers.

The original Water Tower had a Gothic Revival wooden tank. The tower is accompanied by two round stone well houses built in 1898 and designed by George William Ashby. When the original tank was destroyed by fire in 1913, a steel tank was installed and the tower was raised 20 feet. It was topped by a canopy designed by William Mann.

Riverside Railroad Depot, c. 1901, 90 Bloomingbank Road and 15 Pine Avenue. Designed and built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

A railroad through Riverside came in 1863, 6 years before the Olmsted/Vaux plan and 12 years before the village’s incorporation. William Le Baron Jenney designed the first depot in 1871. This main depot with open covered extensions on the south side of the tracks was connected by a tunnel to the north platform.

The view above shows the expansive tile roof-covered main entrance. The two large columns with variegated brick gives columns design and texture. There are many windows to allow natural light from its south exposure and a view of the tracks to the north.

Looking east, the orange-brick-colored main depot has open covered extensions for commuters to be protected from the elements during their wait outdoors for a train connection.

Looking west, a view of the train depot with one of its open covered extensions and peaked snow-covered tile roof. The northern platform is visible across the railroad tracks on the right. Author’s photograph taken in February 2023.

The same view as above over 100 years ago. Riverside Train Depot, 1919. Public Domain.

Interior, Riverside Train Depot, c. 1901, includes a waiting room and, at right, ticket agent window. The ceiling has wainscotting and there are period light fixtures to accent the natural light pouring in from the series of encased large rectangular windows.

On the brick-paved platform, another of the train depot’s open covered extensions.

The Lake House, a 2006 fantasy romance film from Warner Brothers, was shot in Riverside, Illinois. A doctor (Sandra Bullock) who occupied a lakeside home exchanges letters with its newest resident, an architect (Keanu Reeves). When they discover that they’re actually living two years apart, they must try to unravel the mystery behind their romance before it’s lost in the midst of time.

While several scenes in the movie were shot in Riverside, Illinois—including at the local train station and the bridge on Riverside Road—the lake house was built from scratch for the movie and its scenes were filmed on the shores of Maple Lake within the Palos Forest Preserve in nearby Willow Springs.

Riverside Town Hall, 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois, 1895, designed by George Ashby.

In 1891, the Village of Riverside and Riverside Township reached an agreement so that the village donated the land for a town hall and the township paid for its construction.

In 1893 the township authorized $15,000 for construction (about $500,000 today) and this picturesque and stately building, designed by George Ashby, was completed in 1895. The clock was added to the main tower in 1941.

The building is Richardsonian Romanesque at a time when that style, very popular in the 1880’s, had begun to wane among contemporary architects in preference for the Beaux-Arts.

There is a steeply pitched hipped roof with brick for the top floor and rough faced stone for the ground floor. The turret is polygonal and the windows are of various sizes on all three floors. There are many delicate design elements such as copper cornices, colonettes, stringcourses and dressed stone.

Arcade Building, 1 Riverside Road, Designed and built c. 1871, Frederick C. Withers.

The Arcade Building is the first commercial building built in Riverside following Olmsted and Vaux’s plan and is associated with the village’s original developers, the Riverside Improvement Company.

The Arcade Building  – a multi-color brick and limestone building with pointed arches and projecting cornices and stringcourses – is High Victorian Gothic. It was designed by architect Fredrick C. Withers, an associate of Olmsted and Vaux. With its mansard windows between tower pavilions, the simple building references the elaborate and decorative Second Empire architecture.

Riverside Presbyterian Church, 116 Barrypoint, 1872, Frederick C. Withers.

The church building was designed by Fredrick C. Withers who designed the Arcade Building at around the same time. Like that early commercial building the church is an amalgam of styles and forms, including Gothic Revival and Italianate.

The stone building has a series of pitched gable roofs that cover and form the transepts and chancel. The corner tower rises to a timber belfry with moldings and pointed arch openings whose original manual pull bell as well as modern chimes still mark the hours. Extensions to the left and right are mid-20th century additions done in harmony with the original design.

100 Fairbank Road, 1869, by Calvert Vaux.

This clapboard Carpenter Gothic style house was designed as a model home for the Riverside Plan by that plan’s designer, Calvert Vaux. It is an example of East Coast architecture transplanted into the heart of the Midwest. The ground floor is higher than the second floor. The low-pitched roof is punctuated by a projecting porch with Gothic Revival carpentry supported by struts and a gabled roof.

Two other second floor porches are on the short sides of the building extending across that width above a ground-floor projecting bay. The clapboard sheathings are meticulously and variedly cut for decorative effects throughout the building’s exterior.

Curved sidewalks follow their own direction and along a mostly wooded landscape.

107 Bloomingbank Road and 111 Bloomingbank Road, both c. 1890.

This neighboring pair of Queen Anne style homes are variations of the same building design. The buildings’ design shares a porch across the entire front, arched enclosed second floor porch, and front-facing attic windows. Both share the same kind of clapboard and shingle sheathing.

Houses on Bloomingbank Road face the Des Plaines River.

The Des Plaines River has flooded Riverside repeatedly, causing major damage at least seven to ten times in modern history. Record-setting floods struck in April 2013, August 1987, September 1986, and September 2008. Additional significant flood crests reached major or moderate flood stages in 2007, 2017, and 2020. As suburban development and impervious surfaces such as concrete have expanded throughout the surrounding region, flood risks and impacts within the village have generally increased over time. February 2023. Author’s photograph.

143 Bloomingbank Road, c. 1869.

This house is set back from the road and built in 1869 which was the year that Olmsted and Vaux were commissioned to design the suburb. The Italianate-style house has tall windows and large brackets with feet and shoulders for their jambs and segmental points. The second-floor windows are met by a first-floor transomed window. A steeped pitched roof and complex massing is Gothic Revival. A subdued color palette blends into the natural surroundings. The porch veranda is original.

201 Bloomingbank Road at Scottswood, c. 1870.

The above 1870 house is a T-shaped Gothic revival with the stem of the “T” facing the street. The stem is surrounded by a veranda whose porch columns are Italianate with Gothic style “carpenter” capitals. The tall windows and lintels are Italianate. The façade’s windows are under a hood molding and the attic has a small window with a pointed lintel. The T-stem’s pitched roof in the Gothic Revival style is slightly lower than the T-cross’s pitched roof behind it.

213 Bloomingbank Road, c. 1905.

A frame clapboard and shingled 4-square cube from 1905. There is a front porch held up by four huge piers with ornamental moldings that cover expansive first-floor polygonal bay windows. Below the hipped roof are two center windows with round heads. The painted dark green and yellow mix is stately and blends into the nature setting.

253 Bloomingbank Road, c.1890.

The Queen Anne house from 1890 has a lot of windows. It is a basic cube with a gambrel roof with a wing that also has a gambrel roof. The front porch is covered on one side with a flared roof and on the other side with a pitched gable roof. The second floor has an open porch that looks over the Des Plaines River. The original clapboard and shingles have been covered on the first floor by later stucco.

Bloomingbank Road, Riverside, Illinois.

Riverside’s architecture remains inseparable from its landscape setting, fulfilling the original vision of a “perfect village in a perfect setting.”

Riverside, Illinois. June 2022. Author’s photograph. 6.21mb.

Avery Coonley Estate, 1909, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Avery Coonley House, 300 Scottswood Road, 281 Bloomingbank Road, Riverside (Cook County, Illinois), 1910. Public Domain.

281 Bloomingbank Road, 1909.

281 Bloomingbank Road, 1909. From the street.

What became the nationally-recognized Avery Coonley School was founded in 1906 to promote the progressive education theories of John Dewey (1859-1952). It was founded as The Cottage School by Queene Ferry Coonley (1874-1958) on her estate in Riverside, Illinois, for her 4-year-old daughter.

The school, which continues to thrive today, has occupied several structures in its history. This included a literal small cottage on the Coonley Estate in Riverside to larger buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1909. The school moved to Downers Grove in 1916 and, on a 11-acre campus there designed by landscape architect Jens Jensen (1860-1951), became the Avery Coonley School in 1929.

This section of Wright’s 1909 design is set back well off the street and mostly hidden by trees. Behind an iron fence, it is difficult for the public to perceive the full extent of the estate. Wright’s design begins at the street with a low stone urn.

On June 11, 1978, the courtyard’s swimming pool heater exploded and started a fire. The fire destroyed the main house’s living room and a bedroom. The exterior was later meticulously restored to its original appearance which included the school’s stucco walls, simple board trim and multi-color tile façade, all beneath a broad, tiled, hipped roof. At the time of the restoration the swimming pool was re-converted to its original function as a lily pond.

The Avery Coonley Estate represents one of the finest Prairie School expressions in suburban America.

Lily Pond. PHOTO: “20131110 10 Coonley House, Riverside, Illinois” by davidwilson1949 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

336 Coonley Road, 1909, is another major section of the Coonley estate.

290 Scottswood Road, after 1909.

A free-standing L-shaped domestic structure with a broad hipped roof, the house was added sometime after 1909. Within its setting in the highly-designed suburb of Riverside, this Prairie style house sets a template and direction for much of what would be 20th century suburban development across the country.

300 Scottswood Road, 1909.

This is the main block of the Avery Coonley estate. The house is the epitome of the Prairie School style of broad horizontals, here using stucco boards, tile and glass beneath a low hipped roof. Wright’s design starts at the street with the low stone urn.

Avery Coonley Playhouse, 350 Fairbank Road, Riverside, Illinois, 1909, by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Avery Coonley Playhouse, 350 Fairbank Road, 1909, by F. L. Wright.

Basic plan of the playhouse (above) is a T-shaped building with higher T-stem to the street. A simple stucco structure, the playhouse’s flat roof and lower wings provide the Prairie style’s broad horizontality. Flat roof of the T-stem extends over three elongated windows while lower wings have clerestory windows.

William E. Drummond (1876–1948). Public Domain.

308 Fairbank Road, Riverside, Illinois, c. 1910, Guenzel and Drummond.

Designed by close associates of Frank Lloyd Wright,  Louis Guenzel (1860–1956) and William E. Drummond (1876–1948) were prolific early 20th century architects with commissions in Riverside, Oak Park (Second Presbyterian Church on Washington Blvd. – http://oprfmuseum.org/people/william-drummond), River Forest (River Forest Women’s Club (1913) 526 Ashland Avenue https://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagogeek/4643500319,), and Wilmette (Ralph S. Baker House, 1226 Ashland Avenue, https://www.loc.gov/item/il0259/).

Drummond began his career working for architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924). Later, working for Frank Lloyd Wright, Drummond became the chief draftsman for many of Wright’s well-known commissions. In 1912 Drummond went into partnership with Louis Guenzel who had been a draftsman for Dankmar Adler (1844-1900) and Louis Sullivan (1856-1924).

The house is a one story hipped roofed cube or block with a broad brow of stucco soffits with eaves. The original casement windows include three in the front for the living room with geometric Prairie patterns. The lower portion of the façade is board siding and the top section is stucco.

314 Scottswood Road, Riverside, Illinois.

322 Scottswood Road, 1897.

The simple stone house in an English country cottage style was built in 1897. It has diamond-patterned casement windows and a single half-timbered gable poking out of a gambrel roof. The timber entrance porch that abuts stone achieves an overall craftsman effect.

144 Scottswood Road, c. 1870, William LeBaron Jenney.

Attributed to William LeBaron Jenney, the house is an early building in Riverside. It is a fusion of two styles – the Stick Style and Gothic Revival. The carpentry is solidly masterful. The roof has a low pitch and is punctuated with a massive chimney, dormers and gables with filets, spars and kingposts. The spurs or brackets supporting the overhanging eaves rest on boards intersecting with the clapboard. There is a broad veranda with turned posts supporting a lintel that supports small pointed arches with struts. The porch railing has tightly aligned balusters extending to a below-porch skirt with complementary cut-out patterns. The veranda roof extends over the angled main entrance to become a porte-cochère for the driveway.

124 Scottswood Road, 1871, William LeBaron Jenney.

In the Gothic Revival style, the design and board-and-batten construction of the house is grand and appealing. With steeply pitched roofs, there are several gabled wings of varying distances and directional faces from the building’s core. Windows include long tabernacle windows and others with more elaborate extending jerkinhead roofs that are supported by boards incised with decorative cuts. There are pointed head windows on the second floor over the main entrance while the veranda stretches across two sides of the house supported by slope cut square posts with milled brackets. These and other rare trim and other details, including two massive chimneys, have survived in this house that is today over 150 years old.

118 Scottswood Road, 1880s.

112 Scottswood Road, 1870s.

SOURCES:

Book (with Page Range)

Bach, Ira J. A Guide to Chicago’s Historic Suburbs on Wheels and on Foot. Athens, OH: Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 1981, 664–679.

Newspaper & Magazine Articles / Online Essays

The Digital History Review. “The Whittlesey House: The Log Cabin in the Desert.” Digital History Review. https://unm-digital-futures.github.io/digital-history-review/essays/whittlesey-house.html(accessed October 22, 2026).

Burnham, Keith. “A Bit of History Regarding Riverside’s Railroad.” I Grew Up in Riverside Illinois (blog), June 28, 2019. https://igrewupinriversideillinois.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-bit-of-history-regarding-riversides.html.

Government Webpages & Catalog Databases

United States Census Bureau. “Decennial Census of Population and Housing.” https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html(accessed March 3, 2023). [1]

Village of Riverside. “Scout Cabin & Parks Rental Information.” https://www.riverside.il.us/193/Scout-Cabin-Parks-Rental-information (accessed October 22, 2026).

Architectour. “Town Hall (George Ashby).” Opera ID 4623. https://www.architectour.net/opere/opera.php?id_opera=4623&nome_opera=Town%20Hall&architetto=George%20Ashby (accessed October 22, 2026).

Frederick Law Olmsted Society. “Maps of Riverside.” https://www.olmstedsociety.org/resources/maps-of-riverside (accessed October 22, 2026).

Business & Commercial Websites

Quincy Street Distillery. “Bourbon Spring.” https://www.quincystreetdistillery.com/bourbon-spring-2/(accessed October 22, 2026).

The Avery Coonley School. “At a Glance.” History and Campus Master Plan. https://www.averycoonley.org/our-school/at-a-glance(accessed October 22, 2026). [1]

Wikipedia Article

Wikipedia, s.v. “Avery Coonley School,” last modified October 19, 2026, 16:37. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avery_Coonley_School.

The Great Fire and Chicago’s Rebirth: North Dearborn Street’s Row Houses (1873).

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FEATURE Image: Row Houses, c. 1873, 802-812 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago. June 2014. Author’s photograph.

The row houses at 802-812 N. Dearborn Street stand as rare survivors of post-Fire Chicago, illustrating how nineteenth-century urban residential architecture helped shape the city’s transformation from a rebuilding frontier metropolis into a sophisticated national center of commerce, culture, and residential life.

These early row houses were developed in Chicago’s Gold Coast/River North neighborhood in the early 1870s immediately following the Great Chicago Fire.

That tw-day conflagration began on October 8, 1871 at 137 DeKoven Street (around 1100 South) and blew its destruction north through Downtown and into the Gold Coast area. The fire petered out to the north of Fullerton Avenue (2400 North). The area of devastation was a swath of over ⁠four miles (see map below).

The fire’s aftermath sparked an intense period of rebuilding, especially in Downtown Chicago, less than one mile to the south of these row houses. This flurry of building activity, particularly of needed housing, may be partly why the architect is unknown for these three- and four-story Italianate buildings, all of which are well preserved.

The three-story row houses to the south have neo-Grec ornament which was in vogue by 1872. It included incised carved detail on window ledges and door frames.

Among the oldest surviving residential buildings in downtown Chicago, the 1873 Dearborn Street row houses offer a remarkable glimpse into the city’s resilience after the Great Chicago Fire and the architectural character of the emerging Near North Side.

The four-story row houses to the north (partially pictured) have more lavish Second Empire exterior decoration.

Like the Italianate style, the Neo-Grec–style row houses have a smooth brownstone front with a pronounced deep cornice, heavy entryway and window details. The contrast was in their ornamentation: Neo-Grec’s simple, precise lines and geometric Greek influence varied from Italianate ornamentation of curved and organic lines and forms.

Italianate curved window and door frames are replaced by Neo-Grec’s right-angles. Lintels are replaced by rectangular blocks. Entryway steps had baluster cast-iron railings that ended in squared-off linear and geometric incised ornament.

Constructed in 1873, shortly after the Great Chicago Fire, these rare surviving examples of nineteenth-century Chicago row-house architecture demonstrate the city’s rapid physical and economic recovery after the Great Fire.

Vintage map of Chicago Great Fire (detail).

CHICAGO POPULATION GROWTH 1860-1980

Chicago’s Explosive Growth Before the Great Fire
Chicago was growing exponentially by 1870. In 1860 the city had a little over 112,000 residents and ranked 9th on the list of largest U.S. cities. By the time of the Great Fire in 1871, Chicago had grown to nearly 300,000 and ranked 5th on the largest U.S. cities list.

Equally significant is that the city’s size also doubled in those same ten years from 17,492 square miles in 1860 to 35,172 square miles in 1870. Busy with rebuilding, the city did not expand again in square miles until the 1880’s, though its population continued to soar. When these Italianate row houses were built, Chicago was growing towards becoming the 4th largest U.S. city with a population of over 500,000.

Housing a Booming Metropolis
In the early 1870’s with rebuilding and augmenting population density the demand for housing was high. Chicago’s population would continue to grow with each decade until 1980.

The North Dearborn Street row houses were among the residential buildings constructed to meet that demand, reflecting both the city’s remarkable recovery after the Great Fire and its emergence as one of America’s great urban centers.

OCCUPANTS TODAY INCLUDE A CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY AND THE ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE CHICAGO FOUNDED IN 1897

Today, at 806 N. Dearborn is Alan Koppel Gallery which has, for over two decades, introduced contemporary international artists to Chicago audiences.

At 810 N. Dearborn is the main entrance to the Alliance Française de Chicago. Founded in Paris in 1883. the Alliance Française de Chicago is part of an international network of over 1,100 Alliances around the world which promotes French language and francophone culture. Chicago’s Alliance Française was founded in 1897. Offering French language classes and a full range of cultural events, the Alliance Française de Chicago is the second oldest Alliance in the U.S. and the second largest in the U.S. after the French Institute Alliance Française in New York City. The Alliance Française de Chicago is headquartered in two renovated architecturally historic buildings, including the 1870’s row house on Dearborn Street and, connected by an interior garden, a building on Chicago Avenue.

SOURCES:

Alan Koppel Gallery. n.d. Gallery Homepage. Accessed October 30, 2021. https://www.alankoppel.com.

Alliance Française de Chicago. n.d. Organization Homepage. Accessed October 30, 2021. https://www.af-chicago.org/.

Biggest US Cities. 2021. “Chicago, Illinois Population History.” Accessed October 30, 2021. https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/chicago-illinois.

Pridmore, Jay, and George A. Larson. Chicago Architecture and Design. New York: Abrams, 2018, p. 42.

Randall, Frank A. History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago. 2nd ed. Chicago and Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999, p. 5.

Sinkevitch, Alice, ed. AIA Guide to Chicago. 2nd ed. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 2004, p. 134.

Spellen, Suzanne. 2016. “Neo-Grec Architecture: For Highbrow Folks Who Knew the Italianate Style Was ‘So Over’.” Brownstoner, July 13, 2016. Accessed October 30, 2021. https://www.brownstoner.com/guides/%25guides%25/neo-grec/.

Vintage Map Shop. n.d. “1871 R.H. McDonald’s Map of Chicago with a Correct Outline of the Great Fire.” Product Catalog. Accessed October 30, 2021. https://thevintagemapshop.com/products/1871-mcdonalds-map-of-chicago-great-fire.

French Modernism on the Magnificent Mile: Jean-Paul Viguier’s Sofitel Chicago (2002).

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FEATURE image: Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile, 20 East Chestnut Street, Chicago, Illinois. architect: Jean-Paul Viguier. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.66mb

The Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile demonstrates how contemporary architecture can achieve both sculptural elegance and urban presence, bringing a distinctly French modernist sensibility to Chicago’s celebrated skyline while honoring the city’s tradition of architectural innovation.

Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile, Chicago, Illinois, Jean-Paul Viguier. At its opening the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) selected today’s Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile as the decade’s “best new building” in Chicago. The hotel opened in May 2002 with 415 rooms.

Jean-Paul Viguier and a Modern Chicago Landmark

Jean-Paul Viguier (b.1946) is a leading modern Paris-based French architect. In 2003 his Sofitel Chicago Water Tower (renamed the Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile) was chosen by the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as the “best new building in Chicago in the last ten years.” The hotel opened in May 2002 with 415 rooms. Its dramatic architecture made an immediate impression not only on the city’s denizens and visitors but much of the world.

Completed in 2002 during a new era of architectural growth in downtown Chicago. Distinctive prismatic wedge-shaped form recalls the prow of a ship or a cut crystal.

The glass triangular tower ascends and thrusts over the intersection of Chestnut and Wabash Streets. Narrowing as it rises, the shape could evoke a ship’s prow—or a geometer’s trapezoid. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 5.49mb

A Prism of Glass, Light, and Geometry

The prism-shaped, 350,000-square-foot structure was chosen by nearly 350 established Chicago-based architects as one of the city’s most outstanding achievements in architecture. The glass triangular tower ascends and thrusts over the intersection of Chestnut and Wabash Streets. Narrowing as it rises, the shape could evoke a ship’s prow—or a geometer’s trapezoid. Its expansive façades allow generous exposures of natural light as it faces east to capture sunrise over the incredible natural backdrop of Lake Michigan and southwest towards the timeless Midwestern prairie.

Adding to the building’s drama and welcome grace is its exterior of horizontal cladding of visible and opaque glass in synergy with the verticality of the building’s wedge and curve. Inside, the lobby continues this building’s dramatic modernity presenting a steely structural space that is airy, sleek, and soaring.

Winning the Competition

Mr. Viguier was selected to design Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile during a design competition in 1998 judged by Accor hotels leadership and others. Mr. Viguier is a member of the International Academy of Architecture (IAA) and was president of AFEX (French Architects Overseas) from 1999 to 2002.

Jean-Paul Viguier. Photo Credit: “File:Jean-Paul Viguier Wiki.jpg” by JPVAParis is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

An International Architectural Career

Mr. Viguier’s other internationally recognized projects include the France Televisions headquarters in Paris as well as the Cœur Défense in 2001 and the Tour Majunja in 2014 both in La Défense, France. The French architect built a two story expansion at the McNay Museum of Modern Art in San Antonio, Texas.

Mr. Viguier is also architect for the Maroc Telecom Tower in Rabat, Morocco in 2013, and, in 2015, the SFR Campus in Saint-Denis, France. Another highly regarded project is, in 2013, the Cancer University Institute in Toulouse, France.

Among America’s Favorite Buildings

The Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile is also listed at no. 82 in a public poll of 150 buildings of “America’s Favorite Architecture.” The poll was conducted by The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Harris Interactive and in conjunction with the AIA’s 150th anniversary in 2007.  

Award-Winning Design

In 2005, Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile received the MIPIM Award at their international meeting of property market sector leaders gathering in Cannes, France. Created in 1991, the MIPIM Awards is an internationally-renowned real estate competition at MIPIM, the world’s property market. It honors the most outstanding and accomplished projects, completed or yet to be built, around the world, the very best of the real estate industry.

Demonstrates how hotel architecture can function as both commercial space and public art as it highlights the continued evolution of Chicago as a laboratory for innovative architectural design.

SOURCES:

American Institute of Architects. 2007. “The 150 Favorite Pieces of American Architecture.” NPR Legacy Document Server. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://legacy.npr.org/documents/2007/feb/buildings/150buildings.pdf.

Archello. n.d. “CAMPUS SFR (SFR Headquarters).” Accessed October 25, 2026. https://archello.com/project/campus-sfr-sfr-headquarters.

Archello. n.d. “Cancer University Institute.” Accessed October 25, 2026. https://archello.com/project/cancer-university-institute.

Fedderly, Eva. 2018. “Inside Chicago’s Sustained Architecture Boom.” Architectural Digest, October 9, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/chicago-architecture-boom.

Floor Focus. 2007. “AIA Poll of America’s Favorite Buildings Released.” FloorDaily, February 12, 2007. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.floordaily.net/floorfocus/aia-poll-of-americas-favorite-buildings-released.

Hospitality Net. 2002. “Designed by Jean-Paul Viguier, The Slender Glimmering White Hotel, Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, Opens.” Hospitality Net Landmark Openings, May 31, 2002. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4019734.html.

International Academy of Architecture. n.d. “Member’s Profiles: Jean-Paul Viguier.” IAA-NGO Portfolio. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://iaa-ngo.com/portfolio-posts/jean-paul-viguier/.

Sinkevitch, Alice, ed. 2004. AIA Guide to Chicago. 2nd ed. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc.

Viguier. n.d. “Accueil / VIGUIER Architecture Urbanisme Paysage.” Accessed October 25, 2026. https://www.viguier.com/en.

Viguier. n.d. “McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas.” Projects Registry. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.viguier.com/en/projets/mcnay-museum-san-antonio-texas.

Viguier. n.d. “Maroc Telecom Tower, Rabat.” Projects Registry. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.viguier.com/en/projets/tour-maroc-telecom-rabat.

Brick, Terra Cotta, and Nonconformity: Deconstructing the Mentor Building (1906).

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Feature Image: THE MENTOR BUILDING, 1906, 39 S. State Street (6 E. Monroe Street), Chicago. Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926), architect. Author’s photograph, 7/2015.

Howard Van Doren Shaw’s Mentor Building (1906) stands as a pivotal anomaly in Chicago’s architectural history, serving as the architect’s sole foray into skyscraper design while masterfully bridging the horizontal warmth of the Prairie style with idiosyncratic classical motifs.

Mentor Building. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 2.93 mb DSC_0111 (2)

Street Appearance

The lower portion of Howard Van Doren Shaw’s Mentor Building functions as a four-level retail and commercial base designed to anchor the high-rise while maximizing street-level storefront interaction in downtown Chicago. At street level, the building presents an open, highly transparent urban storefront that wraps around the corner of State and Monroe Streets. It is dominated by large showroom windows framed in dark, minimalist metal sash work.

Structural Function

Structurally, the lower portion serves as the open-perimeter foundation for a 17-story mixed-use skyscraper. Supported below by deep rock caissons, the skeleton framework allows the building’s immense weight to be carried by internal columns rather than thick, load-bearing exterior walls. This engineering feat allows the exterior facade of the first four floors to be completely opened up for massive windows without compromising structural stability.

Decorative Choices

The lower levels are clad in a light tan stone or terra cotta, creating a visually distinct, monumental “pedestal” that contrasts with the dark brown brick of the upper floors. Inspired by the Prairie style, the masonry piers emphasize strong horizontal bands and clean lines that anchor the building’s massive height to the ground.

Restrained Motifs.

While the windows are clean and modern, classical elements—such as subtle geometric molding patterns and small decorative brackets under the window transitions—subtly hint at classical motifs without cluttering the storefront displays.

Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926), 1906, THE MENTOR BUILDING, State and Monroe Streets, Chicago, from the southwest. July 2015. Author’s photograph, 7/2015.

Structural Profile and Purpose

A Mentor building has stood on the northeast corner of State and Monroe Streets since 1873. Until 1906, a 7-story building was erected here.1

The 1906 building by Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926) is 17 stories high with two basements on rock caissons.2  Shaw’s only skyscraper presents an unusual mixture of styles, a talent for which Shaw built his practice’s reputation starting in 1897. The building was designed as a mixed use skyscaper, including retail sales and commercial business.3

Architectural Elements and Materials

Inspired by the Prairie style, there are windows grouped in horizontal bands between a four-level base of large showroom windows. The top is classically inspired with details that are strong and idiosyncratic. The brown brick and terra cotta building retains the character of its classical sources though they are used as large-scale motifs.4

The Architect’s Biography

Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926). Public Domain.

Shaw studied architecture at Yale University and apprenticed in Chicago for William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907). In Chicago and its northern suburbs Shaw had an illustrious career designing major commercial, church, and museum buildings and projects as well as mansions for the area’s elites.5

By blending conflicting design movements into a functional, early 20th-century mixed-use commercial space, Shaw challenged the rigid stylistic boundaries of the Chicago School and solidified his reputation as a master of eclectic architecture.

1 Frank A. Randall, History of Development of Building Construction in Chicago, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by John D. Randall, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1999, p. 196.

2 Ibid., p. 265.

3 Saliga, Pauline A., editor, The Sky’s The Limit A Century of Chicago Skyscrapers, Rizzoli New York, 1990, p. 73.

4 Alice Sinkevitch, AIA Guide to Chicago, 2nd Edition, Harcourt, Inc., Orlando, 2004, p. 59.

5 Saliga, p.73.

Park Tower Condominium (1973): Late Modernism on Chicago’s Lakefront.

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The Park Tower Condominium (1973) exemplifies how Chicago’s late modernist architects adapted the high-rise residential tower to the city’s lakefront, creating a landmark that combines urban density, engineering sophistication, and panoramic engagement with Lake Michigan.

Park Tower Condominium, 5414 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, SCB, 1973. View from east looking west. August 2015. Author’s photograph. 3.15mb.

Park Tower Condominium is on the lakefront next to north Lake Shore Drive and across from Foster Beach in Lincoln Park. Its address is 5414 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago

Constructed in 1973 by Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz (SCB), a Chicago architectural firm founded in 1931, the tower was planned as the first of three towers in a triangular formation but the others did not materialize.

Tallest building outside Downtown Chicago for 8 miles north to Foster Beach. Located on North Sheridan Road in the Edgewater neighborhood, directly adjacent to Lake Michigan, its height and slender profile make it a prominent visual landmark on Chicago’s northern lakefront.

At 55 stories tall (513 feet high), Park Tower Condominium is the tallest structure between downtown and Foster Beach and one of the tallest structures in Chicago outside the downtown area.

Park Tower Condominiumis one of the largest all-residential buildings in the city.It was originally built as luxury rental apartments, though the building became condos in 1979.

In the Edgewater neighborhood, Park Tower Condominium is one of three residential towers in Chicago with black Miesian windows and three rounded lobes. The others are Lake Point Tower (505 North Lake Shore Drive) and Harbor Point (155 North Harbor Drive).

The tower reflects the modernist emphasis on efficiency, structural clarity, and residential density.

Park Tower Condominium, 5414 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, SCB, 1973. View from northeast looking southwest. August 2015. Author’s photograph. 3.15mb.

The curtain wall of the Park Tower Condominium is beautifully detailed and proportioned.

Park Tower Condominium Is a lens into late modernist Chicago residential architecture, lakefront urban development, and the emergence of high-rise luxury living along Sheridan Road.

SOURCES:

Architect Magazine. “Solomon Cordwell Buenz.” Accessed October 23, 2026. architectmagazine.com.

Emporis. “Park Tower Condominiums, Chicago, IL, USA.” Building ID 117420. Accessed October 23, 2026. emporis.com.

Sinkevitch, Alice. AIA Guide to Chicago. 2nd ed. Harcourt, Inc., 2004.

The links are dropped because the Emporis database was permanently shut down in 2022, and the specific URL you provide for Architect Magazine now leads to an inactive or broken page.

John P. Walsh, 2015. All rights reserved. All text and photos are the property of the author, except for materials explicitly credited as public domain or licensed content. Photographs were taken by the author on August 7, 2015.

John Augustus Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge (1869-1883): Engineering America’s Greatest Landmark of the Industrial Age.

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The Brooklyn Bridge stands as the greatest achievement of John Augustus Roebling’s engineering career, uniting innovative design, industrial ambition, and architectural beauty to create an enduring symbol of New York City and America’s rise as a modern nation.

FEATURE image: The Brooklyn Bridge. Centered perfectly is one of the bridge’s massive, Gothic-arched granite suspension towers, while flanking the right side behind the suspension cables are the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, including the recognizable Verizon communications building. August 2005. Author’s photograph. All rights reserved.

The Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is the oldest extant bridge in New York City—a city of bridges—and is also the city’s most architecturally famous. The opening of the hybrid cable-stayed and suspension bridge in May 1883 has been called “the Dawn of Modern New York” as it is the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge was conceived to connect Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River, overcoming unprecedented engineering challenges.

Recent photo of the Brooklyn Bridge taken from the Manhattan side of the East River looking across the water toward the DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights neighborhoods. PHOTO: “Brooklyn Bridge New York City” by ugod is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, it was designed and built by a father-son team. Construction began in January 1870 after being approved by Congress in 1869 whose concern was that the bridge project would in no way impede free and open navigation. Over the next over 13 years, an estimated 27 men died during the bridge’s construction. The New York terminus rests on bedrock while the Brooklyn terminus rests on clay. Following its opening in 1883 by the end of that year more than one million passengers crossed the bridge.

Roebling’s innovative use of steel-wire cable technology made longer and stronger suspension spans possible. The bridge’s Gothic-inspired stone towers combine structural necessity with architectural grandeur.

Daily transit on the elevated pedestrian promenade of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1903, looking west toward the lower Manhattan skyline. In the foreground, a New York City policeman in a turn-of-the-century uniform and custodian helmet stands watch as pedestrians in Edwardian dress, men in long overcoats and bowler hats, make their way along the wide wooden boardwalk. The photograph captures the bridge’s intricate lattice of vertical suspenders and radiating steel stay cables. Flanking the promenade on either side are the lower iron trusses that separated pedestrians from the bridge’s busy trolley and cable car lines. Anchoring the composition at the vanishing point is one of the bridge’s immense granite towers, its signature neo-Gothic double arches perfectly framing the horizon and underscoring the monumentality of one of America’s great engineering achievements. Public Domain.

The total length of the bridge is 6,537 feet—nearly one-and-one-quarter miles. From the middle of the span, it is about 135 feet above the river with the span’s weight around 7,000 tons. The railroad on the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1888. The cables on the bridge are over one foot wide (16 inches) and took almost a year and a half (15 months) to string. Their calibration had to include calculations for variables such as wind and expansion and contraction due to temperature. The height of the Gothic-inspired towers are 159 feet above the roadway.

The Brooklyn Bridge symbolizes the industrial age, urban growth, and American ingenuity. Today it remains one of the world’s most recognizable and photographed structures.

While a classic yellow New York City taxicab and a white sedan drive ahead, the bridge’s intricate, industrial steel trusses, overhead support beams, and complex web of suspension cables that line both sides of the roadway fill out the view heading from Brooklyn into Manhattan. An average of 103,051 vehicles cross the Brooklyn Bridge every single day. August 2005. Author’s photograph. All rights reserved.

SOURCES: The Sun, New York, New York, June 11, 1891.
NYC DOT – Brooklyn Bridge – retrieved August 2, 2026.

Fallingwater, 1935: When Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architecture Became Nature in the Pennsylvania Highlands.

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FEATURE image: Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mill Run, Pennsylvania. March 2010. Author’s photograph.

Fallingwater was designed in 1935 as a weekend retreat for the Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh and completed in 1937. Fallingwater represents Frank Lloyd Wright’s most celebrated achievement in organic architecture, uniting modern design, engineering, and the natural landscape so completely that the house becomes part of the waterfall, forest, and rock ledge upon which it is built.

The video and photographs emphasize the drama of the cantilevered concrete terraces and their extraordinary relationship to the waterfall below.

Fallingwater is a house designed in 1935 by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). It is in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about 70 miles away from downtown Pittsburgh.

The house was intended as a weekend retreat for the Edgar J. Kaufmann and family, owners of a Pittsburgh department store. The area of land had been a summer camp for the department store employees. Wright’s house, completed in 1937, is built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run, a tributary of the Youghiogheny River, in the Appalachians.

Rather than merely overlooking nature, the house is built directly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Appalachian Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania.

Approach to the house.

Perched above Bear Run in rural Pennsylvania, Fallingwater transformed a private weekend retreat into the world’s most celebrated expression of Frank Lloyd Wright’s belief that architecture and nature should exist as one.

Bear Run is a tributary of the Youghiogheny River, in the Appalachians.

Fallingwater remained in the Kaufmann family until 1963. Inherited by Edgar Kaufmann Jr. in 1955 following his father’s death, he donated the home and its nearly 2,000 acres of surrounding natural habitat to a nonprofit trust called the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Since 1964, around 5 million visitors have made the pilgrimage to Fallingwater, one of America’s most famous modern homes. The house and grounds receive over 160,000 visitors each year.

The residence is a landmark of modern architecture and one of America’s most recognized houses.

Fallingwater. The post’s photographs and videos were taken in March 2010.

Fallingwater is over 5000 square feet. The walls are constructed from local sandstone. The rocky landscape is incorporated into the home itself such as its main fireplace. Each bedroom has an individual terrace and there are a sea of windows that open outwards to nature. A glass hatch on the main level finds a short stairway that descends to Bear Run below.

Wright incorporated native stone, expansive terraces, abundant glazing, and natural rock formations into the design to blur the boundary between indoors and outdoors.

Wright designed Fallingwater’s furnishings, much of it built into the house. In 2002, Fallingwater’s foundation was reinforced to support the first floor’s concrete skeleton that began to sag. The 21st century reconstruction process prevented further collapse but the house had its first level’s original stone floor and built-in furniture taken out.

This explanatory article may be periodically updated.