9+ hour, 19+ min ago   (904+ words) Black windows and a darker roof will be the color scheme for Naperville’s historic Kroehler mansion despite pushback from preservation advocates. Historic Preservation Commission members voted Thursday to approve exterior changes to the mansion’s original design plan as the building,…...

4+ day, 11+ hour ago   (595+ words) Chicago Tribune Craftsman-style homes, popular between 1905 and 1930, are mainly associated with the bungalows of California, but the Chicago area has its own vernacular examples that share many similarities with the Prairie School and the Arts & Crafts movements. For example, there’s…...

1+ week, 11+ hour ago   (247+ words) And brick is an essential element in many classic Chicago buildings including The Rookery, the Monadnock and the Marquette Building. Frank Lloyd Wright favored Roman brick — an elongated version that mimics the architect’s horizontal structures in each unit, with Hyde…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (258+ words) “At the edge of a city made monotonous by the unyielding street grid of right angles and the seemingly endless repetition of two-flats and bungalows, the twin communities of Beverly Hills and Morgan Park offer the wearied urbanite a visual…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago   (332+ words) It’s summer in the city, which means taking every chance to be outside. Even Chicago’s great museums seem claustrophobic when there are blue skies and a nice lake breeze. “It’s a beautiful thing when art exists outside of the museum…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago   (1164+ words) For more than a century, historic Medinah Temple has stood as Chicago’s exotic monument to adaptive reuse. The Moorish-style amphitheater topped by two massive copper onion domes has hosted the annual Shrine Circus, recording sessions for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra…...

4+ week, 2+ day ago   (239+ words) The city of Batavia is performing an exterior building condition assessment of approximately 75 historic properties within the Batavia Historic District as part of the city’s ongoing focus on preserving its historic downtown, city officials said. Funded through the city’s 2026 budget,…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago   (450+ words) Two vacant downtown houses at Main Street and Aurora Avenue could make way for a new office building — styled to complement the nearby Water Street District — if the Naperville City Council follows an advisory panel’s recommendation. The city’s Planning and…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago   (789+ words) There hasn’t been a lot of new anything for decades in the neighborhood immediately west of the old South Works site in South Chicago. But that’s changed with the recent completion of a well-scaled mixed-use mid-rise called Thrive Exchange. The…...

2+ mon, 3+ day ago   (308+ words) A badly deteriorated Frank Lloyd Wright-designed single-family home on Chicago’s West Side looks to have a new lease on life, as a community organization this week bought the home and plans a major renovation and reuse. The home’s condition has…...