This webpage offers access to the materials we have begun to develop for teaching the history of Chicago's built environment. The materials vary widely, from Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases that enable one to find specific building "footprints" on specific blocks of the city, updated every few years, to images drawn from city directories, illustrated guidebooks to the city and such special events as the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. We have also begun to include images from the slides commonly used when teaching the history of Chicago's architecture. We are currently developing a search-system that will allow you to seek specific buildings, architects, or locations. But we also encourage students and visitors to browse the materials to get a feel for the city's environment over its history.
The project is, like most of Chicago during its history, in a state of
continuous construction and redevelopment. Some
materials are currently inaccessible, some have very rudimentary captions
and data attached to them, while others are more
complete. Remember: what you see today won't necessarily be visible
tomorrow, at least in the same state.
| Professor Bruegmann | Office: HH 202 | telephone: 413-3342 | E Mail: bbrueg@uic.edu |
| Professor Hales | Office: HH 208A | telephone: 413-2461 | E Mail: pbhales@uic.edu |
| Course syllabus | Browse the collection | Written Assignments | Chicago Imagebase Project | Maps | Sample Projects | Dating By Stylistic Analysis | Comments |