RESOURCE CENTERS

Department of Buildings
City of Chicago
Records Section
City Hall, Room 903
121 N. LaSalle St.
312-744-3456

The Department of Buildings is a working city office that serves every person and company planning to do most types of construction. Because of this, lines can be long and your research will be in competition with many other requests. Be patient.

Take a number when you enter the office. Unless you tell the clerk that you are unsure of the address, they will only look up the exact address you provide. This will not account for any address renumbering that may have been done after the house was built. The materials are divided by date: 1873-1955, 1956-1992, and 1993-Present, so you should have some idea when the house was constructed, or a remodeling was completed. The section of the Department that provides permit information is called "Permits" and is currently located in Room 1109 of City Hall. They close at 4PM.

Art Institute of Chicago
Burnham Library of Architecture 111 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60603
312/443-3666
T 10:30-7:45; W, Th, F 10:30-4:30; (Sa 10-4-45 Sept.-May)

Library located on main floor to the right of the grand staircase. The Library closes for one month during the summer - call to determine dates. Library open to museum members and others with Chicago Library System Infopass. Appointment required for access to archival materials and photographs.

Burnham is one of the foremost architectural libraries in the country with extensive archival collections. Information is available on Chicago architecture in general through the Avery and Burnham periodical indexes, trade periodicals (focus on Chicago), photos (not indexed), books, microfilmed blueprints and drawings primarily of commercial buildings by prominent firms, maps (Sanborn on microfiche), historic builders brochures and advertisements.

Chicago Historical Society
1601 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60614
312/642-5035, ext.356
T-Sa 10-4:30

Research Center materials do not circulate; use pencil, not pen, in Reading Room; tape recorders and personal computers allowed; most material cannot be photocopied and you must take notes instead; staff can photocopy some materials twice a day @ $.25 per page - complete photocopying request form; you may photocopy microfilmed materials on their reader-printer machine, so bring change; photography not permitted; tracing allowed with plastic protectors provided; photo reproductions for a fee.

The CHS Library has an impressive collection of Chicago history resources with complete runs of some daily newspapers, periodicals and directories. Their holdings include books, pamphlets, periodicals (1870s on), newspapers (complete runs of many Chicago dailies from the 1840s to date; less complete collections of local, ethnic, special interest newspapers from 19th century forward), newspaper clippings (I 930s forward), maps and atlases (scattered Sanborn maps beginning with 1886), city directories (complete run from 1840s to 1929), telephone directories (complete run from 1880s to date), dissertations, printed artifacts, photographs -(historic and contemporary; including architecture and neighborhood life) organized by subject (use address for individual buildings).

Charles F. Murphy Architectural Collection contains archives Of Chicago architectural firms; indexed by architect (not street address); primarily commercial and industrial structures.

Neighborhood history collections have generally been centralized in two locations: the Sulzer Regional Library for north side neighborhoods and the Harold Washington Library Center for west and south side neighborhoods. The Woodson Regional Library on the south side maintains a collection focusing on African-American history.

In addition, some branch libraries may provide space for local historical societies' collections or may have accepted such collections into their holdings. Other branch libraries may have small collections on local history, and you may wish to consult them for such resources.

Collection has information on south side neighborhoods including Pullman and Roseland: few photographs, periodicals, selected 'early" local newspapers (on microfilm); street directories, maps, indexed census records. (Personnel records from Pullman Car Works are available only on fee basis.)

Go to Library Privileges Office in Regenstein's main lobby. For library access, get day pass from the Library Privileges Office (in Regenstein's main lobby); bring 2 pieces of identification (one with photo); ask there for directions to the Department of Special Collections.

Hyde Park Historical Society's collection is housed in Special Collections Department.
1. Hyde Park Historical Society Collection includes information on Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods: books, maps, periodicals, local newspapers, real estate ownership index (1950s), clippings, photos organized by area and subject (historic and contemporary), oral histories.
2. Hyde Park Neighborhood and Community Organizations Collection has books, miscellaneous printed materials.
3. Archival Photofiles, Buildings and Grounds Series has Hyde Park, Kenwood, Woodlawn photos organized by subject; historic and contemporary.

University of Illinois at Chicago
Richard J. Daley Library
801 S. Morgan
Chicago, IL 60607
Documents & Maps Department
312-996-2738
8-5 M-F; evening and weekend hours vary with academic year - call for information.

Go to Microforms Desk, 3rd floor, south section. Fire insurance maps,(select years from 1886-1988; most on microfilm); complete files of Chicago building permits (1872-1954; on microfilm; ask for guide created by reference librarians); Census population schedules (1840-1920 on microfilm).

Special Collections Department
312-1996-2742
M-F 10-4:40
Go to the third floor, south end.
Several signs
1. Jane Adams Memorial Collection: original manuscripts, documents, books and artifacts; includes information on near west side such as maps, photographs organized by subject, surveys of neighborhood;
2. Lawrence J. Gutter Collection of Chicagoana; rare books, maps and prints which document growth and development of Chicago;
3. Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council Records including publications, photographs of slum conditions (1890-1950) housing surveys (1930s and 1940s primarily), photos organized by subject.

Most libraries will carry one or more of the following general Chicago histories. The Ridge Historical Society has copies of some of these books in its Architectural Resource Center or library

Chicago and its Makers by Paul Gilbert and Charles Lee Bryson (1929)

Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis by Harold M. Mayer and Richard C. Wade (1969)

A History of Chicago by Bessie Louise Pierce (3 volumes; 1937, 1940, 1957; reprinted 1975)

History of Chicago by A.T. Andreas (3 volumes; 1884-86)

Chicago, 1910-29 - Building, Planning and Urban Technology by Carl Condit (1973)

Chicago, 1930-70: Building, Planning, and Urban Technology by Carl Condit (1974)

The Chicago School of Architecture - A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925 by Carl Condit (1964)

History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago by Frank D. Randall (1949)

Other books with more specific information on neighborhoods may be found in most libraries, although not all can be found in any one place. Some of these are:

Bird's Eye Views and Guide to Chicago by Rand, McNally & Co. (1898; CHS only)

Chicago: A Historical Guide - to the Neighborhoods, the Loop, and South Side by Glen E. Holt and Dominic Pacyga (1979)

Chicago and Its Suburbs by Everett Chamberlin (1883)

Chicago, City of Neighborhoods by Dominic Pacyga and Ellen Skerrett (1986)

Forty-four Cities in the City of Chicago by the Chicago Plan Commission
(1942)