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September 3, 2010
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Local Architecture

Books in the library | Videos and DVDS | History of your Wilmette home | Digital Past


The Wilmette Public Library offers a rich collection of resources providing information about local residential architecture. Use the resources compiled here to find architectural information for Chicago and the North Shore.

See how the library’s local history room may help you research the history of your own home. (Right: Asahel Gage House, 1134 Elmwood, Wilmette)

Books

An Architectural Album: Chicago's North Shore. (1991)
720.97731 AR and Ref 720.97731 AR

Neil Harris. Chicago Apartments : a Century of Lakefront Luxury. (2004)
728.314/HA

Elizabeth Johnson. Chicago Churches : A Photographic Essay. (1999)
726.5/JO

Gerald Wolfe. Chicago : In and Around the Loop : Walking Tours of Architecture and History. (1996)
917.7311/WO

Chicago's Famous Buildings : A Photographic Guide to the City's Architectural Landmarks and Other Notable Buildings. (1993)
917.731/CH and REF 917.731/CH

Barbara Buchbinder-Green. Evanston: a Pictorial History. (1989)
977.31/BU

Marjory Blair Perkins. Evanstoniana : An Informal History of Evanston and its Architecture. (1984)
977.31 PE

Thomas J. O’Gorman. Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago. (2004)
720.9773/OG

Historical and Architectural Survey : Indian Hill Estates and Environs. (1995)
REF Local History 720.9773/HI

Inventory of Historic Structures in Wilmette, Cook County. (1972)
REF Local History 720.97731/IN

David Lowe. Lost Chicago. (2000)
720.9773/LO

John Zukowsky. Masterpieces of Chicago Architecture. (2004)
720.9773/ZU

Stuart Earl Cohen. North Shore Chicago : Houses of the Lakefront Suburbs, 1890-1940. (2004).
728.8/CO

Judith McBrien. Pocket Guide to Chicago Architecture. (2004)
720.9773/McB

Camilo Vergara. Unexpected Chicagoland. (2000)
977.311/VE

Winnetka Architecture, Where Past is Present : a Guide to Timeless Styles. (1990)
720.97731/WI

Videos and DVDS

A View from the River : the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise.
(2000)
720.97731/PR

Chicago's Loop : A Walking Tour. (1996)
977.7311/CH

Chicago's North Shore. (2002)
977.31/CH

History of Your Wilmette Home

The library has some materials that might be helpful as you begin a search on the history of your house. Newspaper articles and house-walk programs detail the history of some of the older houses in the village. Names of previous owners can be found by consulting city directories and telephone books. Maps show changes in street names and zoning, and the Sanbourne maps may show the outline shape of the house itself. Photographs can be useful for documenting changes in appearance over the years.

A handout describing the materials housed in Wilmette’s collection can be obtained from the Local History Room. See a Reference librarian for details.


The Wilmette Historical Museum has published a useful brochure entitled Researching the History of Your Wilmette House. You can visit their website at:
http://wlkhome.northstarnet.org/wilhistory.html

Digital Past

Digital Past is a cooperative project between local libraries, historical societies, and museums to digitize various historical documents and images. The site can be accessed at

http://www.digitalpast.org

Images from the Digital Past project were used to illustrate this web page and its related brochure.

Wilmette's Carnegie Library (1905)


Prepared by Nancy Wagner, July, 2005.

SEE ALSO:
Genealogy and Local History

Return to the WPL page of RECOMMENDED WEB SITES.