Chicago Area Architecture Now Easy To Search

From At Home in Chicago

More than twenty historic house museums have banded together to tell Chicago’s story in a new way.

In 2011 these museums founded At Home in Chicago, with a mission to celebrate the rich and varied architectural, cultural, geographical, and historical fabric they share.

And today, At Home in Chicago proudly announces the launch of its unique and distinctively “homey” new website, chicagohousemuseums.org.

Through carefully preserved architectural structures and the artifacts of home life, the historic house museums of the Chicago region bring a unique moment in history to vivid life.

Appealing to everyone from loyal locals to curious tourists, art lovers, history enthusiasts, and design buffs, these museums are stewards and storytellers of those who shaped—or were shaped by, the region.

Their buildings range from colonnaded Greek Revival-style homes to quaint Queen Anne Victorians, urban row houses, vernacular storefronts, Italianate mansions, magnificent country estates, and Prairie residences, to name a few.

They were once the homes of activists, artists, architects, politicians, industrialists, and everyday Chicagoans. Today they are houses of living memory, and they belong to the public.

The new At Home in Chicago website offers practical resources for planning a visit. It is also a creative space for visitors to explore the unexpected threads connecting these like-minded museums.

Furnished with illustrations by Chicago artist and illustrator Lille Carré, the website includes easy-to-access profiles and tour information for each house museum; a section for discovering museums according to what they share in common, including family stories to architectural style; and a unique map for exploring by location.

The website is made possible by the generous support of The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

The site’s design was created by Chicago-based design firm Studio Thread, with editorial oversight and content strategy by Lindsey Howald Patton.