Physically shaped by the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and by the efforts of some of the greatest architects of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries-including Daniel Burnham, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies Van Der Rohe-this area hosts some of the city's most spectacular architecture amid lush green space. Tree-lined streets give way to the impressive neogothic buildings that mark the campus of the University of Chicago, and some of the Jazz Age's swankiest high-rises offer spectacular views of the water and distant downtown skyline.
In Chicago's Historic Hyde Park, Susan O'Connor Davis offers readers a biography of this distinguished neighborhood, from house to home, and from architect to resident. Along the way, she weaves a fascinating tapestry, describing Hyde Park-Kenwood's most celebrated structures from the time of Lincoln through the racial upheaval and destructive urban renewal of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s into the preservationist movement of the last thirty-five years. Coupled with hundreds of historical photographs, drawings, and current views, Davis recounts the life stories of these gorgeous buildings-and of the astounding talents that built them. This is architectural history at its best.