The Seth Warner house. (Thshriver, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks unanimously approved a landmark recommendation for the 152-year-old Seth Warner house, which boasts layers of heritage.

(WTTW News)

The Wrigley Building celebrates its 100th anniversary. The latest edition of “Ask Geoffrey” explores how the Chicago icon transformed Michigan Avenue.

Plans are in the works to preserve the North Kenwood house Muddy Waters bought as a museum, recording studio and more. (WTTW News)
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The landmark designation would preserve the legacy of African Americans in Chicago and ensure that future generations recognize Muddy Waters as the father of the blues, supporters said.

The addition of coach houses, granny flats, in-law apartments and backyard houses will be permitted in certain areas through 2024. (WTTW News)

City officials said they were encouraged by the response to the program, which was designed to combat the city’s affordable housing crisis. 

A protest outside Garrick Theater c. 1960 (Richard Nickel / Art Institute of Chicago)

Rescued ruins and a virtual tour of a lost masterpiece of Chicago architecture — we speak with the city’s cultural historian and a noted artist who were part of a team exploring a long-lost theater and more.

A screenshot from the “Black Voices” community conversation on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. (WTTW News)

Brandis Friedman and a panel of guests talk about Pullman’s role in the Black labor movement and the Great Migration following the recent opening of the Pullman National Monument’s visitor center. Watch the discussion now.

Altgeld Gardens (Eric Allix Rogers)

Proposals to list the properties on the National Register of Historic Places cleared a key committee hearing Wednesday and will come before the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in October. 

Penthouse at Hyde Park. (Chicago Architecture Center / Anna Munzesheimer)

When it returns next month, the free architecture festival will once again offer in-person, behind-the-scenes access to buildings normally off-limits to the public. Here’s an early look at some of the new sites taking part in the 2021 event.

In Englewood, one of the biennial’s 15 sites, the community partner is Grow Greater Englewood and they are constructing a new Englewood Village Plaza at 58th St. and Halsted. (WTTW News)

The exposition kicks off Friday. Past editions have been based at the Chicago Cultural Center, but now, its focus shifts to neighborhoods across Chicago — and to finding creative opportunities to meet those communities’ needs.

More than 30 million migrating birds will pass over Illinois in the coming days. (Dariusz Grosa / Pexels)

With close to 100,000 birds expected to pass over Chicago this weekend, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its partners have issued a “lights out” alert for the city, encouraging building owners and residents to turn off as many lights as possible between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Six years ago President Barack Obama named the Pullman neighborhood a national monument. And Labor Day weekend, the visitor center in the old clock tower administration building will finally open. (WTTW News)

Six years ago President Barack Obama named the Pullman neighborhood a national monument. On Labor Day weekend, a new visitor center in the century-old clock tower will finally open. Geoffrey Baer visited Pullman to get an exclusive first look.

A water park is among the finalists in a competition to repurpose the Thompson Center. (Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Center and the Chicago Architectural Club)

There’s nothing bashful or traditional about the Thompson Center, so it should come as no surprise that finalists’ designs in a competition to reimagine the building include a proposal for an indoor water park. Here’s a look at each of the designs.

A rendering of the Wrigley Field mini triangle building from the northeast corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue. (Gensler / Courtesy office of Ald. Tom Tunney)

A proposed two-story triangular DraftKings Sportsbook addition to Wrigley Field still requires a heavy lift from City Council, but the Commission on Chicago Landmarks won’t stand in the way of Cubs ownership.

The CTA’s Red-Purple tracks have curved around the Vautravers Building in Lakeview for a century. The agency moved the building to straighten the kink in the system. (Credit: Google Street View)

If you thought your last move was a hassle, CTA has got you beat: The agency just relocated an entire building.

The Francis Apartments were designed in 1895, early in Frank Lloyd Wright’s career. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Today we know Frank Lloyd Wright as one of the most influential American architects, but early in his career he designed projects you might have trouble recognizing as his — even if you lived in the building.

Corpus Christi Catholic Church (WTTW News)

Next month, a wave of Chicago-area Catholic church consolidations will take place, merging parishes as part of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s “Renew My Church” initiative. Among them will be five churches in and around Bronzeville.