Lost Houses of Chicago's Gold Coast

Join us for a new season of the Charnley Conversations lecture series, hosted by the Society of Architectural Historians and the Charnley-Persky House Museum.

About the event:
Architectural historian Andrew Elders will discuss some of the Gold Coast houses lost to apartment development in the mid-20th century, which represented the work of some of Chicago's top architects and housed some of Chicago's most prominent citizens. The changing viewpoints on the shift from houses to apartments, the loss of landmarks, and the nascent historic preservation movement will be intertwined with the architectural and social histories of the houses lost to modernity.

Speaker Andrew Elders is active in the preservation and architecture communities in Illinois, lecturing and leading tours related to architectural history. He serves on the board of the Charnley-Persky House Museum and has been a member of the Historic Preservation Commission and its Architectural Review Committee in Oak Park. Andrew studied historic preservation at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to entering the preservation field, he spent 15 years in the banking and finance industry. Andrew started his preservation career as a consultant at Benjamin Historic Certifications before his current appointment as Director of Historic Tax Credits at Ryan LLC.

Join us for glass of wine, refreshments, and light bites at 5:30 p.m., followed by the presentation, and more conversation afterwards. Proceeds will support the Charnley-Persky House Museum Foundation.

Since this is a program with limited seating, please cancel your reservation if you are unable to attend.

Venue:
This lecture takes place at the Charnley-Persky House Museum, a National Historic Landmark building located in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Designed by famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan with assistance from his at-the-time junior draftsman Frank Lloyd Wright, the Charnley-Persky House (1891-1892) is recognized as a pivotal work of modern American architecture. We look forward to welcoming you into this unique space for an enlightening talk about preservation. In the meantime, take a virtual tour of the house.