Evanstoniana: An Informal History of Evanston and Its Architecture

Evanstoniana: An Informal History of Evanston and Its Architecture by BARBARA J. BUCHBINDER-GREEN MARGERY BLAI. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780914091622.

Since its earliest days Evanston has been justly proud of its from the farmers and merchants who settled in Grosse Pointe in the 1830s and 1840s to the founders of three educational institutions who selected Ridgeville in the 1850s. Drainage of the low land between the two ridges and along the lakeshore opened additional building sites for simple balloon frame structures built by local carpenters, favored by farmer and professor alike, while the Chicago commission merchants, industrialists, and professionals who settled on the ridges hired prominent architects to design elaborate suburban villas. This architectural variety delights the eye of resident and visitor alike, and Evanston is represented in the National Register of Historic Places by two historic districts, six individual structures, and a thematic grouping of suburban apartment buildings. Evanstoniana is the story of some of those who have made Evanston the "gem suburb"; it contains 200 photographs, both historic and contemporary, as well as biographical information about many architects who designed buildings in Evanston.