Throughout October, Docomomo US/Chicago will be exploring the legacy of urban renewal.

On Sunday, October 1, we’ll explore one of the most peculiar chapters in Chicago transportation and urban renewal history.  North Ogden Avenue was once a major arterial street that was extended from Union Park to Lincoln Park at enormous expense and disruption in the 1930s. Thirty years later, the City changed their mind and began closing and redeveloping the Ogden Avenue footprint in stages starting in 1967.

In addition to some of the best remaining 1970s-era streetscapes in Chicago, this tour will see the exterior of the former home of Skidmore Owings & Merrill partner Walter Netsch and Dawn Clark Netsch, the first female gubernatorial candidate in Illinois. Other notable modernist architects building single-family homes on the former right-of-way of Ogden Avenue including Stanley Tigerman and Larry Booth.

The tour will be led by Patrick Steffes, Docomomo Chicago board member and a founding member of Forgotten Chicago. Patrick has lectured and led several tours for Docomomo Chicago, including the highly-popular tour of Peterson Avenue. More information and registration HERE.

$20/Docomomo US members; $35/non-members

We also hope you’ll join us on October 14 for a tour of the UIC Circle Campus. More information is available HERE.

These events are part of Tour Day, an annual nationwide event celebrating modern architecture and design. This year’s thematic focus is Urban Renewal. For more Tour Day events around the country, click HERE..