University of Illinois Chicago

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Built in 1856, this Italianate-style house was built for Charles Jerald Hull in an area of Chicago that was, at the time, a fashionable residential district west of Downtown. By 1889, the neighborhood had changed into a densely-populated community inhabited by impoverished immigrant families, and the house was acquired by Jane Addams to serve as a settlement house and community center that supported the needs of the surrounding immigrant population, which continued to operate at the site until 1963, adding multiple buildings around the original house, as well as a third-floor addition, between the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. The building, due to its historical significance, was saved from demolition after the Hull House was acquired for the development of the University of Illinois Chicago, and was restored in 1967 to its circa 1856 exterior appearance, and circa 1889-1935 interior appearance. The building is clad in red brick, added during the 1960s restoration, with arched window bays containing four-over-four double-hung windows and four-over-six box-head windows, a double front entrance door with a trim surround, a hipped roof with a bracketed cornice and front gable, a rooftop belvedere with a hipped roof, a one-story bay window on the south facade, and wraparound porch with rectilinear columns. Inside, the house features a center-hall layout flanked by a parlor and dining room, a library, and a study, a wooden staircase, decorative trim and fireplace surrounds, and multiple bedrooms on the second floor, with a small third-floor attic, which was expanded during the building’s time as a settlement house, but was returned to its smaller, original state during the restoration. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and designated a Chicago Landmark in 1974. Today, the building serves as part of the Jane Addams-Hull House Museum.. Openly licensed location photograph selected near the verified coordinates.
Photograph: w_lemay · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source & credits