Commission brief: The groundwork for S.R. Crown Hall was set when Mies van der Rohe devised his master plan for the new IIT campus in 1941, which included a site for the “Architecture and Applied Arts Building.” The new home of the architecture department, of which Mies was director at the time, was the last of 19 buildings to be constructed by the renowned architect at IIT. The official commission for the ".Department of Architecture and Institute of Design” building came from the Buildings and Grounds Committee in February 1950.

Design brief: Mies experimented with several schemes for Crown Hall before settling on the final design for a clear-span structure. In the first dated drawings from May 24, 1952, the building elevation was similar to that of his earlier campus buildings of brick, steel, and glass. The building footprint conformed to the 24-foot grid that dictated the layout of his campus master plan. The design called for a ground floor, basement, and mezzanine to house the building functions. The structural design consisted of a simple steel post and beam system, though unlike Mies’ other IIT buildings, the perimeter columns were not fully expressed on the brick and glass façade. The early concept for Crown Hall shared many similarities with Mies’ un-built design for the IIT Library and Administration Building. However the extent to which Mies contributed to the original scheme is unknown since its purpose was mainly for fundraising. Several variations of the early design existed, in which modifications were made to the exterior glazing and outward expression of the structure. Mies also conducted numerous space planning studies for the Department of Architecture and Institute of Design.1

In the next dated drawings from November 10, 1952, the building broke away from Mies’ campus plan and earlier IIT buildings. The building footprint abandoned the regular campus grid and adopted a 10-foot module. The cladding materials excluded brick and instead used just steel and glass. Perhaps most notably, the roof girders and exterior columns for the clear-span structure were introduced into the design. Mies had previously experimented with the use of exterior truss supports and uninterrupted spaces in his designs for the Cantor Drive-In, IIT’s Student Union Building, and the Manheim Theatre Competition. Though the three projects were never built, they undoubtedly contributed to the final scheme for Crown Hall. Several versions of the structural design showed between 4 and 6 exterior trusses, however Mies eventually settled on 4 solid steel girders to support the building. The reasons for using girders rather than trusses were likely both aesthetic and practical, as trusses were unnecessary to support the span and would have been more difficult and expensive to fabricate.

Mies presented his drawings and a model to the Buildings Committee on November 25, 1952, where his design was declared “of such an extreme nature…a most advanced design.” As proposed, the new design exceeded the $500,00 budget, causing the project to be delayed until the following spring. The project resumed with two alternate floor plans in the next dated drawings from June 1, 1953. Mies completed several layouts for the building, in which he experimented with the number of window modules and overall footprint, possibly to fulfill his design process or to reduce the cost of the project. The plan for the main hall was essentially fixed by then end of June 1953, however the arrangement of the basement spaces was not set until sometime that fall.1

Fundraising for Crown Hall continued through the following year, though little changes were made to the building during that time. A
$250,000 donation by the Crown family in the name of Sol R. Crown provided the source for the name of the building. On June 11, 1954 Mies was directed to precede with the design drawings, and on September 2, 1954 the Buildings Committee approved them.

Building/construction: Following their approval, Mies’ design drawings were sent to PACE Associates, an associate architecture firm
responsible for completing the construction documents and overseeing construction. The construction drawings were distributed to several contractors in November 1954. Twelve bids were submitted, with the award going to Dahl-Stedman Company. Separate contracts were commissioned for work on the mechanical and electrical systems.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for Crown Hall were held on December 2, 1954, and construction began soon after. David Haid served as the project architect for Mies’ office, with PACE Associates overseeing daily construction activities. Assembly of the steel structure began in the spring and continued into the summer. A basement fire on March 25, 1955 caused significant damage and delayed construction by several weeks. By July 1955 the steel structure was in place and ready for glazing.

Mies continued to rearrange the interior spaces in the main hall throughout the construction process. The final arrangement for the partitions was set by August 1955. Other changes during construction included the installation of sprinklers in the main hall, which was required once the city learned that the space was intended for educational purposes and not simply exhibition space.

Though construction was not yet complete, most of the building was occupied by November 1955. The official dedication of Crown Hall took place on April 30, 1956 in a ceremony featuring speeches by architect Eero Saarinen, industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, and city planning consultant Walter H. Blucher. Speaking on the greatness of Crown Hall, Saarinen declared: “It is fitting that in this city architecture should be taught in the proudest building of this campus. It is time that architectural education came out of the dingy attics of the past into this serene temple of the present.”

Type of change: Replacement of exterior glazing and roof, modifications to interior
Date: c. 1975
Persons/organizations involved: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)
Circumstances/reasons for change: Little work was done to Crown Hall for nearly two decades after its completion. However general
deterioration and wear prompted a renovation of the building in the mid-1970s. Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) were
selected to complete the project. In February 1974, SOM issued a report detailing the current condition of the building and their
recommendations for repair.
Effects of changes: Though not all of SOM’s suggestions were implemented, several significant changes were made under their direction in 1975. The building received a new roof and ceiling tiles for the main hall. New light fixtures were installed to increase artificial light levels on the desk surfaces. The main hall was rearranged to provide additional administrative offices, and the wood partitions were refinished. The basement layout was modified to accommodate changing spatial needs. The steel frame also received a fresh coat of black paint.7

Perhaps the most significant change executed by SOM was the complete replacement of the exterior glazing. According to SOM, the
1/4-inch thick translucent glass on the upper portion of the building no longer complied with building codes nor did it provide adequate
resistance to wind loads. Consequently it was replaced with 3/8-inch thick panels with new aluminum stops. The sandblasted glass on
the lower portion of the building was also replaced with a laminated product. The exterior renovation was later criticized for its poor
appearance and for vastly disrupting the quality of light in the building.

Type of change: Repair of exterior porches and doors, installation of air conditioning
Date: c. 1985-1986
Persons/organizations involved: George Schipporeit, Peter Beltemacchi, David Sharpe
Circumstances/reasons for change: Following the renovation by SOM, little work was done to Crown Hall until the mid-1980s. In 1984, several repairs were planned for the building in preparation for the centennial of Mies’ birthday.7
Effects of changes: From 1985-1986, a number of projects were completed on the exterior of Crown Hall. The travertine north and south porches were repaved, and a new stainless steel framing system was installed for the north steps. The Ellison stainless steel doors wererefurbished and the original weather-stripping was removed. The steel frame was repainted, broken glazing was replaced, and platform lifts were added at the north entry and west interior stair.7

The most significant alteration undertaken in the mid-1980s was the installation of air conditioning. The project required considerable
modifications to the floor and removal of the roof of the penthouse, which received two rooftop condensers.7

Type of change: Renovation of basement, replacement of roof, modifications to air conditioning
Dates: 1989-1996
Persons/organizations involved: Gene Summers, Fujikawa Johnson and Associates
Circumstances/reasons for change: In 1989, the Institute of Design moved out of Crown Hall, allowing the department of architecture to occupy the entire basement. The lower level of the building was reworked as a result. Other maintenance repairs were completed in the mid-1990s as well.7
Effects of changes: The entire south end of the basement was rearranged between 1990-1993 to make room for the new Graham Resource Center, administration offices, and a lecture hall. The relocation of the administrative offices from the upper level to the basement allowed for some reconfiguration of the main hall partitions.7

In 1996, Crown Hall received a new roof, for which the original steel angle copings were replaced with painted aluminum coating against the recommendations of project consultant Fujikawa Johnson. The air conditioning system was also changed, eliminating the need for rooftop condensers. Consequently the penthouse roof was replaced.7

Type of change: Replacement of exterior glazing, modifications to interior
Dates: c. 2002-2005
Persons/organizations involved: Krueck and Sexton Architects, McClier Preservation Group
Circumstances/reasons for change: Nearly 50 years after its completion, Crown Hall was in need of major renovation. Though several
projects had been completed on the building throughout its history, the effects of age, improper alterations, and piecemeal maintenance were largely apparent. In 2002, Krueck and Sexton Architects were selected to perform a multi-million dollar renovation of Crown Hall with the assistance of preservation consultant Gunny Harboe.
Effects of changes: The Crown Hall renovation was divided into three phases, the first of which took place on the building interior. The project included repainting the storage lockers, refurbishing the oak partitions, and wiring the main floor for electrical and data services.

The second phase of the project involved restoring the exterior of the building to its original aesthetic. The steel frame was stripped of its original lead-based paint, repaired, and repainted to match the original “Miesian black.” The exterior glazing was replaced to resolve both its functional and visual inadequacies. Recapturing the original aesthetic while brining the building up to code required some compromise. Modern building practice would not allow the replacement of the 1/4-inch thick transparent panels used by Mies on the upper portion of the walls. Instead, 1/2-inch thick, low-iron glass was installed in custom-made stops to give the upper panels their ‘barely-there’ appearance. The lower portion of the wall was replaced with sandblasted panels and coated with clear epoxy so as to maintain the appearance while preventing staining and scratching.

The Crown Hall restoration was named the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Project of the Year in 2006. The award honors
“individuals, organizations, projects, and programs whose work demonstrates a commitment to excellence in historic preservation.”

Of whole building/site: Crown Hall is occupied by the IIT Department of Architecture.

Of principal components: The first floor of Crown Hall is a glass-walled, column-less space in which student work areas and
exhibition space are loosely divided by low-standing oak partitions. The lower floor provides more traditionally divided space for workshops, lecture rooms, service spaces, administrative offices, and the Graham Resource Center.5

The comprehensive 2005 renovation significantly bolstered the building’s enduring integrity. While small signs of aging have emerged once more, with the condition of the south porch drawing particular attention, Crown Hall remains in the care of an institution committed to their stewardship and protection of the building. 

Crown Hall is one of 19 modern buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe for the Illinois Institute of Technology. As the last project to be completed for Mies master plan, Crown Hall departs from his earlier campus buildings in its proportion, structure, and materials.

Exterior: The building is arranged on a 10-foot module, unlike Mies’ other IIT buildings that derive their scale from a 24-foot grid. The steel and glass hall measures 120 feet by 220 feet and is divided lengthwise into three 60-foot bays with a 20-foot overhang on each end. It is supported by an advanced structural system of four 6-foot deep exposed girders and perimeter columns, from which the roof is essentially suspended. All steel is painted black, and all joints are field welded to provide a near seamless appearance. Centered atop the roof is a 6-foot tall penthouse.

The exterior walls are clad entirely in glass, with vertical steel I-beams spaced at 10-foot intervals supporting the expansive panels. The glazing is divided into three horizontal sections by steel mullions. The upper layer is transparent and runs from the top of the wall down to a height of nearly 8 feet above the main floor. The middle layer is translucent, except in the center bay, and is further divided into two vertical sections. Below the translucent lights are 8-inch high louvered vents that provide ventilation to the main hall. The lower layer of glazing runs from ground level to the main floor and supplies natural light to the basement.

Crown Hall rests on a flat lawn planted with trees and ivy. The main entrance is on the south side of the building. Travertine stairs and a platform that seem to float above the ground serve as the approach for two pairs of Ellison stainless steel doors. Only thin metal handrails, a later addition, provide a sense of grounding. A secondary entrance on the north elevation mirrors that on the south, with two sets of cast concrete steps and a travertine landing leading to a second pair of Ellison doors. Two exterior entrances are also provided for the basement level on the north side.

Interior: The building comprises two floors, with the main hall raised 4 feet above grade to allow for clerestory windows in the basement. Due to the nature of the building’s structure, the main hall becomes a column-less universal space, perhaps the greatest ever designed by Mies. There are no formal divisions of space in the 18-foot tall room. Rather areas are sectioned off with freestanding wood partitions that only rise to about 8 feet, allowing for an uninterrupted overall view of the hall. Only two vertical chases extend all the way from floor to ceiling. A 1-foot wide soffit surrounds the perimeter of the ceiling, making it appear as though it is detached from the walls and floating above the space. The white acoustic ceiling tile is a sharp contrast to the black terrazzo floor. Thin metal handrails distinguish the two cast terrazzo staircases that penetrate the floor and lead to the lower level.

Though less architecturally significant to the overall composition of the building, the basement provides space for service facilities and other operations that require more formalized division. Rooms are arranged around a main stair hall and two corridors, which share the same terrazzo floor as the upper level. The walls are almost entirely concrete block, and the concrete slab of the floor above serves as the ceiling in most areas.

This building is a part of the Illinois Institute of Technology campus.

Visual relations: Crown Hall was one of 19 buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe for his master plan for the IIT campus.
Among his other buildings were Perlstein Hall (1945-1946), Alumni Memorial Hall (1945-1946), Wishnick Hall (1945-1946), and
Siegal Hall (1945-46, 1956-1957).

Completed situation: Crown Hall was intentionally situated within the IIT campus on an open lawn, visually isolated from its surroundings by sidewalks on all sides. Alfred Caldwell designed the landscaping around the building, which included Honey Locust trees and Boston ivy.

Original situation or character of site: The site for Crown Hall was created as part of a 120 acre campus master plan for IIT, following the merger of the Lewis and Armour Institutes in 1940. The campus was located on the site of the former Armour Institute and incorporated several of its older buildings into the design, including Machinery Hall (1901).

Present context: In 1996, architect and Mies’ grandson Dirk Logan created a new master plan for IIT that proposed restoring the main components of Mies’ plan and constructing several new buildings on the campus. The McCormick Tribune Campus Center, a dramatic addition to the campus design by renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, was opened in 2003. The State Street Village residence hall, a state-of-the-art student living environment by architect Helmut Jahn, was completed in the same year. Crown Hall and Wishnick Hall, another of Mies’ designs, were pinpointed for restoration as part of the campus revitalization.

With two phases of renovation complete at Crown Hall, a third stage is planned to reduce the overall energy use of the building. An automated building management system will be installed to control all of the engineered systems. Automated blinds will be added to take advantage of opportunities for natural light, and the original heating system beneath the floor will be retrofitted to provide cooling as well.

The precise detailing and refined eurythmy at Crown Hall set a high watermark in Mies’ iconic search for a grammar of steel construction. His mission as an architect, however, extended well beyond the aesthetic matters of joinery and proportion. He concerned himself with similar passion to discerning new building typologies and systems of expression, as enabled by the technology of his age and in service of its needs. 

Crown Hall is the first of Mies’ realized designs to epitomize his conception of universal space, an idea near to the heart of his matured philosophy for architecture and society. In his European career, Mies refined a formal language of irregularity, contrasting the free arrangement of spatial elements against the order of columnated grid plans. In designs like those of the Barcelona Pavilion or his numerous court house projects, he captured the rhythms of dynamic movement and spontaneous activity in firm spatial statements. With his emerging notion of universal space, Mies progressed beyond these static prescriptive gestures, conceiving of architecture as a vessel for the flexible expression of such forces as they arise.

Already in the 1927 Café Samt & Seide with Lily Reich, he had executed a project in which shelter itself preceded the architectural act; whose domain lay instead in the free and transient arrangement of spatial boundaries. With even greater clarity and conviction, his 1942 Concert Hall photomontage reduces the specifics of structure to an incidental concern; with an anonymous industrial background providing little more than a horizon of enclosure, for the weightless abstraction of the auditorium space within. 

By the time of Crown’s design, Mies had arrived at a signature structural device to articulate his own clear span designs. In kinship with the external trusses of his unbuilt 1945 Cantor Drive-In, and 1953 Mannheim Theater, the plate welded girders of Crown Hall rise as fins from atop the building’s volume. While Mies would eventually exchange this motif for the waffle slab pavilions of his subsequent clear spans, the exterior expression of lateral structure effectively conveys the uninterrupted nature of the space within. Additionally, it works towards an image of particular lightness, avoiding inflation of the planar roof slab to more box-like proportions. 

Some critics have viewed Mies’ relegation of certain programs to subterranean space, both at Crown Hall and the Neue Nationalgalerie, as an impractical indulgence to preserve a rhetorical image (Banham, Age of Masters 166). Whether practical or not, it is certain that Crown indeed serves as a powerful showpiece for Mies’ world vision, with the architect himself saying, “I think this is the clearest structure we have done, the best to express our philosophy" (Architectural Forum, Aug. 1956). 

For all the pomp of its design merits, Crown Hall bears an inseparable link to modernism’s complex affair wUS urban renewal. IIT’s South Side campus occupies what was once the neighborhood of Bronzeville, nicknamed “The Black Metropolis” for its prosperous middle class African American community (IIT and the Mecca Flats). Under the pretense of slum clearance, IIT purchased and demolished local properties en masse, destroying the community over the greater span of a decade to make way for new construction. 

Among a generation of radically progressive German modernists, Mies rarely presented himself as a political voice. Accepting work from the German Communist party as readily as he did from Goebbels, the profound contradictions of his political history are the subject of great debate (Cohen 42, 72). What remains clear, is that his fervent belief in the socially transformative capacity of architecture was genuine, however ignorant he may have been in his narrow obsession. Epitomizing Mies’ belief in the imminent ascension of architecture to the mind-over-matter ideal of universal space, Crown Hall speaks to the Atomic Age utopianism of his postwar vision for society. 

Mies, like many of his polemic peers, claimed a certain continuity of tradition was to be found in his radical work. Few of the modern masters, however, expressed so truly classical an affinity as his. Crown Hall exemplifies Mies’ transposition of eurythmy from Schinkel’s masonry tradition to the extraordinary properties of steel. An Architectural Forum article from 1956 went to the extent of describing his design as perfecting, “the modern Doric Order of Steel” (Architectural Forum, Aug. 1956). 

Regarding the place of detail in such a composition, critic Reyner Banham outlined an illuminating distinction in his comparison of IIT’s classicizing spirit to the pragmatic steel joinery of Alison and Peter Smithson’s Hunstanton School: “Whereas Mies builds up rich and complex moldings, the Smithsons assemble their standard sections with a conspicuous understatement” (Banham New Brutalism 19). Contrary to the derisive label of being “utilitarian,” the painstaking precision and deliberated grammar at Crown Hall becomes apparent in such contrast to the largely economic forces behind the intuitive realism of Hunstanton. 

Mies’ unapologetic embrace of axial symmetry is among the boldest of his appeals to tradition. Having proven himself just as much a master of asymmetry in the De Stijl irregularity of numerous European projects, he showed no qualms about employing the ancient device so derided among his more radical peers. While an architect of lesser stature or conviction may have been subject to great upset over the near-Palladian elevations at Crown Hall, Mies largely avoided accusations of shallow formalism from the major publications of his day; instead receiving a great deal of popular renown. (Arts & Architecture, Aug. 1954: Architectural Record, Jan. 1955: Architectural Forum, Aug. 1956: Architectural Record, Aug. 1956) 

The career of Mies van der Rohe exerted an immeasurable influence on the world of architecture; but even if we take Crown Hall in isolation from his fame, the building retains immense significance in its own right.

Critically engaged with questions of theory and practice, among the most potent and enduring across tradition and modernity, Crown Hall occupies an exceptionally singular point of confluence in architectural history. It was no trivial remark when Architectural Forum declared Crown, “the summation of a century of steel and glass buildings,” upon its completion (Architectural Forum, Aug. 1956). The iron framed arcades and exhibition halls which awed 19th century Europe, catalyzed a rich lineage of discourse concerning the future demands, capacities, and conventions of industrial building technology. Even before Paxton’s palace, German archaeologist Karl Bötticher questioned whether the “absolute strength” of iron would supersede the structural dichotomy of Classical and Gothic expression; giving rise to a, “completely new and unknown system” (Herrmann 182). In the century following Bötticher’s query, countless developments arose from the splintering dialectics of emerging modernity. Few, however, offered an answer of such clarity, completeness, and conviction, as did Mies van der Rohe’s design for the IIT Architecture and Design Building. 

In his photomontage renderings, Mies positioned the immutable domain of abstract space as the ultimate frontier of human building. At Crown Hall, he showed us his vision to realize its immanence. However many times his conception of architecture is discarded or rediscovered, the statement of Crown Hall will remain a paramount testament to the profound changes and unprecedented aspirations of the 20th Century and the wider Modern Age. 

Continuing its life as an architecture school, Crown Hall stands not only among the foremost landmarks of global Modernism, but as a living didactic space, with its experimental program and design engaged anew by incoming classes and fresh perspectives each year. 

2024

Banham, Reyner. Age of Masters: A Personal View of Modern Architecture. Architectural Press, 1975. 

Banham, Reyner. The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic? Architectural P, 1968. 

“Building History.” Building History | S.R. Crown Hall, buildinghistory.iit.edu/buildings/crown. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.

Cohen, Jean-Louis, and Maggie Rosengarten. Mies van Der Rohe. New York, 1996. 

Drexler, Arthur. Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe. George Braziller, 1960.

Herrmann, Wolfgang. Gottfried Semper: In Search of Architecture. The MIT Press, 1989. 

“IIT and the Mecca Flats.” SEGREGATION BY DESIGN, www.segregationbydesign.com/chicago/iit-and-the-mecca-flats. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023. 

“Illinois Institute of Technology - S.R. Crown Hall Restoration.” Krueck Sexton Partners, ks.partners/projects/s-r-crown-hall-restoration/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.

“Mies van Der Rohe.” Architectural Record, Aug. 1956, pp. 133–139.

“Mies’ Enormous Room.” Architectural Forum, Aug. 1956, pp. 100–107.

National Historic Landmark Nomination - Npgallery.Nps.Gov, npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/01001049_text. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.

Stach, Edgar, and Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe. Mies van Der Rohe: Space, Material, Detail. Birkhauser, 2018.

Graham Resource Center
S.R. Crown Hall, 3360 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60616
IIT Archive, Paul V. Galvin Library
35 West 33rd Street, Chicago, IL 60616
IIT Facilities Department
Machinery Hall, 100 West 33rd Street, Chicago, IL 60616
Chicago Historical Society
1601 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614
The Ryerson and Burnham Libraries
Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60603
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
The Canadian Center for Architecture
1920, rue Baile, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3H 2S6

The following list of publications is an expansion of the bibliography obtained from the Historic Structures Report conducted by
McClier Preservation Group in 2000.

Bibliographies
Spaeth, David A. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: An Annotated Bibliography and Chronology. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1979.
Vance, Mary. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: Selected Journal Articles Published 1970-1986.
Monticello, IL: Vance Bibliographies, 1987.

Books and catalogues
Achilles, Rolf and Charlotte Myhrum. Guide to the Campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Chicago: IIT, 1986.
Bach, Ira J., ed. Chicago’s Famous Buildings. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Banham, Reyner. Age of the Masters: A Personal View of Modern Architecture. New York:Harper &amp. Row, Publishers, 1975.
Berger, Miles L. They Built Chicago: Entrepreneurs Who Shaped a Great City’s Architecture. Chicago: Bonus Books, Inc., 1992
Better Buildings, Better Industrial Design and Better Cities: How Illinois Institute of Technology
Proposes to Help Up-Date the Physical Patterns of Our Time. Chicago: IIT, 1954.
Blake, Peter. The Master Builders. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1960.
Blaser, Werner. Mies van der Rohe. Berlin: Birkhauser Verlag Basel, 1997.
Blaser, Werner. Mies van der Rohe: Continuing the Chicago School of Architecture. Stuttgart: Birkhauser Verlag Basel, 1981.
Blaser, Werner. Mies van der Rohe: Crown Hall. Basel; Boston: Birkha?user, 2001.
Blaser, Werner. Mies van der Rohe: IIT Campus, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Basel; Boston: Birkha?user, 2002.
Blaser, Werner. Mies van der Rohe: Less is More. Zurich: Waser, 1986.
Blaser, Werner. Mies van der Rohe: The Art of Structure. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1993.
Blaser, Werner. West Meets East – Mies van der Rohe. Berlin: Birkhauser Verlag Basel, 1996.
Carter, Peter. “Mies van der Rohe.” In The Rationalists: Theory and Design in the Modern Movement. ed. by Denis Sharp, New York:
Architectural Book Publishing Company,1979, 59-71.
Carter, Peter. Mies van der Rohe at Work. London: Pall Mall Press, 1974; reprint, London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1999.
Cohen, Jean Louis. Mies van der Rohe. London: E & FN Spon, 1996.
Condit, Carl W. Chicago 1930-70: Building, Planning, and Urban Technology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974.
Converging Visions: The Making of a University. Chicago: IIT Press, 1991.
De Sola-Morales, Ignasi. Differences: Topographies of Contemporary Architecture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997.
Dedication Ceremonies: S.R. Crown Hall, Dedicated to the Advancement of Architecture, Design, and City and Regional Planning. Chicago:
IIT, 1956.
Domer, Dennis, ed. Alfred Caldwell: The Life and Work of a Prairie School Landscape Architect. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1997.
Drexler, Arthur. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1960.
Glaeser, Ludwig. Global Architecture: Mies van der Rohe. ed. Yukio Futagawa, Tokyo: A.D.A. Edita, n.d.
Harrington, Kevin. “Order, Space, Proportion – Mies’s Curriculum at IIT.” In Mies van der Rohe: Architect as Educator. ed. Rolf Achilles,
Kevin Harrington and Charlotte Myhrum, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.
Heald, Henry. “Mies van der Rohe at I.I.T.” In Four Great Makers of Modern Architecture. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970.
Hilberseimer, Ludwig. Contemporary Architecture: Its Roots and Trends. Chicago: Paul Theobald and Company, 1964.
Hilberseimer, Ludwig. Mies van der Rohe. Chicago: Paul Theobald and Company, 1956.
Holt, Glen E. and Dominic A. Pacyga. Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1979.
Illinois Institute of Technology: Its Purpose and Its History. Chicago: IIT, 1970.
Illinois Institute of Technology: Main Campus Guide. Chicago: IIT, 1996.
Johnson, Philip C. Mies van der Rohe. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1978.
Macauley, Irene. The Heritage of Illinois Institute of Technology. Chicago: IIT, 1978.
Mertins, Detlef, ed. The Presence of Mies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994.
Mies van der Rohe. Library of Contemporary Architects, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970.
Mies van der Rohe, European Works. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.
Neumeyer, Fritz. The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art. trans. Mark Jarzombek, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991.
Pommer, Richard, David Spaeth and Kevin Harrington. In the Shadow of Mies: Ludwig Hilberseimer Architect, Educator, and Urban Planner.
Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago (in association with Rizzoli International Publications), 1988.
Scully, Vincent. American Architecture and Urbanism. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1988.
Shulze, Franz. Illinois Institute of Technology: the Campus Guide, an Architectural Tour. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005.
Schulze, Franz. Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
Schulze, Franz. Mies van der Rohe: Interior Spaces. Chicago: The Arts Club of Chicago, 1982.
Schulze, Franz, ed. The Mies van der Rohe Archive. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1992.
Sinkevitch, Alice, ed. AIA Guide to Chicago. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993.
Spaeth, David. Mies van der Rohe. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1985.
Speyer, James A. Mies van der Rohe. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1968.
Technology Center Today and Tomorrow. A Building and Expansion Program to Transform
Today’s Outgrown Campus of Illinois Institute of Technology into a Modern Center of Technological Education and Research. Chicago: IIT.,
n.d. Newman, M.W. “Mies van der Rohe.” In Three Centuries of Notable American Architects. ed. Joseph J. Thorndike, New York: American
Heritage Publishing Co., 1981.
Zukowsky, John. Mies Reconsidered: His Career, Legacy, and Disciples. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago in association with Rizzoli
International Publications, Inc., 1986.

Encyclopedias
Lampugnani, Vittorio M., ed. The Thames and Hudson Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture. Thames and Hudson, 1989.
“Mies van der Rohe.”

Journals and magazines
Becker, Lynn. “Crown Jewel: IIT’s Mies Centerpiece is Restored.” Metropolis. vol. 25, no.4 (2005): 116-117.
Biemiller, Lawrence. “On Campus with 20 Mies Buildings, One Masterpiece.” Chronicle of Higher Education (1986).
Bluestone, Daniel. “Chicago’s Mecca Flat Blues.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians vol. 57 no. 4 (December 1998): 382-403.
Domer, Dennis. “Alfred Caldwell.” Catalyst vol. 8 no. 2 (1998): 8.
Furlong, William Barry. “The Expanding World of IIT.” Chicago (Winter 1967): 56-63. “IIT Dedicates Crown Hall, New Design Building by Mies.”
Architectural Forum no. 104 (June 1956): 17,21.
“Gilbert, Douglas. Á Universal Space with Worldwide Appeal: Mies van der Rohe’s Crown Hall.” Historic Illinois. vol. 24, no. 4 (2001): 3-9.
Hart, Sara. “The Perils of Restoring ‘Less is More’.” Architectural Record. vol. 194, no. 1 (2006): 149.
“Illinois Tech Re-plans 16 City Blocks.” Architectural Forum no. 85 (September 1946): 102-3.
Keegan, Edward. “A Twenty-First-Century Mies.” Architecture. vol. 94, no. 9 (2005): 25-28.
Kuh, Katharine. “Mies Van Der Rohe: Modern Classicist.” SR (23 January 1965): 22-23, 61.
Lambert, Phyllis. “Mies’s Student Union.” ANY Magazine no. 24 (1999): 52-53.
“Less than 50 Years Old, IIT’s Crown Hall Among 15 Sites Named National Historic Landmarks.” Architectural Record. vol. 189, no. 10 (2001):
49.
“Mies’ Enormous Room.” Architectural Forum no. 105 (August 1956): 104-111.
“Mies Hangs a Roof.” Architectural Forum no. 101 (July 1954): 48.
“Mies van der Rohe.” Architectural Record (August 1956): 134-139.
Nelson, George. “Buildings to Come.” Architectural Forum no. 76 (February 1942): 14.
Rowe, Colin. “Neoclassicism & Modern Architecture: Part II.” Oppositions 1: A Journal for Ideas And Criticism in Architecture (September 1973):
14-26.

Newspapers
Bey, Lee. “Alfred Caldwell, Landscape ‘Genius.’” Chicago Sun Times, 9 July 1998: 60.
Bey, Lee. “Crown Jewel: Van der Rohe Building May Get Landmark Status.” Chicago Sun Times, 2 October 1996: 4.
Bey, Lee. “IIT Project Puts New Face on ‘Inner City.’” Chicago Sun Times, 10 February 1998.
Bey, Lee. “The FBI’s File on Mies van der Rohe.” Chicago Sun-Times, 19 April 1999: 14.
“Crown Family Pledges $1 Million to Support College of Architecture, Planning, and Design.”
IIT Alumni News, vol. III no. 4 Spring 1985.
Heald, H.T. “President Heald Announces Gift From Mrs. J. Ogden Armour at Banquet Honoring Mies Van Der Rohe.” Armour Engineer and
Alumnus, vol. 4 no. 2 December 1938.
Jawny, George. “S.R. Crown Receives A.C.” Technology News, 21 April 1986: 1.
Kamin, Blair. “Crown Hall Dazzles in Mies Simplicity.” Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug 2005.
Thomas, Jerry. “Landmark Status Closer for Mies Building at IIT.” Chicago Tribune, 27 April 1997: 8.
Van Der Rohe, Ludwig Mies. “Mies Van Der Rohe’s Address, Delivered at Banquet Held in his Honor.” Armour Engineer and Alumnus,
vol. 4 no. 2 December 1938.

Reports and studies
Commission on Chicago Landmarks. “S.R. Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, 3360 S. State St.,” ed. Timothy Barton, October 1996.
Fujikawa Johnson & Associates, Inc., et. al., “S.R. Crown Restoration Study – 97,” May 1998.
Harboe, T. Gunny. “S.R Crown Hall Historic Structure Report.” McClier Preservation Group, 2000.
Illinois Roof Consulting Association, Inc. “Roof Rehabilitation at Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois,” 13 August 1998.
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. in association with Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architecture, Inc. “IIT in the Landscape: 1999
Illinois Institute of Technology West Campus Landscape Master Plan. After Mies and Caldwell: A Report to the Mies Committee,” 1999.
Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. “IIT Campus Master Plan,” n.d.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. “Illinois Institute of Technology Crown Hall Renovation Feasibility Study,” February 1974.
Thomas, Eric. “S.R. Crown Hall.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, October 2000.

Online
“Crown Hall Restoration Awarded Project of the Year.” Mies Society. <http://mies.iit.edu/news/>.
“Crown Hall.” City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division.
<http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/C/CrownHall.html>.
“Main Campus Master Plan: Crown Hall.” Illinois Institute of Technology. <http://masterplan.iit.edu/crown.html>.
“Mies at IIT.” Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture. <http://www.iit.edu/colleges/arch/>.

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