Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago


A world-class leader in technology, industrial design and architecture, the IIT owes much of its look to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the famed mid-century architect who fled the Nazis in Germany for Chicago in 1938. From 1940 until his retirement in 1958, he designed 22 IIT buildings that reflected his tenets of architecture, combining simple, black-metal frames with glass and brick infills. SR Crown Hall is the rock star. Check the website to see if campus tours are being offered.

Mies van der Rohe isn’t the only architectural hero whose works are on display here. Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed the 2003 McCormick Tribune Campus Center with its simple lines and striking en-tubing of the L tracks that run overhead. Helmut Jahn designed the funky State Street Village residence halls.

Transportation

  • metro: Green Line to 35th St-Bronzeville-IIT

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Chicago attractions

1. State Street Village

0.09 MILES

Helmut Jahn designed State Street Village on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus. Jahn studied at IIT in his younger days, and his strip of…

2. SR Crown Hall

0.18 MILES

The star of the Illinois Institute of Technology campus and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s undisputed masterpiece is SR Crown Hall, appropriately home to the…

3. Pilgrim Baptist Church

0.25 MILES

Gospel music got its start at Pilgrim Baptist Church, originally built as a synagogue by famed architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in 1890…

4. Robert W Roloson Houses

0.43 MILES

Examples of stylish architecture from the past can be found throughout Bronzeville, and you can see some fine homes along two blocks of Calumet Ave…

5. Victory Monument

0.57 MILES

In the median of Martin Luther King Jr Dr, near 35th St, the Victory Monument was erected in 1928 in honor of the African American soldiers who fought in…

6. Supreme Life Building

0.59 MILES

The 1930s Supreme Life Building was the spot where John H Johnson Jr, the publishing mogul who founded Ebony magazine, got the idea for his empire, which…

7. Ida B Wells House

0.67 MILES

One of scores of Romanesque houses that date from the 1880s, the Ida B Wells House is named for its 1920s resident. Wells was a civil rights advocate who…

8. McCormick Place

1.17 MILES

McCormick Place is the largest convention center in the country, spread over four halls. 'Vast' isn't big enough to describe it. A high-rise hotel and 10…

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