{"nrhp_refnum":"07000854","name":"Community House","other_names":["Winnetka Community House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"620 Lincoln Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winnetka","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":42.10814518400008,"lon":-87.73345731599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rambling two-story, mostly masonry Tudor Revival community building at 620 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka, Cook County, Illinois, built in stages from 1911 to 2003 on a three-acre parcel. The main building dates from 1911 and was rebuilt in 1931 after a fire.","why_significant":"The available text shows the Community House grew out of a progressive Congregational church's vision for a community service center with classrooms, a gymnasium, a stage and club rooms. It was inspired by settlement houses and promoted by Rev. J.W.F. Davies, with funding from Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Smith. The form notes a high degree of integrity and quality construction. The full significance argument and criteria are cut off in the excerpt.","narrative":"Winnetka Community House is a long, irregularly massed complex at 620 Lincoln Avenue, on the northern edge of the village's East Elm business district. Its main building was constructed in 1911 and rebuilt in 1931 after a fire, with a limestone, half-timbered and red tapestry brick front under steep slate roofs. Additions followed over the years: a 1924 kitchen and auditorium wing, the 1931 Douglas Smith Gymnasium, a 1971 nursery school wing and a 2003 south wing. Attached to the complex, though separately owned, are the 1906 Children's Chapel, designed by Arthur S. Coffin as the Congregational church, and the 1954 Gothic Revival Harkness Hall. The idea for the house began when church members and the pastor imagined a building with classrooms, a gymnasium, a stage and club rooms for community service. Rev. J.W.F. Davies, drawing on settlement house experience, pushed for a program of that scale. The complex keeps a high degree of integrity.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Arthur S. Coffin (architect of the 1906 church, now the Children's Chapel); architect of the Community House itself not stated in the available text","architectural_style":"Tudor Revival; Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current function is listed as social/civic; the property is still used as a community center with its complex of buildings, though the Children's Chapel has some boarded windows.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.384467-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/59/8926/28892659/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/07000854.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000854/586d7ea6b1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000854/586d7ea6b1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Zol87","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winnetka_Community_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Zol87</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winnetka_Community_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892659","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_House_(Winnetka,_Illinois)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5154795"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/community-house-07000854/"}