{"nrhp_refnum":"70000234","name":"Madlener, Albert F., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4 W. Burton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.909658085000046,"lon":-87.62908358799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-10-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick and limestone house at 4 West Burton (Burton Place and State Street) in Chicago, Illinois, designed by Hugh M.G. Garden while working in Richard E. Schmidt's office and dated 1902.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a high point of Chicago residential architecture and a distinguished example of the Prairie School. Its geometric simplicity, wide cornice, fine detailing and exposed masonry bearing-wall structure tie it to that movement. Contemporary critics Russell Sturgis and Arthur David, and historian H. Allen Brooks, praised it.","narrative":"Built in 1902 at 4 West Burton, at the corner of State Street and Burton Place in Chicago, this three-story house was designed by Hugh M.G. Garden while he worked in Richard E. Schmidt's office. Its walls are warm, narrow brick with patterned rectangles on the top floor, trimmed in buff Indiana limestone, beneath a hip roof with a simple limestone cornice. The entrance has a limestone enframement incised with Sullivanesque ornament, and some windows suggest a modified Chicago window. The house is regarded as a high point of Chicago residential design and a distinguished example of Prairie School architecture. A 1905 article by Russell Sturgis compared its cubical mass to a Renaissance palazzo while noting that it was not traditional in design, and its masonry bearing walls are expressed clearly on the exterior. The Graham Foundation later restored it, mainly inside, creating a library, galleries and a lecture hall in the former ballroom. The building remains in excellent, largely unaltered condition.","period_of_significance":"1902","architect_builder":"Hugh M.G. Garden (designed while in the office of Richard E. Schmidt)","architectural_style":"Prairie School / Chicago School","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent and unaltered condition on its original site; owned by the Graham Foundation, which restored it with mostly interior changes and uses it for a library, offices, exhibition galleries and a lecture hall.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.558614-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/8925/28892529/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/70000234.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000234/235d34b373-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000234/235d34b373-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Harold Allen, Photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_F_Madlener_House,_4_West_Burton_Place,_Chicago_(Cook_County,_Illinois).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Harold Allen, Photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_F_Madlener_House,_4_West_Burton_Place,_Chicago_(Cook_County,_Illinois).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"78001121","name":"Gold Coast Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/gold-coast-historic-district-78001121/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892529","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madlener_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6728263"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/madlener-albert-f-house-70000234/"}