{"nrhp_refnum":"75000647","name":"Field Museum of Natural History","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E. Roosevelt Rd. at S. Lake Shore Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.86631031100006,"lon":-87.61708974499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-09-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Large Greek Classical-style museum building in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, overlooking Lake Michigan at South Lake Shore Drive and Roosevelt Road. Designed by Burnham-related firms and built between 1915 and its opening in 1921.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the largest and possibly the finest of Chicago's monumental classical buildings from the era of scholarly historical revival. Its great hall is one of the grandest interior spaces in the city, and its siting at the southern focus of Lake Shore Drive through Grant Park is praised. The museum is also described as one of the world's most prestigious, named for benefactor Marshall Field.","narrative":"Overlooking Lake Michigan where South Lake Shore Drive divides at Roosevelt Road, this Chicago museum building measures 350 feet by 700 feet. It has load-bearing brick walls faced in Georgia white marble, three floors over a basement, and two monumental entrances with Ionic columns and caryatid porches. A continuous two-story Ionic colonnade wraps the facades, and a central nave 70 by 280 feet and 76 feet high runs north to south beneath a skylit ceiling. The collections originated with the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Marshall Field pledged $4 million in 1904, and his brother Stanley took over planning after Marshall's death in 1905. Daniel H. Burnham and Edward R. Graham led the design, modeled on the Erechtheum in Athens at Field's request. Sculptor Henry Hering made the sculpture. The museum opened in 1921. Its listing rests on its scale, classical design, grand interior hall and prominent lakefront siting, which the nomination ranks among the finest of Chicago's classical buildings.","period_of_significance":"1906-21","architect_builder":"Daniel H. Burnham & Co. et al; Graham, Burnham and Co.; Graham, Anderson, Probst & White; chief designers Daniel H. Burnham and Edward R. Graham; sculptor Henry Hering","architectural_style":"Neo-Classical Revival (Greek Classic style)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a museum; the form lists it as occupied, with only minor alterations in the 1960s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.543105-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/8920/28892000/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/75000647.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000647/d37db376cd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000647/d37db376cd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Sea Cow","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Field_Museum_N.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sea Cow</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Field_Museum_N.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892000","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Museum_of_Natural_History","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1122595"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/field-museum-of-natural-history-75000647/"}