{"nrhp_refnum":"76000687","name":"Compton, Arthur H., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5637 Woodlawn Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.79202292300005,"lon":-87.59633544099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-11","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1976-05-11","areas_of_significance":["Science"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story brick house at 5637 Woodlawn Avenue in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, built in 1916 by a Mr. Tetter, near the University of Chicago campus.","why_significant":"It was the principal Chicago home of physicist Arthur Holly Compton from the late 1920s until 1945. During his Chicago years he announced the Compton effect, researched X-ray scattering and cosmic rays, and helped lead the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Project. The form says the building itself is not architecturally important.","narrative":"This two-and-one-half-story brick house at 5637 Woodlawn Avenue in Chicago, near the University of Chicago, was built in 1916 by a Mr. Tetter. It is described as ordinary American domestic architecture with no recognizable style, and it has a central hall plan, a large living room, a dining room and kitchen, three second-floor bedrooms and two attic bedrooms. Its importance comes from its occupant. Physicist Arthur Holly Compton lived here from the late 1920s until he left for St. Louis in 1945. During those years he announced the Compton effect, which showed that X-rays and gamma rays scatter in a way revealing both wave and particle behavior, and for which he received the 1927 Nobel Prize in physics. He also studied cosmic rays and directed the Metallurgical Project of the Manhattan Engineering District. The house has undergone no significant alterations since construction and remains a private residence.","period_of_significance":"late 1920's to 1945","architect_builder":"Mr. Tetter","architectural_style":"American domestic architecture of the period; follows no immediately recognizable architectural style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied private residence in excellent condition, unaltered and on its original site; the form states no significant alterations since construction.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.655554-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/88/8915/28891588/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/76000687_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000687/43ab0727f1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000687/43ab0727f1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080909_Arthur_H._Compton_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080909_Arthur_H._Compton_House.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12000040","name":"Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/chicago-park-boulevard-system-historic-district-12000040/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891588","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_H._Compton_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4798930"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/compton-arthur-h-house-76000687/"}