{"nrhp_refnum":"77000480","name":"St. Ignatius College","other_names":["St.Ignatius College Prep."],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1076 W. Roosevelt Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.867469991000064,"lon":-87.65168375999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-11-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A monumental five-story, T-shaped Jesuit school building at 1076 West Roosevelt Road in Chicago, Illinois, built in 1869-1870 and now known as St. Ignatius College Prep.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that a pre-fire Catholic school of this scale and magnificence is remarkable to find still standing in Chicago. It reflects the determination of the American Jesuits to have the finest educational facilities, and the zeal of Father Arnold Damen, who founded it. The building has been used for education for 105 years.","narrative":"Rising five stories on Chicago's West Side, this T-shaped school building was raised for the Jesuits in 1869-1870 under Father Arnold Damen. Its ground floor is faced in Illinois cut stone, with brick above, stone-trimmed windows and decorative corner quoins. A formal double staircase with an original wrought iron balustrade leads to carved lion's-head doors and an etched-glass transom. Inside, hardwood trim, tin ceilings and wide curving staircases survive, and the two-story Cambridge Room has carved bookcases and a balcony. Construction cost about $230,000, an enormous sum then, and was financed partly by money Damen secured in Holland. Jesuit leaders wanted a building grand enough to compete with Protestant colleges and public schools. It is a rare large pre-fire Catholic school still standing in Chicago and has remained in educational use for over a century. A classroom wing was added at the rear in 1895 as enrollment grew.","period_of_significance":"1869-1870","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Eclectic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and still used as a school; condition marked good and altered. A rear wing was added in 1895.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.437896-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/64/8923/28892364/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/77000480.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000480/c0a9d466b2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000480/c0a9d466b2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Ignatius_School_Chicago_IL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Jameson</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:St_Ignatius_School_Chicago_IL.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/28892364","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Ignatius_College_Prep","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q780366"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/st-ignatius-college-77000480/"}