Hull-House Breezeway Restoration

Chicago, IL

In 2018 under our retainer contract with University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), AltusWorks was engaged to provide design services to the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. The building was originally constructed in 1856 and became the first settlement house in the United States when social activists Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr founded their Hull House organization at the site in 1898. They established a complex that grew to encompass the entire block and provided social services to the primarily working-class, immigrant community of the Near West Side neighborhood. This building, one of only two that remain of the Hull House complex, is now a museum operated by UIC.

AltusWorks performed a thorough assessment of damage to the Hull-House Museum’s breezeway and provided recommendations and plans for repairs. Due to the building’s age and status as a National Historic Landmark, special considerations were taken to ensure that the new design and replacement materials were compatible with the building’s historic elements.