Netsch House – Chicago Landmark Designation Report

Chicago, IL

AltusWorks prepared a Landmark Designation Report for the Netsch House on behalf of the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development under its Planning Now contract. The 1974 modernist home in the Old Town neighborhood was designed by local architect Walter Netsch, who had a prolific career with the preeminent architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Walter lived in this house with his wife Dawn Clark Netsch, who was a trailblazing lawyer and politician who served as an Illinois State Senator and Comptroller. The unique modernist design of the house embodies Netsch’s own iconic aesthetic he called “Field Theory,” wherein geometric shapes are duplicated and rotated to produce striking angular forms. On UIC’s campus, the Art and Architecture Building is a prime example of this theory applied to large-scale institutional projects.

AltusWorks architectural historians performed historic research, reviewed original building plans and archival documents, and visited the Netsch House to prepare a thorough designation report detailing its historic cultural and architectural significance. This Landmark Designation Report was presented to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in January 2023 and the Netsch House received landmark designation.