Field Museum of Natural History

Year: 1893
Style: Greek Revival
City: Chicago, IL

The Field Museum of Natural History is one of the largest natural history museums in the world, its collections and institution born from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the artifacts assembled for that fair. It carries the name of Marshall Field, the department-store magnate who was its first major benefactor. Though privately run by a nonprofit Board of Trustees, the museum sits on land and in a building owned by the Chicago Park District, a public-private arrangement that still shapes how it operates today.

the style

The building is done in Greek Revival, presenting a monumental classical facade in keeping with the ceremonial civic architecture that grew out of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

significance

The Field Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its exhibitions now draw up to 2 million visitors a year, and its collection and institutional roots trace directly back to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

nearby

Shedd Aquarium 0.2 mi · Neoclassical · 1930
Wholesale Furniture Exposition Building 0.4 mi · 1904
Crane Company Building 0.5 mi · Neoclassical · 1912
Ludington Building 0.5 mi · Chicago School · 1891
Johnson Publishing Company Building 0.5 mi · Mid-Century Modern · 1969
Adler Planetarium 0.5 mi · 1930

All 382 buildings in Chicago