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Eye On Evanston: Thoughts on Design

Read our essays, published in the Evanston RoundTable, that discuss design issues of interest.

Design Evanston’s Design Awards

August 16, 2023
Two of Design Evanston’s long-standing programs are similar to those found in Community Design Commissions: nonbinding Project Reviews and Design Awards. This essay examines Design Evanston’s long history of presenting Design Awards that demonstrate how good design has a positive impact on the community.
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Design Evanston’s Project Reviews

July 30, 2023
When Design Evanston received approval for not-for-profit status in 2005, it did so with two stated purposes: The first was to “instruct the public on subjects… beneficial to the community”. In response to that mandate, Design Evanston began an on-going series of formal project reviews of local projects.
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Architect Hans Friedman, Design Evanston founding member

June 28, 2023
Hans Friedman was born in Hamburg, Germany. At age 17, Friedman and his family fled Nazi Germany for the United States. After the war, Friedman moved to Chicago and enrolled in the New Bauhaus.

New Deal Art in Evanston

May 8, 2023
It is commonly assumed that all public art commissioned by the federal government during the Depression was sponsored by the Works Progress Administration, or WPA. In fact, four New Deal art programs operated during this time.

Hayward Blake, Design Evanston founding member

April 11, 2023
Born in West Haven, Connecticut, Hayward Blake served as a technical sergeant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps (1943–47) and landed at Utah Beach after D-Day.
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Evanston’s parks and open spaces

March 15, 2023
It might be said that Philo Judson, hired by Northwestern University to plat the village of Evanston, is the founder of Evanston’s public park system. In 1853-54 Judson set aside areas for parks and the university campus…
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Jim Gamble: A founding member of Design Evanston

February 14, 2023
In 1980, Design Evanston came into being when a group of designers working or living in Evanston started to meet regularly to discuss how, as professionals, they could assist in maintaining quality design in Evanston…
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Henry K. Holsman, Evanston’s architect of affordable homes – Part 2

January 24, 2023
Shoreline Apartments (1928) marked the last of Henry Holsman’s many Hyde Park and South Shore affordable, cooperative high-rise apartment buildings—nearly all in the Gothic Revival style.
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Henry K. Holsman, Evanston’s architect of affordable homes – Part 1

January 12, 2023
When I researched and wrote the essay about Sherman Gardens in Evanston, I had no idea of the full extent of architect Henry Holsman’s career. Nor was I aware what part Sherman Gardens played in the context of his career.
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Eye on Evanston: Archive