
Winnetka Village Hall, designed by Edwin Clark in 1925
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Edwin Clark
Edwin H. Clark was born in Chicago, IL in 1878. After recovering from a severe case of lead poisoning, Clark began working as an architect and established a partnership with William Otis in 1908 (which lasted until 1920). In 1910, Clark and his family moved to Winnetka, where he lived at 596 Oak, 909 Mount Pleasant, and later 251 White Oak Lane. While Clark primarily designed single-family homes on the North Shore, he is perhaps best-known for some of his public buildings, including the Chicago Zoological Park, the Brookfield Zoo, the Hinsdale Memorial Building, and the Winnetka Village Hall, a Local Designated Landmark.

42 Abbotsford, designed by Walter Burley Griffin in 1908
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Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin was born in Maywood, IL in 1876. An admirer of famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, Griffin was inspired to work as an architect himself and received his architect’s license in 1901. Griffin worked at Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Oak Park studio, where he became a practitioner of the uniquely American Prairie School architectural style. Years after resigning from Wright’s firm in 1906, Griffin married another architect from Wright’s studio, Winnetkan Marion Mahony Griffin, in 1911, whom he worked in partnership with until his death in 1937. While Griffin is perhaps best known for designing much of Canberra, the capital city of Australia, with Marion, he also designed many historic buildings in Winnetka and across the U.S.

The Home Alone House, designed by William Aitken in 1920
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William Aitken
William Aitken was born in Scotland in 1878. In 1903, Aitken and his family emigrated to the Chicago area, where he remained for most of his career. In 1910, Aitken moved to Winnetka. He lived a number of homes across the Village before founding the Village of Bannockburn approximately 10 miles northwest of Winnetka in 1922. Throughout his career, Aitken designed many notable homes and buildings in Winnetka, including the “Home Alone House” at 671 Lincoln, 500 Maple (a local Designated Landmark), and the retail buildings in Hubbard Woods at Gage and Green Bay Road. Interestingly, Aitken was on a Scottish ship off the coast of Ireland the day Great Britain declared war on Germany. The ship was torpedoed by a German U-Boat that same day. Aitken was one of several passengers rescued from the sinking ship.

950 Hill Road, designed by Spencer Solon Beman in 1927
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Spencer Solon Beman
Spencer Solon Beman was born in Chicago in 1887. Son of famed architect and Pullman designer Solon Spencer Beman, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became an architect at a young age. Beman practiced alongside his father until his death in 1914, after which he worked largely on his own. While Beman is perhaps best known for designing Christian Science buildings, he is also the architect of several notable North Shore homes. In Winnetka, for example, Beman designed the F.H. McNabb House at 950 Hill Road in 1927, which became a local Designated Landmark in 1995.

902 Greenwood, designed by Andrew W. Paulson in 1928.
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Andrew W. Paulson
Andrew W. Paulson was born in Sweden in the mid to late 19th century. In 1905, Paulson and his wife Augusta immigrated to Winnetka, where they lived until 1939. While in Winnetka, Paulson, a builder and artist, designed at least 5 homes, including the collection of whimsical Swedish-style houses on Tower and Greenwood. Two of these houses – 902 Greenwood and 1479 Tower – are designated Winnetka Landmarks. Paulson may have also designed the original home at 1151 Chatfield, where he and Augusta lived for 6 years.