Three properties in Lincoln Park received official landmark protection after the Chicago City Council approved their designations on May 21. The newly protected sites include the former home and studio of artist Roger Brown at 1926 North Halsted Street, as well as two historic DePaul University buildings: Byrne Hall at 2219 North Kenmore Avenue and Cortelyou Commons at 2324 North Fremont Street.
The move highlights efforts to preserve significant cultural and academic landmarks in the neighborhood. Alderman Timmy Knudsen said these are the first individual landmarks approved anywhere in Chicago this year, adding that a third of all such designations since 2025 have been located in his ward.
“I’m proud of the pace at which we’re working to permanently preserve the ward’s most historic properties,” Knudsen said in an email, crediting preservation advocates, neighbors, and city staff for advancing the proposals. He also said during a zoning committee meeting that he aims to balance development with preservation through these designations: “I’m trying to create balance through a lot of these individual landmark designations, to know that these buildings that we treasure are protected into perpetuity.”
The Roger Brown home was recommended for landmark status by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks last month. Brown lived and worked there from 1974 until shortly before his death in 1997. After donating it to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996, it became known as the Roger Brown Study Collection before being sold to a private owner who supported its designation.
Byrne Hall is one of DePaul’s oldest academic buildings, completed in 1907. Cortelyou Commons was built between 1929 and 1930 as a dining hall for McCormick Theological Seminary and now serves as an event space for DePaul University. The university agreed to support protections for both buildings during negotiations over its new athletics facility project on campus—a plan requiring demolition of several older residential structures nearby.
With this decision, exterior changes or demolition plans for any of these three sites will require review by city officials.
