Looking for Neighborhood Tour Docents
The following neighborhood tours are looking for docents. Please only apply for tours if you are willing to certify and give the tour on a regular basis. Also, please allow all docents the opportunity to learn these tours. Don’t apply for all of them.
Tour Name: Tiffany Treasures
Tour Director(s): Susan Jacobson: sj*****@gm***.com
2019 Tour Dates/Schedule: Monthly, on Wednesday (soon to be changing to Tuesday) afternoon at 2 pm
Number of Docents to Recruit: 1-2
Training Expectations: Meet with Tour director and take demo tour; learn manual; give tour to TD
Why you would love giving this tour/Tour Highlights: It’s Tiffany!! Covers three sites in detail, as well as lots of background on Tiffany and his contemporaries. Mostly indoors (buildings and Pedway) so good even in bad weather. No GTS.
Tour Name: Hidden (Mostly Indoor) Art
Tour Director(s): Ed McDevitt: mc*********@gm***.com and Ollie Solomon: ol**********@ya***.com.
2019 Tour Dates: Monthly (April to November), first Thursday of the month.
Number of Docent to Recruit: 3
Training Expectations: Your training would consist of familiarizing yourself with the manual, walking and practicing the tour (with assistance from our experienced docents) and certifying as soon as you can so that we’re ready for the 2019 season.
Why you would love giving this tour: The tours give you a chance to expand your experience and definition of the “built environment, as you walk through and near buildings that either have art as part of their design or buildings that contain public art that most would be very unlikely to find on their own.
Tour Name: Gold Coast/ Astor
Tour Director(s): Joe Cain: jj********@ic****.com
2019 Tour Dates/Schedule:
April 27. 10AM
May 04. 10AM
June. 13. 6PM
July. 25. 6PM
Aug. 15. 6PM
Sept. 05. 6PM
Oct. 12. 10AM
Oct. 26. 2PM
Number of Docents to Recruit: 3, if possible.
Training Expectations: obtain and read Astor Tour Manual, take tour with at least, 2 current Astor docents; when ready certify. We have only 4 current docents and are in need of more to maintain our practice of having at least 3 docents per tour date.
Why you would love giving this tour/Tour Highlights: The 90 minute GC/Astor Tour is one of the oldest Neighborhood Walking Tours established around the time of the US Bicentennial in 1976. It has been given every year since then. It features an array of fine homes built shortly after the great fire to World War II by some of Chicago’s great architects for many of Chicago’s elite families. Homes by Burnham and Root, David Adler, Howard Van Doran Shaw, Louis Sullivan, Frank Loyd Wright, Joseph Silsbee, William LeBaron Jenney, and more. The great families include the McCormicks, The Bowens, the Ryersons, the Palmers, etc. Our new governor also has an Astor home. The street is graced with pleasant urban gardens, professionally maintained to delight tour takers all season long. The area is well established. So, there is not much change through the decades.
Tour Name: Old Town Triangle
Tour Director (and contact information): Stana Grim: st*******@co*****.net and Corinne Rohr: co*********@ya***.com
Tour Dates/Schedule: Sunday June 9th @ 2 p.m.
Sunday June 30th @ 2 p.m.
Sunday July 28th @ 2 p.m.
Sunday August 18th @ 2 p.m.
Saturday Sept 7th @ 11 a.m
Number of Docents to Recruit: 1 or 2
Training Expectations: 1 preview tour and certification tour
Why you love giving this tour/Tour Highlights:
I love giving this because it showcases a quaint neighborhood of narrow streets and human scale worker’s cottages. It is reminiscent of European streets and reflects it German underpinnings. Some highlights are:
• Café Brauer – 1908 South Pond Refectory – Prairie Style architecture
• Classic octagon fronted Italianate row houses – 1875
• The Beauty Pageant 10 lots developed on a former roadbed
• The ghost of the Ogden Right of Way
• Crilly Court – beautiful townhouse development from 1885
• A Swiss Chalet with a Wacker Drive connection
Tour Name: Sheffield Historic District
Tour Directors: Nancy Sims: ng*****@gm***.com and Anne Shillinglaw: as**********@gm***.com
2019 Tour Dates:
Sunday, May 5, 1:00-2:30
Sunday, June 23, 1:00-2:30
Thursday,July 25, 5:30-7:00 pm
Sunday, August 11, 12:30-2:00
Thursday, September 12, 5:30-7:00 pm
Number of Docent to Recruit: 3
Training Expectations: certification by end of April, co-directors available to work with interested docents during March and April
Why you would love giving this tour: Mainly, the uniqueness of the three landmarked row house districts and how homeowners have lovingly preserved the homes and neighborhood. It’s a beautiful slice of an original post-Chicago Fire working class community. (Nancy Sims)
The tour is quite unique. Three landmarked Row House Districts from the 1870/80s are featured, as are numerous single-family and 2/3 flat homes from the 1890s. Combined, they present a compelling example of what can happen when the majority of a neighborhood is dedicated to historic preservation. At the same time, since no neighborhood remains static forever, the tour also reflects the push/pull so common with ‘change’, in this case, with an expanding DePaul University as catalyst. Definitely an interesting mix of topics — architecture and neighborhood dynamics — leading to good conversation. (Anne Shillinglaw).