Discover how Woodstock’s historic Old Courthouse was transformed into a modern, energy-efficient community hub while preserving its 19th-century charm.

Chicago’s storied Bridgeport neighborhood has been the home of mayors, police, and firefighters for years. But hidden in plain sight is another feature of that illustrious neighborhood: the almost century-old Ramova Theatre, newly renovated and reopened for business. Now, it includes a 36,000-square-foot complex including a live music hall, banquet space, brewery, and restaurant. The upstairs banquet space, called the “Ramova Loft,” was once a karate/boxing gym. The Ramova Th

Two Roaring Twenties-era structures in the Chicago area are meeting that challenge by collecting and conserving stormwater on a grand scale. Dominican University In 2007, while hammering out the blueprints for a new science building, Parmer Hall, Dominican University in suburban River Forest, IL, discovered a perfect source of water for air-conditioning the new structure: a cistern dating back to the 1920’s buried under planks and debris in the basement of the old science bui

Three mayors ago, in the City that Works, the original Goldblatt Bros. Department Store sat empty on Chicago Avenue in the City’s bustling West Town neighborhood. A shadow of its former distinguished self, the structure was slated for demolition, to be replaced by a Del Ray Farms supermarket. Enter a group of community activists and preservationists, whose objections to the razing prompted the City to buy the vacant store in 1997 and recast it as a municipal office building.