Last updated: June 20, 2018
Article
2013 National Historic Landmark Designations
Photo courtesy of cera79 via Flicker, permission through Creative Commons.
The Detroit Industrial Murals:
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Between 1932 and 1933, Diego Rivera, a premier leader in the 1920s Mexican Mural Movement, executed the United States’ finest, modern monumental artwork devoted to industry. The Detroit Industry Mural Cycle depicts the City of Detroit’s manufacturing base and labor force on all four walls of the Detroit Institute of Art’s garden court. Diego Rivera is credited, along with José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, with the reintroduction of fresco painting into modern art. Detroit Industry is an exemplary representation of the introduction and emergence of Mexican mural art in the United States between the Depression and World War II. This movement significantly impacted this country’s conception of public art. Rivera’s technique for painting frescoes, his portrayal of American life on public buildings, and the 1920s Mexican mural program itself, directly influenced President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal mural programs.
Photo courtesy of Robie Lange, National Park Service.
Adlai E. Stevenson II Farm:
Mettawa, Illinois
Adlai E. Stevenson II is best known as the twice-nominated Democratic candidate for president during the 1950s, and as the United Nations (UN) Ambassador during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Stevenson served in several positions that influenced the establishment, organization, and operation of the UN. As titular head of the Democratic Party, Stevenson brought supporters into the party, many of whom became its next generation of leaders. Together they kept the out-of-power political party relevant by developing position papers that challenged Republican policies, and influenced the course of future campaigns and subsequent Democratic presidential administrations. This farm was Stevenson’s home for most of his adult life and is closely associated with many of his important political activities.
Photo courtesy of Susan Burian, Friends of Historic Second Church.
Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago:
Chicago, Illinois
The Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago is nationally significant as one of the earliest, most complete and intact expressions of the ecclesiastical Anglo-American Arts and Crafts Style. Designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw in collaboration with local artists, and built between 1900-1917, it fully expresses the movement’s precepts in its high artistic values, honesty of materials, craftsmanship, natural themes and unity of design. The interior represents close ties to the English Arts and Crafts movement as it grew out of the merging of social reform and the arts. Shaw and a young group of Chicago architects who were inspired by Arts and Crafts went on to develop what was later termed as the Chicago School and the Prairie style, making nationally significant contributions to the development of architecture in America.
Originally published in "Exceptional Places" Vol. 8, 2013, a newsletter of the Division of Cultural Resources, Midwest Region. Written by National Park Service Staff.