S.R. Crown Hall (IIT)

This guide to S.R. Crown Hall at IIT in Chicago starts with a 2018 discovery of ceramic tile buried beneath its concrete floor, then traces it back to the Mecca Flats, a Chicago apartment block that once housed hundreds of Black families and inspired songs and poetry. IIT acquired the building in 1941, and tenants fought for years to keep it, backed by a preservation bill that passed the state legislature in 1943 only to be vetoed by the governor.