John Mills Van Osdel designed the interior of the historic church, one of five public buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Van Osdel's work encompasses more than 800 buildings, including the Page Brothers Building (1872) at State and Lake, adjacent to the Chicago Theater. It is one of the few remaining post-fire cast-iron front buildings in Chicago.
The city's first mayor, William Ogden, commissioned Van Osdel to design his home at Rush and Ontario, which was lost in the fire. Von Osdel would go on to design the Illinois Governor's Mansion in Springfield, which has been preserved to this day.
Ward Miller from Preservation Chicago and North Central College professor Ann Durkin Keating visited ABC7 Chicago to talk more about Van Osdel's incredible legacy.