Henry B. Clarke House
Clarke House may have been modeled on the home of William B. Ogden. The Clarke house is often described as the oldest surviving house in Chicago, although part of the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House in the Norwood Park neighborhood was built in 1833. (However, Norwood Park was not annexed to Chicago until 1893.) The Clarke House was designated a Chicago Landmark on October 14, 1970. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1971.
Silas B. Cobb
It is believed that up to the time this subscription was made, few, if any, ones had ever been made to education by a Chicago citizen at one time. A noble building, the Cobb Lecture Hall, now stands on the University campus, a monument of the builder's liberality and public spirit. - excerpted from "History of Chicago" by John MosesCobb was the earliest benefactor of the physical construction of the University of Chicago. While the original endowment for the university was funded by a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, it was stipulated that such money could not be used for buildings. The university thus looked for donors who could secure Rockefeller's endowment by providing funds for the campus' physical facilities. Cobb provided the funds for the campus' first building, Cobb Lecture Hall, which included classrooms, a recitation hall, and a chapel. Constructed in 1892 at a cost of $222,000, it is the oldest and most expensive of the campus' original sixteen buildings. Members of Cobb's family were also major benefactors to the university's construction, including sister-in-law Mrs. Jerome Beecher, who funded Beecher Hall, and son-in-law George C. Walker, who funded the Walker Museum.