The History
of Greektown
Research - Book Design
Chicago is full of diverse and exciting neighborhoods with rich history and culture. I set out to understand the history of my neighborhood, Greektown. Through the shelves of Chicago history books to the Hellenic Museum, I was able to uncover the ever-changing space that is Chicago’s Greektown. This book takes the reader back through the last one hundred years to see how the identity of Greektown has shifted. From Jane Addams’ Hull House, to the construction of the Eisenhower Expressway, to Mayor Daley selling the land to build the University of Illinois’s Circle Campus, Chicago's Greektown was forced north to its current location. This book visually takes you back in time, showing you the physical changes to this once tight-knit community.
Changing Materials
The use of vellum overlays at the end of every section shows the physical changes that were occurring over time.
Cover and Binding
The acrylic covers are hand stitched in the Japanese binding style and depict two maps of Chicago. The front cover is Chicago in 1920, and the back cover is Chicago in 2019. The clear acrylic showcases the city at the beginning and end of the publication, but are clear to represent that 1920 was not the beginning of Chicago’s Greektown and 2019 was not the end. This is just a portion of
its story.
