1991 – Elmhurst Art Museum purchases McCormick House and builds the Museum around it

Elmhurst Art Museum made its first large art purchase in 1991 when it bought Mies van der Rohe’s McCormick House. This purchase caused the original plans for the Elmhurst Art Museum building to change. The architectural firm of DeStefano and Partners was employed to create a new building that would incorporate the McCormick House. Two years later, the Elmhurst Art Museum ground breaking ceremonies were held in Wilder Park. The next year, the McCormick House was dismantled and moved by wide load trucks from its original location at 299 Prospect Avenue to its present location at the Elmhurst Art Museum in Wilder Park. A parade followed the trucks as they moved the house a half-mile (pictured above).