The Prairie Avenue Bookshop in Chicago is the largest architectural bookshop in the world. It has been meeting the needs of professionals, laypeople and institutions for more than 38 years. Our catalog is considered the standard bibliography for architecture and related fields. Now located on Wabash Avenue in downtown Chicago, the new 9000 square foot space was designed to the owner's specifications to be the ultimate environment in which to shop for books on architecture, design, technology, and related disciplines.

The Prairie Avenue Bookshop started in 1961 when Marilyn and Wilbert Hasbrouck founded the Prairie School Press to reprint Louis Sullivan's A System of Architectural Ornament. Later they published an Historical American Building Survey of Chicago and Nearby Illinois Areas, a pamphlet titled The Issue of the Chicago Lakefront, a facsimile of Frank Lloyd Wright's The House Beautiful, David Van Zanten's Walter Burley Griffin: Selected Designs and several other titles

The wanton destruction of many buildings during the early 1960s lead the Hasbroucks to establish The Prairie School Review in 1964. This quarterly journal was devoted to scholarly treatment of America's only indigenous modern architecture. Fortunately, some of the surviving early twentieth century Prairie School architects were still alive and willing to provide material in the early issues. Articles were also provided by architectural historians including Paul Sprague, David Gebhard, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, David Van Zanten, among others.

In order to support the magazine, books on the Chicago School, the Prairie School and related subjects were offered to PSR subscribers and educational institutions. This led to the establishment of The Prairie Avenue Bookshop which opened in 1974 next door to H.H. Richardson's Glessner House in the Prairie Avenue Historic District of Chicago.

In 1978, the Prairie Avenue Bookshop moved to South Dearborn Street in Chicago's Printer's Row. During this period the catalog for the bookshop grew into a tour de force of architectural bibliography, ultimately becoming the intellectual touchstone for professional architects and interested laypeople throughout the world. In addition, the Prairie Avenue Bookshop began offering its Student Guide to Building a Professional Library, which is now considered the standard reading reference guide for undergraduate and graduate students of architecture.

In the early 1980s, the Prairie Avenue Bookshop was one of the first independent bookstores to become computerized, and the bookshop began to build a worldwide customer-base, shipping books around the globe. The Prairie Avenue Bookshop was by now established as the premier architectural bookshop in the world.

In 1984, proprietor Marilyn Hasbrouck was recognized by the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for her work on The Prairie School Review and her efforts in preservation as well as establishing the Prairie Avenue Bookshop. She was the recipient of the Chapter's Distinguished Service Award.

During the late 1980s, the Prairie Avenue Bookshop became a meeting place for avant-garde as well as mainstream architects and historians. Professional groups met there and booksignings became a frequent occurrence. After 17 years the Bookshop outgrew its Dearborn Street quarters. New space was needed. Printer's Row. During this period the catalog for the bookshop grew into a tour de force.

The new Wabash Avenue location boasts six times more space than that on Dearborn Street. The interior, designed by architect Wilbert R. Hasbrouck, features ornamentation and color scheme inspired by major figures from the

Chicago School and the Prairie School. The shelving, lighting, sales space and overall organization were designed in response to Marilyn Hasbrouck's thoughts regarding the ideal architectural bookshop generated over 35 years of bookselling. The shop includes furniture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van de Rohe, Le Corbusier, Joseph Gonzalez, Stanley Tigerman, Joseph Hoffman and Sam Marx, as well as posters designed by Iannelli.

The new space permitted the expansion of the out-of-print section, and there are a limited number of architectural artifacts and related decorative objects available for inspection and purchase. Today, Chicagoans join customers from every continent in enjoying the experience of browsing in the spacious confines of one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world. At this time, the in-store inventory exceeds 14,000 books. We invite you to visit us on your next trip to our city.