Stephen Sennott

An architectural historian and editor, Professor Sennott teaches advanced history of architecture elective courses for B.Arch. students. His teaching methods rely on critical writing and discussion of original texts to examine how important buildings, their clients, and their architects lend meaning to contemporary urban settings . His research in 19th- and 20th-century American architecture and planning focuses on Chicago architects, urban planning for the automobile, roadside architecture, skyscrapers, urban parks planning, and the suburban house. Most recently, his research was published in “Roadside Luxury: Urban Hotels and Modern Streets Along the Dixie Highway," in Looking Beyond the Highway: Dixie Roads and Culture (University of Tennessee Press, 2006). He edited the three-volume Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture (Routledge, 2003). His research has been published in Jan Jennings (ed.), Roadside America, (1990); John Zukowsky (ed.), Chicago Architecture and Design, 1923-1993: Reconfiguration of an American Metropolis (Art Institute of Chicago, 1993); AIA Guide to Chicago (1993; rev. ed., 2004); and The American National Biography (1999). Conference papers have been delivered for the Society of Architectural Historians, College Art Association, Society for Commercial Archeology, and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

As a public speaker, Professor Sennott offers lectures about his research interests to a wide range of audiences. He has participated in the Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, a grass roots educational program sponsored by the NEH and Illinois Humanities Council, to bring questions and discussion central to the humanities into large and small communities across the state. He has served as president of the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians.