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Historic Preservation
Department of Historic Preservation: Master’s Program and Certificates
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s dynamic Master of Science in Historic Preservation is an all-encompassing program covering the areas of restoration design, materials conservation, architectural history, and preservation planning. The program affords students the flexibility to explore specific areas of interest through elective coursework in the field of heritage conservation.
Graduate Programs Application Deadline: April 15
Apply to SAIC's Historic Preservation programs by April 15 for fall 2025 admission.
File Your FAFSA
In order to be eligible for need-based aid such as SAIC, state and federal grants, loans and work study you need to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at fafsa.gov.
Master’s Degree in Historic Preservation
The Master of Science (MS) in Historic Preservation program at SAIC is a two-year, 60-credit hour graduate curriculum that prepares students for careers in revitalizing our built environment. Historic Preservation at SAIC offers coursework in all four areas of study: preservation planning, architectural history, building conservation, and design.
Each graduate student in the program completes two years of coursework in each of these areas as part of the required curriculum. The program is geared toward full-time study. Learn more about the master’s in Historic Preservation program at SAIC.
Historic Preservation Certificate Programs
The Historic Preservation Certificate is a 15-credit hour certificate ideal for individuals wishing to embark on a career in the field of historic preservation, or pursue study for personal enrichment. It’s also ideal for current practitioners in the field who want to update or enhance their skill set, or those considering a Master's-level program who wish to secure foundational competence.
The Integrated Historic Preservation Certificate at SAIC is for Master of Architecture and Interior Architecture candidates who have met certain requirements. These include successfully completing five departmental courses, taken as electives in the MArch degree, and a design studio project approved by the Historic Preservation Director.
Distinguished Faculty
Historic Preservation faculty are respected professionals who believe that preserving and reusing historic buildings, furnishings, sites, and landscapes creates continuity between the past, present, and future, and contributes significantly to the health of our culture and society. Their professional affiliations in Chicago and abroad provide a powerful network of connections.
Meet Nicholas Lowe, Professor and John H. Bryan Chair of Historic Preservation
Nicholas Lowe is an interdisciplinary artist, teacher, project manager, and curator. He is known for his photography, video, and installation works from the 1980s and ‘90s that focus on experiences of AIDS and HIV. Lowe has also worked in prisons and with farming communities in the UK. He's worked with people in these specific...
Meet Associate Professor Anne T. Sullivan, FAIA
SAIC Board of Governor Emeritus John H. Bryan has supported historic preservation throughout Chicago for more than 20 years. He has worked to protect threatened places like the Lyric Opera House and Orchestra Hall and Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House while supporting stewardship of historic sites through his named chair position in SAIC’s Historic Preservation...
Meet Adjunct Professor Charlie Pipal
“If you have a piece of ephemera, like a paper or scarf or something, it’s just an object behind a glass case,” says Charlie Pipal, AIA, adjunct professor of Historic Preservation. “If you really want to get a feel for what it was like to be around at a certain time, historic built environments...
Meet Lecturer Richard Friedman
Richard F. Friedman, a lifelong Chicagoan and lecturer in the Historic Preservation program at SAIC, has always been interested in the built environment.
Friedman, who is a practicing lawyer at the firm of Neal & Leroy, LLC, teaches the Preservation Law course each spring. He teaches the same course—in an Eero Saarinen-designed building, he...
Real-World Experience
Students taking historic preservation courses at SAIC use Chicago as a laboratory from which to explore the city and the region. Department projects involve buildings, sites, archives, and collections relating to rural, industrial, urban, and suburban communities that often result in projects that serve the public.
Alumni Accomplishments
Graduates of SAIC’s Historic Preservation programs are positioned throughout the country and abroad within a variety of preservation-related non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, and governmental agencies. Alums also go on to work at museums, architecture and interior design firms, historic sites, and as independent preservation consultants and researchers.
World-Class Facilities & Resources
Historic Preservation is housed in the historic Lakeview Building at 116 South Michigan Avenue. Originally known as the Municipal Courts Building, the structure was designed by noted architects Jenney, Mundie, and Jensen and completed in 1906. Historic Preservation students have access to world-class resources and facilities, including the Art Institute of Chicago.
Partnership
HPres x APT International
The Building Technology Heritage Library (BTHL) is a collection of digitally reproduced American and Canadian, pre-1964 architectural trade catalogs, house plan books, and technical building guides that are available via Archive.org. This scanning project was undertaken by the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT), an organization that's worked closely with the Historic Preservation department.
Lecture
Preservation Snapshots: Recent Past Survey of Suburban Cook County
Adjunct Professor Charlie Pipal and graduate student Sheila Webb look back at the Recent Past Survey of Suburban Cook County discussing the 16-year surveying effort of non-residential suburban Chicago buildings dating from 1935 to 1975—a period commonly referred to as the “Recent Past.”
Faculty News
Contact Us
Historic Preservation Department Office
Sullivan Center
36 S. Wabash Ave., suite 1402
Phone: 312.629.6650
Program Chair
Nicholas Lowe nlowe1@saic.edu