National Historic Landmark · single-family detached home · Evanston, Illinois

Frances Willard House

Historic house in Illinois. Added to the National Register in 1966, and a National Historic Landmark.

Open to visit National Historic Landmark Listed 1966 Carpenter Gothic

Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 6 in the Commons category

What it is

The Frances Willard House is a historic house museum at 1730 Chicago Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Built in 1865, it was the home of Frances Willard (1839-1898) and her family, with the adjacent building serving as the longtime headquarters of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Willard called the house Rest Cottage because it became a place for her to rest in between her tours and WCTU activities. It is owned by the National WCTU and is a National Historic Landmark.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Register name	Willard, Frances, House
Property type	Building
Address	1730 Chicago Ave., Evanston, IL
County	Cook County
Listed	Oct 15, 1966
Listed for	Social history
Level of significance	National
Also known as	Rest Cottage
Reference number	66000318
Type of place	single-family detached home
Style	Carpenter Gothic
Designations	National Historic Landmark
Contributing resources	1 building

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Address	1730 Chicago Ave., Evanston, IL
Coordinates	42.0483° N, 87.6793° W · Directions ↗
Also in Evanston	62 listed places in Evanston → · walking tour →
Nearest national park unit	Pullman National Historical Park · 25 miles · on Park Atlas
Federal campgrounds nearby	West Beach Picnic Shelters 38 miles

This one you can go inside. Hours and admission change with the season; the website above has the current schedule.

At a glance

State: Illinois
County: Cook County
Listed: 1966
Type: Building
Landmark: Yes

Cell signal

Verizon: 5G (fast)
AT&T: 5G (fast)
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Drawings & photographs

Frances E. Willard House, 1730 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Cook County,

1. Title sheet

2. East and south elevations

3. First floor plan

4. Second floor plan

Measured drawings and photographs from the Library of Congress. Public domain. All 5 records ↗

Map

Nearby in Cook County

All listings in Cook County →

Building · 0.1 km

Woman's Club of Evanston

Woman's Christian Temperance Union Administration Building

Local history books for Evanston

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Evanston
Mimi Peterson, 2008
Find at Bookshop.org

Guidebooks to historic places and travel in Illinois

Looking for Lincoln in Illinois
Erika Holst, 2018
Find at Bookshop.org
Route 66 In Springfield
Cheryl Jett, 2010
Find at Bookshop.org
Cemeteries of Illinois
Hal Hassen and Dawn Cobb, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Frances Willard House listed on the National Register?

Oct 15, 1966. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

Can I visit Frances Willard House?

Yes. Frances Willard House is recorded as open to the public.

Source: Wikidata

Where is Frances Willard House?

1730 Chicago Ave., Evanston, Cook County, Illinois. The nearest national park unit is Pullman National Historical Park, 25 miles away.

Source: Pullman National Historical Park

Are there historic photographs or drawings of Frances Willard House?

Yes. The Historic American Buildings Survey at the Library of Congress has drawings or photographs of it.

Source: Library of Congress

Where is the nomination form for Frances Willard House?

The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.

Source: National Archives

Are there campgrounds near Frances Willard House?

One federal campground is within reach, West Beach Picnic Shelters, 38 miles away.

Source: Campsite Atlas

Is there cell service at Frances Willard House?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 66000318. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA. Drawings and photographs are Historic American Buildings Survey records at the Library of Congress, public domain.