Soon after it opened, Crow
Island School received an award from the American Institute of Architects as
the school most advanced in elementary school design in the United States. Twenty-five
years later the institute again recognized Crow Island School by giving to Larry
Perkins and Eero Saarinen's sister, Pipsan, representing the original architects,
an award for 25 years of architectural design of enduring significance. Crow
Island School was referred to as a landmark in design for education which demonstrated
that an inspired educational philosophy can be translated into an architecture
of continuing function and beauty.
In 1956 Crow Island School
was selected by fifty architects and scholars as 12th among all buildings and
1st among schools in the Architectural Record poll to name the "most
significant buildings in the past 100 years of architecture in America."
In 1989 the State of Illinois
and the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service listed
Crow Island School in the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1991 the American
School and University Journal established the "Crow Island Award" on recommendation
by the American Institute of Architects and educational administrators. The
award is presented each year to a school whose facilities exemplify "the marriage
of the interior environment to the educational program", as Crow Island does.
1st grade courtyard
West Wing
Excerpts from Still a Special Place; A History of Crow Island School,
Winnetka, Illinois by Betty Williams Carbol, 1991. Photos by Marilyn
Lindgren Turchi, 2000.