The McCormick House is a one-story, horizontal version of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s high-rise towers, adapted to a row house form. A departure from the luxurious design work for which he was known, the McCormick House served as a lab for his design development and an exercise in space efficiency, moveable partitions and building systems, modularity, and the modesty of stock millwork.

The McCormick House presents a lively schedule of changing displays. Some pay homage to and provide a context for the original 1952 interior, while others respond to the architecture from a contemporary perspective.

The museum's hybrid living/dining area includes seating for visitors as well as furnishings by some of the most important and innovative American designers of the postwar period, such as Mies van der Rohe himself, George Nelson, and Florence Knoll. It also functions as an exhibition space with focused groupings of ceramics, functional objects, and art.

Although the impact of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture is evident throughout the Western world, Chicago is home to the majority of his mature works, including Crown Hall, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive, the Federal Center, and the Farnsworth House. The McCormick House is an important part of the story.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German-born architect and one of the pioneers of modernism. In his accomplished career he served as director of Bauhaus from 1930-33, and moved to the United States in 1937. In Chicago, he served as head of the architecture department at the Illinois Institute of Technology for 20 years.