IIT is a private research university located four miles south of downtown Chicago (loop). It traces its roots back to 1890 in the establishment of the Armour Institute. IIT's main campus was designed by modernist architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and has been named one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the United States by the American Institute of Architects. The main campus was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and it houses classics of modernist architecture such as the
Crown Hall, a national historic landmark.