Elizabeth R. Trail, AIA

Project Architect

As a licensed architect with a passion for old buildings, Elizabeth Trail has restored numerous historically significant buildings throughout her career. Recognizing that every existing building has unique complexities, Elizabeth leverages her organizational and communication skills, creative problem-solving abilities, design experience, and positive, approachable demeanor to develop solutions to the various issues that may arise during the renovation process.

Elizabeth earned her BS of Architectural Studies and Master of Architecture with a specialization in Historic Preservation from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. During graduate school she was a research assistant at the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She started her career as a summer intern at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and then worked for Fischer-Wisnosky Architects, Inc. in Springfield, Illinois where she assisted with the restoration of several buildings at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

Elizabeth joined Gunny Harboe in the Preservation Group of McClier in 1996. At McClier, she was involved in numerous preservation projects including developing the historic R.R. Donnelley Press building into the high-tech Lakeside Technology Center, restoring the original terra cotta façade of the Goodman Theater, and converting the Reliance building into the award-winning Burnham Hotel. In 2006, Elizabeth opened her own office which allowed her to be a work from home mom. In 2018, she reunited with the team at Harboe Architects. Some of the projects she has recently served as design project architect for include: the award-winning restoration of the 1897 Grand Army of the Republic Rooms in the Chicago Cultural Center for the City of Chicago; the Cultural Management Plan for the 1950 Usonian Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ebsworth Park in Missouri; and the restoration of a 1902 Chicago Landmark Pond and Pond designed Arts and Crafts mansion in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. Her most recently completed project is the Waukegan History Museum which involved converting an abandoned 1903 Carnegie Library on the National Register of Historic Places into an award-winning museum for the Waukegan Historical Society.