Welcome to the Charles Gates Dawes House. The house was built between 1894 and 1896 for Robert D. Sheppard. The architect who designed the home was Henry Edwards-Ficken. Edwards-Ficken was largely unknown in the midwest. For Sheppard, he designed a 26 room mansion in the style of the great chateaux of Europe. Sheppard ran into financial trouble and in 1909 sold the house to Charles Gates Dawes. In the 1940s, Dawes made arrangements to donate the home to Northwestern University, with the provision that it would become the home of the Evanston Historical Society. Mr. and Mrs. Dawes lived here until their deaths, at which time the home became the property of Northwestern University. In 1960, the Evanston Historical Society moved to the Dawes House. Dawes also donated the first floor contents. Because he was the more famous of the residents, the home is commonly referred to as the Charles Gates Dawes Home.