The last project the legendary architectural photographer Julius Shulman took on before his death in 2009 was to capture 14 midcentury modern homes for a Chicago-focused coffee-table book. He did so at the request of Gary Gand, a founder of the group Chicago Bauhaus and Beyond, who lives in a Keck and Keck ranch with floor-to-ceiling views of Riverwoods’ trees. “Most major cities have a residential architecture book,” says Gand, who cornered Shulman at the unveiling of the artist’s “celebrity star” in Palm Springs in 2006 and asked him to recommend a photographer. To Gand’s delight, Shulman, then 95, insisted on taking the project himself. Julius Shulman: Chicago Mid-Century Modernism (Rizzoli; $60) comes out in May.

“Julius put this architecture on the map,” says Gand. “He was a big influencer.”

Photograph: Michael Boone