Friday, November 15, 2013

West Ridge Architecture #3 - Gabled Colonials

In this series you're going to see more examples of buildings types than you might expect. Or want. My intent is the same as a natural history museum seeking to show the variations present in a population, including the typical and the atypical. If that means I have to draw nearly identical buildings, so be it.

These homes are very similar to the Georgian-revivals detailed in the previous post, but some minor changes make them appear distinctive.  The architect has pulled a portion of the front facade slightly forward and extended the wall upwards to create a gable.  This has the effect of breaking up the massing of the facade and creating a more vertical orientation.  But the total square footage of the homes are probably identical.

Again, there is an offset front entrance balanced by a decorative bay window. These are primarily brick with stone details, although there are a few unusual examples on Fitch which are entirely clad in stone. More typically, stone is used as an ornamental accent for the front door and as cladding below the sill of the projecting bay. 

A number of these homes have front facing single-car attached garages. This is odd to me, since the blocks in West Ridge also have alleys.  Private driveways are a common suburban feature, but are somewhat luxurious in dense Chicago neighborhoods.  I'm guessing that parcels with a little extra width were provided with attached garages as selling points, but also as a way to evoke the type of suburban construction which was  attracting new homeowners in the 1950s.  The addition of driveways to the streetscape break up the front yards, but the lack of fences in these areas help to maintain a feeling of space.



6 comments:

  1. This gave me chills because my paternal grandmother and her parents lived at 1938 W. Morse in 1910.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Amanda. But this makes me realize that I've mislabeled that one. It should be 2936 W. Morse. Darn it. I'll have to fix that. I'm hoping I'll get some comments from people who have lived in this homes. And maybe have architectural drawings squirreled away in their attic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, if you ever find any architectural significance to 2093 W. Lunt, my dad (85) and I can tell you a lot about that one - wrote about it on my blog. LOVE this blog of yours - it brings back great memories for my dad!

      Delete
  3. Also - would you consider adding a search gadget to your sidebar? There are times I want to find things you've written about before, and that would make it so much easier! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I do have a small one under the banner, but I'll look for a better version.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Missed that one! My monitor at home is not very wide. :) Thanks, it works just fine!

      Delete