West Ridge Architecture #2 - Asymmetrical Georgians

These boxy Georgian-styled homes are found in West Ridge, but also throughout the city and  The ones from the 1940s are solid brick, while later versions are concrete block with a face brick veneer. Most have stone trim or details.  Unlike the original Georgians, they are asymmetrical, with the front entrance to one side and the projecting bay with standing seam metal roof on the other. You can sometimes find identical versions on the same block with left- or right-handed orientations.
suburbs. 

Typically they have a raised entrance with an ornamental surround, a decorative bay on the first floor, colonial windows with shutters, and a hipped or pyramidal roof with minimal eaves.  The examples to the right are not drawn from an exhaustive survey of the type, but represent many of the typical characteristics. They're collected here to show some of the variations found throughout the neighborhood. 

The Georgian Revival style, which can be categorized as a subset of the Colonial Revival, had long been advertised in home catalogs and pattern books as the perfect combination of hominess and sophistication.  It could also be simplified easily while maintaining its basic characteristics. It lent itself to a variety of materials and expressions, from wood to stone and brick.  And it clearly appealed to the families who began to move to West Ridge following WWII.

Versions sometimes appear which bend the mold, like the example at 6813 N. Ridge.  The main entrance is at-grade, and casement windows replace the typical double-hung colonial windows. A portion of the building has been extruded forward, resulting in a more vertical orientation and a more complex roof configuration.

It's common to find these homes with entrances canopies resembling the roof over the projecting bay.  The more efficient version of these extends the roof bay over the entrance, hitting two birds with one stone.  This is especially common on the examples built later in the 1950s, when they begin to take on a more modern cast.

I can't emphasize enough how important the shutters are for this style. In some cases my illustrations restore those which have been removed.  Sure, they're non-functional and kind of silly, but the homes just don't look right without them.

When I started to look at these I was hoping there would be a clear progression from more historically-styled versions of the 1940s to modern types with minimal ornamentation from the 1950s.  Some of that can be seen, but not as much as I expected.  But as I pile up some more examples from the neighborhood perhaps some  new models for facade evolution will be suggested.

What I did begin to notice was how much the multifamily buildings from the 1950s and 60s borrowed from the architectural expressions of these single family homes.  But that will wait for a future post.

West Ridge Architecture, #1

This series is vaguely labeled but will focus on the architecture of the West Ridge neighborhood that developed during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.  And not all of it.  As usual, I'll be guided by my own interests and curiosity.  That's the great thing about being self-directed-- nobody is pointing out your gaps in methodology.  The drawback is that nobody is helping you to shape your analysis either.  If you screw up it's entirely on you.

There have been a few posts on West Ridge already, and here they are:

Farwell and Oakley, 1928
Some Chicago Bungalows in West Ridge
Veteran's Housing in West Ridge, 1946-1947
Howard and Washtenaw, c. 1958
Townhouses at Greenleaf and Oakley, 1968

The new series will take a more extensive look at some issues touched upon in previous posts.  These will include:

1. Subdivisions
2. Developers
3. Mid-century site planning 
4. Mid-century styles
5. Single and multi-family buildings
6. Commercial development
7. Whatever else I decide is worth writing about.

There has been some writing on the remarkable commercial buildings on Lincoln Avenue, but there are other neighborhood buildings in commercial areas that also deserve some attention.

Howard and Washtenaw, 1958

While early development in West Ridge clustered in the center and east side of the neighborhood, significant undeveloped portions were available to accommodate the post-war building boom, especially to the northwest.  In 1956 and 1957 West Ridge surpassed all other Chicago communities in home construction (according to "Chicago's Far North Side", p.126).

West Ridge Boundaries and Building Footprint Data (Available free online!)

The map above is adapted from City of Chicago GIS data, showing older buildings in yellow and more recent buildings in maroon.  I don't have much confidence in the accuracy of the individual buildings (and there are huge gaps in this data), but it does provide a qualitative illustration of the sequence of development, with mid-century buildings primarily west of California. Which seems like a good place to start.

House Walk! 2013!

Pratt East of Ridge Looking West

Since the Spring of 2012 I've been a board member of my local historical society.  Which has mainly shown me I don't have as much time as I thought I did.  A few months ago the members in charge of the annual house walk (a major fundraiser for the society), announced the homes they wished to feature.  It included many nondescript frame houses, which is totally up my alley.  The idea was to contrast the modest homes of early Rogers Park residents with the homes of some established greenhouse farmers in West Ridge. So I volunteered to provide some research and illustrations.

1830 W. Pratt

I've always been interested in the possibilities of neighborhood tours, even though I haven't organized many.  I'm especially interested in tours which can tell a story not immediately apparent from a casual walk through the area.  For me this often means focusing on the non-beautiful, overlooked buildings more important for their type and context than their style.

But when you're part of a local organization that has to pay the

6836 N. Ridge

bills while recruiting new members it's easy for a house walk to try to expand its appeal.  After all, there's a good chance the owners of the homes featured in the program may become active members of the society.  And there's nothing wrong with that.

 

6815 N. Wolcott

My own participation in the project was scattershot.  I started to get interested in mapping the changes in the area, and then I was distracted by the right-of-way
abandonments that occurred as a nearby industrial area expanded.  I did put together some illustrations of the participating homes, and I did a bit of research on the original subdivision of the area and the dates of construction.  But when people are paying $20 for a house tour it's not enough to stand outside and talk about a dozen homes.  They want to explore, compare, look at the yard, and ask questions.  Getting people to open up their home to a troop of strangers is not my forte.  This  was done the old fashioned way, with the organizers walking door-to-door.  I'm assuming with clipboards and name tags.

1901 W. Farwell

Owners aren't always excited to have dozens of people swarm through their house.  I wouldn't necessarily want a bunch of strangers in my condo wondering why there are so many toys scattered about or why we haven't repainted.  So, unsurprisingly, several of the homes initially identified were dropped from the schedule and replaced with others.   Which changes the story of the tour.  And incidentally, made several of my illustrations unusable.


Still, it was a learning experience.  Generally, if you want to appeal to a broad group you need to broaden the tour.  And my idea for a tour focusing on Rogers Park infrastructure?  That may need to be done with a select group of attendees.

Click for a larger version.

Frame Houses on Estes, 1907

So I'm continuing to document some of the more common frame homes in an area of Rogers Park bounded by Touhy, Clark, Pratt and Ridge.  One of the best ways to do this is to spot a rows of homes clearly related in their massing, materials, characteristics, and then go draw them.

Gable front cottages are the classic workers' housing in Chicago.  You may have seen the gold-plated versions of these from the 1870s and 1880s in Old Town and Lincoln Park, where they've often been elaborately restored with eave brackets and complex window and door moldings. What you see above are simplified versions, with minimal ornamentation and generous front porches.  All four were permitted in 1907 for owner John M. Carlson.  The first two cost $2,500 each, but the next two cost only $2,000 each.  This is the advantage of building identical homes- each time you find ways to estimate the building materials more accurately and make the process more efficient.  And of course this translates into a greater profit.

Less than a block to the east there's another cluster of homes.  These were developed by Jacob Meirel, and four of the six were permitted in October of 1907.  Two alternating models were built.  The gable design provides for greater attic volume, while the hipped roof includes a front-facing dormer to introduce more light.  Both designs have partial-length front porches and projecting bays on the first floor.  These were built for $4,000 each, a substantial step-up from the basic cottages down the street, but still affordable to a middle-class household.

So there's nothing revolutionary going on here.  Developers are moving into a neighborhood and cautiously building a few homes.  If they sell and a profit is made they build a few more.  Variations in size and price occur to tailor the homes to different budgets, often on the same block.  This is the heyday for this type of frame construction in Rogers Park.  Lots which don't develop in this period will be developed later at a greater density due to the increases in the cost of land, labor, and materials. But for now let's enjoy Rogers Park in its suburban phase...

You can see previous postings about other frame houses in this area here and here.

Combining Styles, #2 - 6741 N. Clark and 2125 W. Devon

Last year I wrote about some buildings which expanded their first floors into adjacent lots, resulting in a facade reflecting two different eras of development and design.  You can read that post here.    But what kind of expansion happens when a developed street changes from residential to commercial?  Every now and again it results in a front yard addition, creating an odd hybrid building.

6741-6743 N. Clark

This one is near the intersection of Clark and Pratt in Rogers Park.  Behind it you can see the c.1905 frame house. Before 1927 this home had a generous, green front yard (I'm assuming it was green).  Clark Street was changing, and the area was no longer as idyllic as it had been 20 years previous.  But there was still value in the home as well as potential to take advantage of the commercial character of the street.   So the owners extended it forward into a simple 1-story brick and stone commercial structure.  The storefronts have been infilled with vertical siding and the windows reduced to be practically non-existent, but there it remains. 

2125 W. Devon

In West Ridge there's a more jolting combination on Devon near Hamilton.  The assessor dates the rear structure  as 1896, which seems correct to me.  At that time it would have been surrounded by greenhouses to the south, east and west.  It's unusual to see a flat-roofed frame building with classical ornament.  In fact, it's the only one that I know of in the area.  It's been covered with brick-patterned asphalt siding, which makes me wonder if there's more detail hidden beneath it.

The commercial extension is concrete block, which I date to the 1980s.  The preservationist  in me recognizes this as an era when extreme disinterest in the public realm combined with a desire to make money quickly, leaving Chicago with many similar "improvements".   But the other part of me takes a deep breath and recognizes that both buildings provide useful information about the changing character of the area and the shifting values of the residents.

Frame Houses at 1926-1938 W. Touhy, 1907

A few months ago I wrote about some nearly identical frame homes on Chase.  In that entry I remarked that once you noticed these "runs" of homes you would start to see them everywhere.  At the time I didn't know how true that was.  Within a week, I'd spotted five groupings within three blocks of each other.

These small-scale developments represent a point in Rogers Park history after the 1893 annexation to Chicago but prior to the multifamily development of the 1920s.  This was a period when architects often took a back seat to local builders when it came to developing affordable single family homes.  Since architects were more focused on commercial projects and more prestigious commissions, an entire industry developed that offered pre-designed homes with no architect required.  Some, like Sears, sold kits including all wood, hardware, and fixtures.  Others sold permit-ready architectural plans, like this Radford American Homes catalog from 1903.

These five frame homes were permitted in 1907. They all have double-pitched hipped roofs, two-story projecting bays, and (originally) a full-width front porch on the first floor  Over the years they've been modified in all the ways you might expect- artificial siding, rear additions, and porch alterations.  I chose the middle image at 1938 W. Touhy as the most unaltered example.  These five homes were each built on 30' x 160' lots, which are somewhat larger than a standard 25'x 100' Chicago lot.  At the time Rogers Park had more of a suburban character.  But in 1907 "suburban character" still meant narrow side yards and a detached garage with alley access.

According to a rule of thumb proposed by Stewart Brand in "How Buildings Learn" you can expect homes to go through major renovations about every 20 years and to update their interiors and mechanical systems every 7 to 15 years.  If the construction of the home makes it difficult to update these mechanical systems, it's likely that the home will be demolished.  By 1907 the struggle between gas and electricity in Chicago was largely over.  Electricity had become the standard for lighting and appliances while gas remained in place for cooking and heating.  So these five frame homes already had an advantage over others that were constructed just a few years earlier.  I would estimate that 80 percent of the remaining single family homes in this area (between Touhy, Clark, Pratt and Ridge) were constructed between 1900 and 1910.

To be continued with some nearby homes on Estes...

6801 N. Sheridan- Rogers Park Hotel, 1922

  I've always been interested in the apartment hotel phenomenon in Chicago.  Two years ago I wrote about the Stanleigh Apartment Hotel built in 1917 at the northwest corner of Pratt and Sheridan.  But a much more ambitious version, the Rogers Park Hotel, can be found at the northeast corner of the same intersection. 

Apartment hotels came with furnishings and maid service, so all you really needed was a suitcase.  Often there were shared dining or entertainment facilities.  Some may have lived in them year-round, but they were designed to appeal to short-term renters, such as vacationers.

It's hard to imagine Rogers Park as a vacation destination, but Sheridan Road had a different character at that time.  It was less developed, with more green space and primarily single family homes. But it already had good transit connections to downtown, popular beaches, and some bustling commercial areas.   In 1922 this building would have signalled a shift in the scale of development.  This change was acknolwledged in the Chicago Zoning Code of 1923, which earmarked the areas adjacent to Lake Michigan for greater density. And luckily, it was featured in the July 10, 1922 edition of Buildings and Buildings Management, which is available through GoogleBooks.

To the left is the ground floor, showing the retail spaces, and a typical floor of apartments.  There were 21 apartments per floor on eight floors, totaling 168.  The four sizes of apartments ranged from 600 to 280 square feet.  These had bed closets, which would have contained a Murphy-style bed.

The article makes special  mention of the wall-to-wall carpeting in the corridors and in the units, which would have been imporant for a concrete frame building built on a budget.  Although air conditioning wasn't provided, there was a "cooling coil" for water and food, which I take to be an early form of refrigerator.

The architects for this project were B. Leo Steif & Co. in association with Walter W. Ahlschlager, Inc.  The article proudly notes the absence of useless decoration, which is offset by the use of high quality materials, such as the light buff brick and Bedford stone.  The building nods to classical design, with stone string courses, balconies and architraves at the eighth and ninth floors.  If you look on the Sheridan side at the center of the building there's a larger classical surround with a decorative medallion above which prominently features "RP". 

And with that I'll leave you with some interior photos, showing the original character of the building, although with fairly poor resolution.

Frame homes at Chase and Wolcott, 1905

Home with a sick 2-year old today, so maybe I can finally finish this entry while he naps.

There are thirteen frame houses on the south side of Chase, west of Wolcott in Rogers Park.  They're not remarkable but they're obviously related, with identical setbacks, massing and materials.  Some of them have been altered over time but you can't hide the family resemblance.

Early neighborhood developers often added value to their offering by modifying a basic design.   This would give the impression of variety while still taking advantage of the economy of scale.  They would vary the materials, the window styles or the roof shapes.  In this case the builder was working with three models, each with an identical layout but a different roof configuration.  These include a hipped roof modified with a deck (A), a standard hipped roof (B), and a hipped roof with the ridge extended forward to create a gable (C).  I wouldn't be surprised to find that the floor area of each house is essentially identical.

Developing the block with these homes is like putting together a kit. In this case the pattern is A-B-A-B, then switching to C-A-B-C-A-B.  Once sensitized to these types of development patterns you begin to notice them everywhere. 

The building at the corner of Wolcott and Chase was the first, and received a permit in the spring of 1905.  Perhaps this functioned as the model home for the development.  The remaining homes were permitted a couple of months later.

 And 108 years later here's the result.  One  of these homes was demolished for an apartment building in the 1920s,  but those that remain maintain the feel of a solid neighborhood block.

Developers are sometimes criticized for being motivated by profit and for not taking into account the impact of their projects on the surrounding area.  It's easy to forget that most of Chicago was built by developers.  They certainly made a profit, but they're also responsible for the look and feel of basically every neighborhood in the city.

Building permits for these homes were found in the Ancient Building Permit files of Chicago.  And no, it wasn't easy.  I hate microfilm.  The block plan was developed from the 1937 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and online aerial photos from Google.  The streetscape image is developed from reference photos, drawn with Micron pens, and shaded with cool grey Prismacolor markers.  OK, too much information.

Carl and Pearl Peterson at 1905 W. Chase, c.1905. 
Carl not looking too excited about their new house. Is that his mother?
From the RPWRHS Collection (P001-30299)

Townhouses at Greenleaf and Oakley, 1968

Not long ago I came across a 1968 Chicago Tribune article about a West Ridge development coming on the market.  It included double houses, courtyard buildings, and townhouses on the north and south sides of Greenleaf, between Oakley and Western.  All of them duplexed, with small private rear yards in addition to communal front yards or interior courts.  All have accomodations for parking, ranging from garages with direct street access to parking spaces along the alleys.   Their design and detailing is consistent, but they have a variety of form you don't often see in multi-building developments.

I  think of 1968 as a turning point in Chicago history.  In one year you have the race riots following the assassination of Martin Luthur King, Jr. and the disastrous Democratic National Convention.    This signaled a period of public and private disinvestment in the city which continued for decades.  It was also the year my parents, lifelong Chicagoans, left for Columbus, Ohio.   So clearly things were pretty bad.  So what kind of housing might still attract city residents in 1968?

Looking southwest from the corner of Greenleaf and Oakley.

 A weird version of French Provincial!   With mansard roofs and arched dormers!  The buildings are an odd blend of traditional and modernistic elements.  According to the article there are three and four bedroom units in two-story or tri-level designs.  The model unit had a family room with a 16 foot high ceiling merging with the breakfast room.  They featured central air, wall-to-wall carpeting, and plastic laminated counter tops.  I wonder if they've changed much in the past 45 years.

So to summarize, large informal living space, tiny private outdoor areas, accomodation for parking, and weird semi-traditional architectural styling. Not sure this really tells me much about 1968.  In other parts of the city they were building walls topped with broken glass, so maybe West Ridge wasn't doing too badly.

A.C. Nielsen Co. Headquarters, 2101 W. Howard

Each time I've gone by this building I knew it was too interesting to be just another Public Storage warehouse.  And sure enough, it has a history that's a bit more impressive.  In 1935 the oldest portion of this building was constructed as the headquarters of the A.C. Nielsen Company.

Arthur C. Nielsen started his career as an electrical engineer in 1919.  After 3 years with a publisher of business magazines he founded the A.C. Nielsen Company in 1923, where he brought scientific analysis to market research.  This involved test marketing of new products, measuring product sales using random samples, and various statistical sampling, especially in the food, drug and liquor industry.  But perhaps the company is best know for developing their radio, and later television, rating system.  I probably don't have to mention that this made his company phenomenally successful. 

The building was designed in the Georgian Revival style by architect Lewis B. Walton of the Benjamin H. Marshall Company.  Benjamin Marshall is better known as half of the firm Marshall and Fox, which were responsible for the design of many prominent revival-style Chicago buildings, including the Blackstone Hotel, the Drake Hotel, and the Edgewater Beach Apartments.  Fox died in 1926 but Marshall continued his practice until 1935.  When he retired the firm became Walton and Kegley.


Photos from the collection of the RP/WR Historical Soc.

The original 2-story portion of this building was constructed in 1935 for $60,000.  Built of reinforced concrete and faced with colonial brick and Bedford stone, it was also air-conditioned.  In 1937 two more stories and a penthouse were added.  In 1939 the size of the building was more than doubled with an additional wing on the west.  At this point it accomodated 600 employees. The cafeteria and recreational rooms were located on the fifth floor penthouse.   Later rear additions on the south were added between 1953 and 1958.  The Nielsen Company remained in this building until 1972, when they moved their main offices to Northbrook and later to Schaumburg.

Over years the building has retained much of its architectural integrity, although the original colonial-style windows have been replaced with modern aluminum windows.  And, thankfully, Public Storage hasn't yet chosen to paint it in their signature colors of purple and orange.  But its real importance is its historical association with one of the first, and arguably most important, firms responsible for establishing and refining the scientific marketing industry.  To know that its most important period of development occurred on a remote corner of Rogers Park is unexpected.

Information for this entry was gathered from Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, articles from the online Chicago Tribune Historical Archive, the Rogers Park/West Ridge online History Wiki, and the Ancient Building Permits of the City of Chicago (on microfilm).  The date of construction for the buildings are taken from the permit file, and actual completion was somewhat later.  Special thanks to the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society for sharing their photos of the building, which were donated by Arthur Nielsen Jr.

Summer Cottages in Conneaut, OH

Once again I'm back in Ashtabula County, where my wife grew up.  One of the most interesting things about this area are the lakefront cottages constructed between 1910 and 1930.  Often you'll find these tiny houses grouped around informal streets or dirt lanes.  I'm guessing none of them have more than a couple rooms.  Many  look like they were ordered as a kit, or were prefabricated and lowered on to a foundation.  Basically these are summer campsites with buildings replacing the tents.  

Concrete block summer cottages in Conneaut, OH

As American leisure time began to increase in the 20th century new recreational options were developed. 
The wealthy could visit oceanside resorts or travel (or maybe buy horses?), but middle and working class families had fewer established vacation choices, especially in rural areas.  But what could be more attractive in northern Ohio than the cool shores of Lake Erie?   As demand increased more of these permanent camps were constructed.  Some attracted commercial development, resulting in roadside strips of restautants, stores, and miniature golf.  But how did these begin, and how did they develop over time?  How did these families spend their time, and how long did they stay? And how did these areas relate to the nearby traditional communities? If books or articles have been written about this I haven't yet found them.

Some are still used as seasonal rentals and some have been converted into affordable year-round residences.  Many appear abandoned.  These buildings are my new Ashtabula project, so if anyone has any leads to follow-up on our next Ohio trip please drop me a line.

Rogers Park Telephone Exchange, 1622 W. Pratt

The first telephone exchange in Rogers Park was established in 1903 in a rented space at the northwest corner of Lunt and Clark (now an immigration attorney's office).  Soon increasing demand and specialized equipment required a purpose-built structure. The Chicago Telephone Company contracted with the architecture firm of Holabird and Roche, which had already designed their buildings downtown and many smaller neighborhood exchanges.  Good examples of these remain throughout Chicago.

New technology has a tendency to make people uncomfortable.  One way to offset this discomfort is to create a traditional image to reassure the public.  Holabird and Roche was masterful at creating sturdy classical designs.  The Rogers Park Exchange is a simplified version of the Georgian Revival style.  And what could be less intimating than Georgian Revival? 

The building itself is reinforced concrete construction with Colonial brick and white Bedford stone trim.  Originally the entrance vestibule was pink Tennessee marble, but I haven't yet peered inside to find out if it's still there.  Note the addition of a fourth floor, along with substantial rear additions.  This was a part of the original design intent, and the foundation was built to accommodate another floor as needed.  The stone cornice was rebuilt, but it looks like it lost some detail in the process.


Adapted from a Google Aerial Photo

The L-shaped area emphasized in red is the original footprint of the building.  The area in blue was added in 1940.  The fire insurance maps are a bit vague on when the original portion received the additional floor, but judging from historic aerial photos it probably also happened in 1940.  In 1960 an additional floor was added to the blue portion, raising it from two stories to three.

The work force consisted of three supervisors, one clerk, one matron, and forty-nine operators.  Yes, that's right.  Matron.  And both day and night chief operators were women.  And those forty-nine operators?   Probably  young women.  At the turn of the century switchboard operator joined teacher and nurse as an acceptable occupation for middle-class women.  But there was an ongoing discomfort about the thought of professional young women working and living in the big city on their own.  The fear was that it would be too easy for these women to stray into... well... prostitution and drugs?  Several organizations opened boarding houses for working women, where they could enjoy communal activities and close supervision.  It's telling that the president of the Rogers Park Women's Club, Mrs. E.A. King, was in attendance for the opening ceremony. 

Read about the exciting 1914 ribbon-cutting ceremony here.

And I can't recommend enough Robert Bruegmann's book about Holabird and Roche, "The Architects and the City."

Also, read Jeanne Catherine Lawrence's, "Chicago's Eleanor Clubs: Housing Working Women in the Early Twentieth Century."

And just for fun, read "Wicked Nell:  A Gay Girl of the Town." (1878)

Devon Streetscape (1536-1556 W. Devon)

Below is another graphic developed for the storefront exhibit planned for installation at Clark Devon Hardware.  An interesting block, even with some odd changes over the years.  The third building from the right suffered a couple of big fires in the 1940s and had a architectural slipcover installed on the facade.  I'd give a lot to know if the original details are still under there.

Horizontally oriented images never lend themselves to the vertical blog format. I've been trying to find a viewer which allows an image to scroll past, but everything I find takes a bit more expertise than I'm willing to develop.

The above drawing was developed by stringing together a series of digital images in Photoshop, which was then used as a reference to develop a line drawing with Micron disposable technical pens.  This was colored with cool grey Prismacolor markers, and then with Prismacolor pencils. Before I began to use this technique all of my color images looked painfully cheerful.  But starting with grey is a good way to develop the earth tones commonly found on old buildings.

This image was developed from the birds-eye aerial photos accessible through the Bing search engine.  I didn't have the gumption to color this, but maybe I will at some point... The two work well together to give a quick sense of the block.

Just as a side note, the historical information was taken from the ancient building permit files on microfilm, available at the Harold Washington Library, the UIC Library, or the Chicago History Museum.  These only go up to 1954, so I estimated the date of the annex on the left. 

Howard and Washtenaw, c.1958

I've driven by these buildings on Howard for years, and they always catch my attention.  At this point Howard Street is the dividing line between Chicago and Evanston, and represents the north boundary of the West Ridge neighborhood.  In the 1940s this area was sparsely developed.  In 1958 the former site of the Chicago Fresh Air Hospital at Howard and Western was developed as a shopping center, and a large residential development was built to the east.  It wasn't long before nearby portions of Howard began to develop, and the buildings reflect this time period.

On the corner is a 2-story building clad with a stacked-bond turquoise brick veneer.  A two-story glass atrium encloses a staircase and adds a certain drama to the building.  The ground floor glass block windows were probably later installations for  privacy and security.  The projecting eave of the building contains down-lighting for nighttime illumination. Next door is a taller two-story  office building.  It's framed by stacked-bond piers, and capped by concrete sun-screens, which are kind of a nod to a Corbusian brise-soleil. Next to that is a 1-story storefront also framed by stacked-bond brick piers connected with a sign panel.  A soffit below angles down to the aluminum storefronts.  All in all, an almost perfect  composition of a style I think of as mid-century developer vernacular. 

While the high-style modernists whittled their conception of architecture down to the most honest expression of materials and form (arguably), the neighborhood buildings that were going up took their cues from the graphic design and popular art of the time.  The buiding on the left looks like two separate geometries fighting it out in a kind of Mondrianesque battle.  The center building is mostly flat and featureless, but the vertical piers and mullions and the curved  concrete canopy impose order and scale.  The small storefront to the right is modest, but also makes use of the stacked masonry frame to focus attention on the large plate-glass windows.  It's most distinctive feature is the angled soffit, which doubles to provide exterior lighting.  I'm a fan of the stacked-bond brick work.  It's non-structual and decorative, kind of like a durable wallpaper.  All three of these buidings are concrete block construction with face brick veneers.

In 1956 there was an account in the Chicago Tribune of a successful attempt to derail a rezoning proposal changing the block from a residential to a retail district.  The neighbors were concerned that taverns would instantly locate on the block.  At this time Evanston was dry, so it wasn't totally unreasonable.  But the victory must have been short-lived, since these buildings were built soon after. 

There's no need to include this drawing, but I was so thrilled to have a completely rectilinear building that I tried to sketch it out in Inkscape.  Doesn't really add anything new, but I can show the stacked bricks a whole lot faster.

Movie Theaters in Rogers Park and West Ridge, Part 1

The literature of movie theater architecture tends to focus on the best examples of the type.  But rarely do they provide a sense of how pervasive movie theater culture was as a form of neighborhood entertainment, or how it evolved in response to changes in building technology, film production, and social trends.  As a part of the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society's Storefront Exhibits Project, I've been taking a close look at 1554 W. Devon, the current location of Devon Clark Hardware but originally the Ellantee Theater.  In order to place that building in context I've been researching other neighborhood theaters.  The graphics below are simplified building footprints taken from various editions of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, and the photographs are from the collection of the RP/WRHS.



Casino Theater (1911).  7053 N. Clark.  299 Seats.

The former Casino Theater at 7053 N. Clark is the oldest motion picture theater in Rogers Park and was documented in an article published in the Chicago Tribune in August of 1911.  It has a facade of glazed green and white brick with terra cotta trim.  This was built in the middle of the nickelodeon craze, which lasted from 1905 until 1914.  For a small admission you could enter and stay as long as you liked.  A typical nickelodeon might show short features 16 hours a day, from 8 a.m. until midnight.

Many early theaters were simply converted storefronts.  These acquired a dangerous reputation, since they weren't fireproof and the early nitrate film stock was extremely flammable.   It's interesting that this theater only had 299 seats.  According to the Chicago Building Code of 1922 three-hundred or more seats would define this as a Class V  construction, requiring greater attention to safety features at a greater expense.

The Casino was put out of business as larger, more elaborate theaters were constructed nearby.  As movie theaters became more profitable the early ones were often superseded by larger models.  The marquee was removed and it was converted into a storefront.  Since this undated photo was taken the rounded parapet has been squared, making it even harder to spot this for what it is.  Or was.


Morse Theater (1913).  1330 W. Morse. 750 Seats.

Neighborhood residents will recognize this as The Mayne Stage, a recently renovated concert space and bar near the Morse El stop.  But before it became the Mayne Stage it was the Morse Theater.

This went a step beyond the Casino.  It used an attractive combination of brick and terra cotta detailing to convey respectability.  And it was true fireproof construction, making use of steel roof trusses with fireproof cladding.

The central bay provided access to the box office and a small lobby.  The projecting marquee and inset entrance helped to extend the theater space and draw in the crowd.   Box offices were normally placed close to the sidewalk to better call in customers.  Two flanking storefronts allowed for additional income. With a seat count of 750 building code required that the theater observe the maximum number of seats-per-row (13), provide clear secondary exits to the alley, and locate the projector in a fire-proof room.

It was common for these theaters to combine motion pictures with live entertainment to compete with the popular vaudeville shows of the time.  Interestingly, vaudeville had begun to intersperse their own shows with short feature films.  As live performances became more expensive most movie theaters eliminated them.  Vaudeville itself was hit hard by the popularity of the motion picture.  Two years after this theater was built D.W. Griffith's twelve-reel Birth of a Nation became the first blockbuster, paving the way for more feature-length films and further boosting the popularity (and profitability) of motion pictures.

A rounded marquee is shown in the building footprint above.  This was taken from the 1951 map, and probably indicates a theater modernization, which were very common.  The above photo is c. 1920 and likely shows the original rectangular marquee.


Adelphi Theater (1917).  7074 N. Clark.  1,308 Seats.

The Adelphi Theater was built just four years after the Morse, but the change is dramatic.  The marquee is more elaborate and a two-story illuminated sign is mounted to the building.  The ornamentation has become more exuberant, and you can see the light sockets that are integral to the terra cotta columns.  A signboard showed what was currently playing (and also reveals that the photo was taken in 1921).  This building accommodated several storefront spaces and a large lobby.  Movies were still silent, but they were often feature length, underscored with a live orchestra (or organ), and shown according to a schedule.  

The small structures at the rear of the building were early air-conditioning equipment, a rare luxury for the time.  And of course this was fireproof construction with a steel frame, concrete floors and roof, and brick curtain walls.

Throughout the 1910s move studios were being consolidated and centralized distribution was established.  This theater was operated by the Ascher Brothers, who would coordinate movie distribution throughout their network. There were many of these early operators, including Balaban & Katz (B&K), Marks Brothers, William Fox, Marcus Loew, and Adolph Zukor.  Theaters were bought and constructed with the intent of establishing entertainment empires. 

This building was demolished in 2006 after a long decline.

This series will  focus on several more theaters in future entries.  Amazingly, there were 13 theaters in Rogers Park and West Ridge, including some of the best movie palaces outside of the Loop.

I'm  indebted to Maggie Valentine's book, "The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theater," for her concise history of early movie theaters and theater design.




Some Chicago Bungalows in West Ridge

Bungalows are one of the most recognizable types of housing in Chicago.  Out of some perverse desire to focus on overlooked buildings I've avoided writing about them.  But it only takes a walk through West Ridge to find that the bungalow is a richer and more varied type of building than I expected.

These are what I think of when I hear "bungalow".  Basically, 1 1/2 stories with hipped roofs, offset entrances, polygonal projecting bays, and art-glass windows.  Developers would often build a string of these together.  They're recognizably related, but with varying details and treatments-- like siblings.  These three were built between 1926 and 1928 and cost between $8,000 and $10,000.  The National Register Nomination for Rogers Park Manor lists Dewey & Pavlich as the architects for 2542 W. Coyle, which leads me to believe they probably provided designs for all three.

But just  one street over there are examles of bungalows with completely different types of styling.  These two were designed by W. B. Wright and completed in 1926.    The architect experimented with the form of the bungalow to create more eclectic, somewhat Mediterranean, versions. 

These two are my favorite examples of atypical bungalow styles.  They're basically small cottages with boxes on the front dividing the main entrance from a small patio area.  I especially like the battered walls on the front facade. These were built in 1925 for $7,500. The one on the right lost its French doors, but at least it still has the tile roof.

If you're looking for an interesting walk through West Ridge I'm inserting the district map.  There's another bungalow district to the south, but that will have to wait for a future post.

Rogers Park Manor National Register Historic District