View of the back of Mision Cristiana Elim

I'm continuing my series looking into some of the areas of the neighborhood that were never really meant to be on display.  You can't do much better than the church at Morse and Ashland.

This was originally the Reform synagogue Temple Mizpah, and I've written about it a bit here.  A substantial parking lot sits on the east, intended as the main sanctuary but never built.  As a result, the building (and the block) remains forever unfinished.  

The property's unfinished nature allows for a glimpse across the parking lot and into the service areas. All of the loading and unloading spaces and mechanical accommodations are on full display. In many ways, it's more complex than the primary facade, constantly adapting as needed.

View from Goldberg Park

Looking up from Goldberg Pocket Park.

I'm interested in parts of buildings that were never meant to be displayed.  These spaces most honestly respond to the structure's needs and the materials' limitations.  Sometimes these are visible when an adjacent building is demolished, but you can also walk down any alley in the city. I find pocket parks create some great viewing galleries, and sometimes even a bench.  This view from Goldberg Park is one of my favorites.  
It's really a streetscape in its own right, following a set of rules just as compelling as those which govern the finished facades. 

View at Sheridan and Pratt

View from Sheridan looking Northeast towards Pratt.

Sometimes the spaces created between buildings are just as interesting as the buildings themselves.  I'm especially drawn to taller buildings with irregular footprints and deep courtyards.  The negative space creates  complex pinwheeling shapes that most people sense, but don't consciously appreciate.

I've written about both of these buildings before.  They represent the transition of Sheridan Road from a leisurely lane lined with mansions to a more dense and urban thoroughfare.

Here are the previous posts:

6801 N. Sheridan- Rogers Park Hotel, 1922

6757-6765 N. Sheridan, 1917

 

Pratt Lane Hotel, 1927

Detail of terra cotta brackets

This building was designed by Koenigsburg and Westfeld in the Gothic Renaissance Revival style and constructed in 1927.  The ornament has always fascinated me-- and in particular the lion brackets supporting the twin projecting bays.  The first drawing I did of the building was back in 2006, but apparently that graphic is trapped on a obsolete Photobucket server.  But here's a link to the previous post.

This was constructed as an apartment hotel, which was basically a month-to-month furnished apartment with communal dining and socializing areas.  Apartment hotels would typically include a regular cleaning service.  This is an urban type that hasn't survived in Chicago (as far as I know).  The closest  approximation I can think of is an extended-stay hotel, and those are now mostly found out by the highways.

1246 W. Pratt

This building dwarfs its neighbors, and would have been one of the few to approach the permitted height increase established by Chicago's first zoning code in 1923.  I think the entire lakefront may have followed suit if it hadn't been hit by the Great Depression.  So for now it remains a crazy outlier, catching the sun all day with it's amazing glazed white terra cotta.

Stucco Bungalows on Arthur, 1915

Figure 1. Fifty Stucco Bungalows on Arthur Avenue

I've written several posts about collections of homes planned, designed, and built by early developers in the neighborhood.  These range from a few identical cottages to more complex arrangements.  These small-scale developments are found throughout Chicago, and their quiet existence probably accounts for most of the city's small-scale speculative residential development.

On the block of Arthur Avenue, with Clark Street to the east and the Union Pacific Railroad embankment on the west, stands an impressive collection of modest stucco bungalows built in 1915. Permit records show that Edgewater architect and developer Niels Buck designed these homes.  Two permits were issued: the first covered the homes on the north side of the block in April 1915, and the second covered the south side in October.

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, Niels Buck, in partnership with Herman Becker, bought 12 1/2 acres in the area for $60,000 from Jacob Rehm in 1914. Construction costs were estimated at $230,000, likely including site improvements.

Figure 2. View from the west looking
towards Clark Street, 1921.

This was a high-quality development, with poured concrete curbs, walkways, sidewalks, and electric streetlights.  The tile-and-stucco construction was just as sturdy as brick, but at a fraction of the cost.

Figure 2 is a great photograph of the street in 1921, when you could still smell the paint. The image is available on Wikipedia, which considers it too old to be subject to copyright.  Still, I'd like to know where it originated...

Real estate developers in the city were responsible for tying their development into the city's street grid and extending utilities.  Quality construction was profitable to the developer, who wanted homes to sell briskly so they could move on to their next opportunity.  And in 1915, affordable homes in Rogers Park, with its strong transit ties and proximity to the lake, probably went like hotcakes.

Figure 3. A sample of the bungalow designs.

Although these were basically the same in square footage, the changes in massing and design avoid the appearance of repetition.  This was an advantage of having a developer who also functioned as an architect. For those who look closely, the block creates an almost perfect illustration of architectural variations on a theme.

I put Figure 3 together when I thought the block was comprised of repeating building types. But in actuality, they all seem a bit different.  And after a hundred years of modifications, it's even harder to make that conclusion.

Figure 4. Bungalow with boulder cladding.

Many of the homes on the block have since departed from the original design intent.  Enclosing open porches was common, especially after affordable air conditioning became available.  Rear additions and detached garages are also common. I'm guessing garages weren't included in the original development in order to keep prices low.  Sometimes homes were expanded upward, losing the original roof shape but adding substantial square footage.

Stucco is a surface treatment that required maintenance, repair, and sometimes replacement.  It wasn't such a stretch to replace one surface treatment with another.  The bungalow in Figure 4 incorporates a formstone cladding.  This was popular for home repair as early as the 1930s and was probably a bit cheaper than new stucco, which requires specialized installation skills.

Figure 5. Bungalow with renovations.

The home in Figure 5 has been altered just as much as the one above, losing the open porch and extending a new covered entrance porch.  In this case, the renovations followed some established patterns on the block, retaining the stucco and eave brackets and incorporating more traditional window details.

This block of Arthur represents the most extensive contiguous development I've found in the neighborhood. But I know there are many more out there.

Figure 4. Ad for Atlas Portland Cement Company from
American Builder, May-1918.  Accessed through Google Books.

Somehow I keep finding more information about this street!  Below is a page from a booklet found on Archive.org.  It even includes a fuzzy floor plan and some more detail about the construction method.  The cost of the homes is noted as less than $3,000, which is about $54,000 in 2018. Wow.

Figure 6. Industrial Housing, National Fireproofing Company-  published 1918
and accessed via Google Books.

6158 N. Richmond, 1959

Ok, getting back to my profoundly unpopular mid-century multi-family project for just a bit... 

I've written some posts about the Georgian Revival single family homes in the neighborhood which you can read here and here.    Below are some some throwback graphics from 2013, when I thought colored pencils were the greatest thing in the world.  Not sure what I was going for with the blue halo...

Georgian Revival Single Family Homes in West Ridge

As the West Ridge neighborhood developed the cost of land began to increase.  To make the investment worthwhile new construction became more dense, with more units per building. Parcels that had been less desirable, particularly on busy corners, could now be combined and developed profitably.

This 3-unit building below was constructed  on a double lot which might have accommodated two single family homes.  The developer also built a detached two-car garage, something typically eliminated from single family homes in order to keep costs down.  This is designed in the same  simplified Georgian style seen above, right down to the colonial-style windows and the gently pitched hipped roof.



6158 N. Richmond, 1959

The base of the building has the random coursed stone veneer common during the period. This is also used as the surround for a slightly projecting main entrance.  A large glass block window provides light to the interior stair.

The irregular the facade along Granville is really odd, with different windows sizes, configurations and placements.  And how about that uncomfortable-looking blank area?  It's almost as if the stylistic choice is working against the internal needs of the building. This might also explain why larger buildings began to rely on more modern facade designs, where there was more flexibility in the exterior expression. 

East Park Apartments, 1521 W. Sherwin, detail

In case you're wondering, those are holiday ornaments in the windows!

Art Deco terra cotta ornament is unusual in Rogers Park. Actually, Art Deco is unusual throughout Chicago, although there are still some great examples to be found.

According to the Chicago Historic Resources Survey this building was permitted in 1931 and designed by architect Benjamin A. Comm.  Most private building ceased after the crash of 1929, so I expect this project was funded well in advance.

What became the Art Deco style made its official appearance at the 1925 Paris Exposition.  It reflected contemporary movements in fine art, such as Cubism and Futurism, emphasizing pure geometric form and rejecting historic ornamentation.  So it's a bit ironic that same ornament has now become historic in its own right...

In 1927 the officers of the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company brought over six French sculptors to supply new designs for the company.  These became popular with architects and builders and soon the new style of ornament could be found at other terra cotta companies as well.  The use of color helped to emphasize the forms and lines of the design, which typically had a lower relief than  traditional ornament.

Some buildings designed by Benjamin A. Comm showing various styles.

Benjamin A. Comm designed a number of buildings recognized in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey.  His most interesting design (as far as I know) was the Union Park Hotel at 1519 W. Warren Boulevard.  This was designated as a Chicago Landmark in 2010, and the designation report has an nice discussion about Art Deco in Chicago, which I've cribbed from shamelessly.  But you should read it yourself!  Seriously, read it.

B.A. Comm didn't really make the cut as a "significant" architect in the report, but his work is notable from a neighborhood character standpoint.  Here are some examples using photos I swiped from the Cook County Assessor's website.  At least the Assessor is still good for something...