Taya and Jeremi Bryant in their Giles-Calumet District home. South Side home. The buildings are treasures and gems that cannot be ignored, Jeremi said. A treasure trove of vintage houses with Queen Anne, Italianate, Richardsonian Romanesque and Classic Revival architecture are all part of a pair of new proposed Chicago Landmark districts.
Currently up before city council is the proposed Lincoln Avenue Row House District on the North Side and the Giles-Calumet District in the Douglas neighborhood on the South Side.
Keith Hale / Sun-times
Keith Hale / Sun-Times
"Both districts have received final recommendations from us and are before city council for approval," said Brian Goeken, deputy commission Historic Preservation Division of Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning. The city currently has 51 landmark districts throughout the city.
"Landmark districts are a way to preserve and recognize some of the greater historic neighborhoods of the city," Goeken said. "These two districts are predominately composed of row houses that have an urban architecture very commonly associated with Chicago. Both have historic and architectural significance as early examples of row houses and we expect city council to take action and approve the districts within the next few months."
Here's a look at the two proposed residential city landmark districts:
The proposed district is a group of four row houses at 1928-36 N. Lincoln. The architectural gems are up for landmark designation due to their significance as being typical of the high-quality residential row houses constructed in many Chicago neighborhoods in the late 19th and early 20th century, immediately after the Chicago Fire of 1871, a report by the Historic Preservation said.
Built in 1875, these row houses are of special interest because they were built by map and printmaker Andrew McNally. Trained as a printer in Ireland before emigrating to the United States, McNally worked in New York before moving to Chicago. In 1862, working as a foreman for a print shop owned by the Chicago Tribune, McNally met William H. Rand and acquired a print shop which would become the foundation of Rand McNally & Company.
The row houses feature Italianate architectural style, with large blocks of pale yellow Joliet limestone, once a popular building stone in Chicago. The row houses were built as two-story party-wall houses on raised basements. Each row house has a projecting three-sided bay that visually dominates each facade.
Originally numbered five, the southernmost one was used as McNally's residence between 1875 and 1886; the remaining four were either sold to new owners or kept by McNally as rental properties. A number of Chicago notables called the district home, including sculptor Milton Horn and his wife, photographer Estelle, who resided on the block until their deaths.
Peter and Paula Ellis have owned the Milton Horn residence since 1995.
"The houses are very well preserved and excellent examples of some of the earliest town houses in the city of Chicago," said Peter Ellis, an architect and partner with Skidmore Owings & Merrill. "They were built around the time of the Chicago Fire and the four of them form a very classic urban streetwall.
"What's special about this is that the interiors are still basically intact and have been preserved in various degrees. They're not just architectural shells. The interiors are very authentic examples of Italianate town houses and have tall ceilings, wood floors and trim, marble fireplaces, plaster ceilings and marble fireplaces," Ellis said. "It's all there."
Like all of the row homes in the Lincoln Avenue Row House District, Ellis says the exterior is made of Joliet limestone. "When you look at the facade closely you can see that they are large stone panels, about 13 feet high," he said. "These panels have joints carved into them to make it look like smaller stones. It's very unusual and speaks to the efficiency of the way they were built."
As for the proposed landmark district, Peter is optimistic. "It's been about two years since the landmarking process began and I think we'll get approved this year. For me, the most important thing about landmarking is that I'm an architect and want to see this group of houses saved," he said. "Once it's a landmark, you can't tear it down. Having landmark status means we'll be contributing to the long term value of this city. Plus, landmark status confers a prestige on the owners in the district. It's a statement of quality."
In the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side, the proposed district's housing stock of handsome row houses, small free-standing houses and two-flats exemplifies the early history of this southern portion of the Douglas community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The proposed boundaries are non-contiguous and include: 3737 to 3847 S. Giles; 3800 to 3848 S. Calumet; 3831 to 3847 S. Calumet and 310 E. 38th St.
Architectural styles include Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque and Classical Revival. The district also contains a group of row houses designed in the Flemish Revival style, which is a more unusual and rare style in the context of Chicago architecture.
The buildings are a result of the efforts of early real estate speculators George A. Springer (and his sons Frank and Charles), Nimrod Lancaster and Jean-Baptiste Valliquette, who originally owned and subdivided the district's land. Springer and Valliquette were early pioneers in the area, owning houses immediately adjacent to the district that were built when the future neighborhood remained largely undeveloped prairie. Both of these early houses were demolished many years ago.
Springer and his sons were especially important in the development of the district, building the five groups of row houses that make up the core of the district. These were built in partnership with Lancaster, who provided land in exchange for lease money from the row houses, and were kept as rental properties until early in the 1900s.
Two of these row house groups were designed by architect John Turner Long, who also designed the Yale Apartments and the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church Building (both designated Chicago landmarks). A third group was designed by architect Charles M. Palmer, who designed a number of row houses in the Astor Street Chicago Landmark District.
One of the district's homes, at 3800 S. Calumet, exemplifies the later African-American history of the neighborhood after it became known as "Bronzeville." The house was built in 1922-23 for Louis B. Anderson, alderman of the 2nd Ward and only the second African-American to serve in the Chicago City Council (elected 1917).
The house was designed for Anderson by noteworthy architects Michaelsen & Rognstad, who also designed the On Leong Merchants Association (a designated Chicago Landmark) in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood, as well as significant buildings in several Chicago parks.
Until the 1880s, when the first buildings within the Giles-Calumet District were built, the part of Chicago's South Side that includes the district was open prairie and farmland on the southern edge of the city. The area of the Douglas community area south of 31st Street to Pershing Road (3900 south) was not even annexed to the city until 1863.
"The architectural integrity in this district is outstanding," said Jeremi Bryant, a project manager. Jeremi owns a district home on the 3700 block of South Giles with wife, Taya, a paralegal.
The Bryants bought their Italianate row house four years ago and have been "constantly renovating" it, Jeremi says. "The buildings are treasures and gems that cannot be ignored," Jeremi said. "Preserving architecture like this is important because architecture is what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood. If we were to lose these buildings, we'd lose these identities."
As for the architectural landmark status, Jeremi says "I think it will happen this year. It's been a long process that begin in the fall of 2006.
"Having landmark status is another feather in the cap of owning a vintage home. In addition to several financial incentives, the goal of landmark designation is to preserve our cultural and architectural heritage. It gives homeowners a sense of pride to know that what is here today is going to be here tomorrow. They won't be able to tear these buildings down or build new buildings on the block that are not sensitive to the existing architecture," Jeremi said. "It's a great feeling."
