Chicago Architecture Question

[Rizzo]

Just wondering. Does anyone know what kind of architecture this is specifically?



These rowhouses are located on Warren Ave in East Garfield Park

[Nowhereman1280]

Chicago Hodgepodge...

[Cbautz]

^ I agree

The town homes on the left have prairie elements articulated in its horizontal vocabulary of lintels, front porchs, and brick pattern. But I stress these are only elements. The ones on the right are a little tougher. The arches give it an air of a romanesque quality common in other buildings. But when you get to the bay windows, got no idea.

[Tom Servo]

i'd agree with cbautz, and i'd add that i think there's a slight queen-anne influence in the 2 on the right. but for the most part i'd say this is just a generic chicago housing style that you see a lot all over the old blue collar and immigrant parts of town. but i don't know what it'd be classified as other than just chicago hodgepodge...

[Nowhereman1280]

Let me just add that nearly every 2 flat in Chicago looks just like those two on the left, they are EVERYWHERE! I agree that they do have prairie elements in them...

[i_am_hydrogen]

Just call it Chicago vernacular.

[Steely Dan]

^ yep, the two 2-flats on the left are textbook chicago vernacular, you can find thousands, if not tens of thousands of other 2/3-flats across the city that look just like those two. the two on the right however are more unusual and, as cbauz said, more hodge-podge.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ Now that someone mentioned how those typical 2 flats seem to be influenced by Prairie style, I have noticed how this type of 2 flat seems to be fairly isolated in Chicago. Even in Milwaukee the flats look completely different from them. I wonder if the FLW/Prairie influence in the early 1900's really did generate a unique stock of prairie-flats that seems to be the signature style of Chicago flats.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

I wonder if the FLW/Prairie influence in the early 1900's really did generate a unique stock of prairie-flats that seems to be the signature style of Chicago flats.

Most definitely. However, I'm not sure if these are confined to the Chicago area. I know I've seen similar buildings in other Midwestern cities - but Chicago undoubtedly has the largest collection and concentration of them.

[CGII]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

^^^ Now that someone mentioned how those typical 2 flats seem to be influenced by Prairie style, I have noticed how this type of 2 flat seems to be fairly isolated in Chicago. Even in Milwaukee the flats look completely different from them. I wonder if the FLW/Prairie influence in the early 1900's really did generate a unique stock of prairie-flats that seems to be the signature style of Chicago flats.

By the time the prarie flat style got popular in Chicago, the German duplex vernacular in Milwaukee was becoming less popular and becoming replaced by the new bungalow style, which bears great resemblance to the Chicago style prarie flats/duplexes, but with less brick and more wood siding. The Prarie style didn't have much influence on the mass of the housing stock (the duplex) but the bungalows are clearly influenced by it, I think.

But actually the German duplex isn't terribly far from the Chicago Prarie flat:


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[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ I agree with that, it makes sense.