Unique History of home at Oak Park, IL 60302

Historic Ridgeland Waterfront	HUGE Finished Basement with Pickled Pecky Paneling	Architectural Style
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Architectural Style

Technically, this home is a Side Entrance Colonial. It has also been called a "Frangalow" which is a combination of Frank Lloyd Wright influence during the popular era of Bungalows. It is not a Chicago Style Bungalow from a architectural standpoint or even a Bungalow from dictionary definitions. A Chicago Style Bungalow is typically classified by having one-and-a-half stories. This home instead has two full stories plus a scuttle attic and a gambrel roof. The aspects of a Chicago Style Bungalow which DO characterize this home include:

Built between 1910 and 1940
Generous windows
Full basement
Modern amenities (including central heat, electric and plumbing)
Rectangular in shape
Roof line is perpendicular to the street
Brick with stone trim

The first American house to be called a bungalow was designed in 1879 by William Gibbons Preston. Built at Monument Beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the two-story house had the informal air of resort architecture. However, this house was much larger and more elaborate than the homes we think of when we use the term Bungalow.

Bungalow defined by most dictionaries are explicit: a bungalow is a one or one-and-a-half story dwelling. Nevertheless, the period when most bungalows were constructed "roughly 1880 to 1930 in the United States" literally every type of house has at one time been called a bungalow. Two-story houses built on the grounds of hotels are still called bungalows, for example. And to further muddy the definition, the great Southern California architect Charles Sumner Greene went out of his way to call his Gamble house (1909) in Pasadena, Calif., a bungalow. Instead, the Gamble house is a sprawling two-story residence with a third-floor pool room.

In 1900, to usher in a new century, Americans were also creating new styles. Historians claim that only 10% of the homes built at the turn of the century used a combination of architectural styles. But the Sears homes in the early 1900s were "marketing something to the broad population," said Paul Lusignan, spokesman for the National Register of Historic Places. Their blueprints were hybrids of what was popular during the 32 years of the house by mail boom -- Craftsman-style bungalows, Dutch colonials, mansard roofs.

This home at home, Oak Park, IL was also a hybrid. The original glass door knobs are Victorian (1840-1900) and a few metal door handles are Art Nouveau (1890-1914). The built in bookshelves, art glass windows and two panel doors are typical Craftsman Bungalow (1905-1930). The bow brick bump outs on the North side of the house are modifications of typical Queen Anne (1880-1910) bay windows. The stairway is traditional Colonial Revival (1876-1955). And the cross-gambrel roof is by definition Dutch Colonial Revival (1890-1930). The arched doorways and the bookshelves would typically be considered Art Nouveau (1890-1914) for a house built before 1930. However, these arches were not original to the home. They were modifications as a result of the Art Moderne (1930-1945) influence. The design and construction techniques of Art Modern were highlighted at the 1933 Chicago's World Fair.