The blocks of Orchard and Howe streets just south of Armitage Avenue at Chicago’s Old Town area are just two of the most desirable residential stretches in the city. Yet because this ideabook will reveal, the historic fabric of this area has been annihilated by this desirability, as individuals are buying a lot, linking them and building large homes in various fashions out of scale with all the charming gable homes from as early as the 19th century.
As is the usual with my ideabooks, the focus is on modern and contemporary homes, but I will highlight a couple conventional designs to give an idea of this hodgepodge being made on both of these parallel north-south streets near the equally desirable Lincoln Park area.
John Hill
First is a good example of an older house that has been maintained, giving an concept of the region’s character. These two blocks don’t sit within a landmarked district (the Old Town Triangle District is a couple of blocks east of here), but those two buildings on Howe Street combined into a single residence (or that’s my guess) are fairly typical of historic Old Town.
John Hill
A couple of doors down in the old house in the past picture is this residence that tries to seem old. Notice the little brick house on the right side of the photo — that’s the normal diameter of a lot on this particular stretch of Howe Street. Therefore this neoclassical house takes up at least three lots. Note also how the house “turns the corner,” shifting from all rock on the front to used stone across the other side to save cash. This is fairly typical in Chicago, no matter a building’s style, but it also points to a difference between the new buildings in the region and the old ones, on the exact same brick wrapped all sides of the house.
John Hill
This house, further north on Howe Street, is a creative reuse of a classic building. The architects maintained the front and inserted a modern brick and glass box behind it. Notice the view of the latter through the third-floor opening the front elevation; consequently, the maintained section is a shell, a hollow outdoor room that functions as a transition between the street and the interior beyond.
John Hill
Trekking around to Orchard Street, we get a glimpse of this house that Wheeler Kearns Architects designed for the Pritzker-Traubert family (yes, those Pritzkers). Like the neoclassical house shown earlier, this house takes up two or three lots. It’s no wonder this stretch of Orchard Street was called Gazillionaire’s Row by a local newspaper.
John Hill
The brashly modern design lifts the concrete-clad second floor above a glassy first floor. On the south side of the building is a lawn about the width of one lot.
John Hill
Privacy is maintained by a bronze fence whose vertical members are angled to afford the occasional opinion of the courtyard or the entrance, but never to the house.
John Hill
This close-up of this entry reveals the feel of the concrete panels, which also possess an earthy color that helps to tone down the effect of the modern residence on the street.
John Hill
Across the street and a couple of doors south of the Pritzker house is just another modern house, but one having outdoor area placed above a first-floor podium.
John Hill
The house has a special place, as it is bordered on the south by a parking lot serving an adjoining building. This opens up the south side of the house to sunlight but also to passersby. In reaction the elevation is primarily alloy panel, and a concrete wall divides the ground floor in the parking.
John Hill
Right across the street from the previous house is a traditional design that I actually recognized from browsing photos on . The distinctive vertical green wall facing south west might maintain its winter dormancy, but it still grabs one’s attention. Compare this house with the Pritzker house; they might be miles apart stylistically, however they are almost the exact same in how their lots were combined and how outdoor area lies on the south.
John Hill
Back 1 block to the east on Howe Street is this small house. It’s notable for showing how even the easiest pragmatic layout could be raised through the cautious inclusion and articulation of components. The concrete-block box would be a forgettable (and possibly dismal) design without the screens and trellises that protect the house from the summer sun and passersby.
John Hill
Farther south on Howe Street is a house of poured-in-place concrete and concrete block, even larger than the prior example. The design works really difficult to create a intricate makeup of windows, terraces and planes.
John Hill
Based on the articulation of sound and void on the outside, I can only guess at the complexity of spaces inside.
John Hill
Next door to the prior concrete elegance is just another concrete house, one much easier and simpler. A box faced with glass blocks reaches the street, with a narrow trail and steps to the front door.
John Hill
The glass block ensures privacy, though a flat ring of windows put into it provides a view from the inside to the surface. I can see it being a fantastic location for a workplace, or when positioned lower, it would work nicely for looking out of a bed.
John Hill
Across the street from the two concrete homes, and only a couple of doors down in the neoclassical residence near the start of this ideabook, is this modern brick house. Its simplicity and rigor provide the impression that it might be offices as easily as a house, but there’s still something appealing about its presence on the street. It’s calm and austere, and its own 20th-century modernism is growing more historic next to its newer neighbors with each passing season.
John Hill
At the south corner of this long block of Howe Street is a house of brick, glass and metal that is like a contemporary version of a Frank Lloyd Wright house. The architect employed the skinny brick that Wright preferred, and the articulation of perimeter walls in front of the house also remembers some of Wright’s work.
John Hill
Yet the house has its own unique attributes, like this gallery glazed on both sides. This distance provides a glimpse into the internal courtyard, while giving the home’s elevation a strong rhythm and a well-scaled presence on the street.