Chicago Bungalow architecture: how to identify it

what it is

The Chicago bungalow is a narrow brick house of one and a half stories above a full basement. A typical house is about 20 feet wide on a standard 24 or 25 foot city lot. Many have low-pitched hipped roofs (sloping on all four sides), broad overhanging eaves and large front windows. A veranda, the covered front porch, may be open or partly enclosed. Brickwork, roof form and decorative details vary from house to house.

Chicago has more than 80,000 bungalows, nearly one third of its single-family houses. National Register districts include Gage Park (465 bungalows, built 1919-1931), South Shore (229, built 1911-1930), Rogers Park Manor (247, 1920s) and Wrightwood (55, 1916-1926), with 1,109 more in Central Berwyn, a suburb. A craftsman bungalow is recognised by exposed rafter ends under its eaves; the Chicago bungalow is defined by brick walls, a full basement and a narrow lot.

how to spot one

Hipped roof A roof that slopes down to the walls on all four sides, with no gables (triangular wall ends). It is common on Georgian, Italianate, Prairie and American Foursquare houses. Deep eave overhang Roof edges, called eaves, that extend well beyond the walls. They shade windows and keep rain off the walls on Prairie houses, Craftsman bungalows and Italianate buildings. Bay window A window projecting from the main wall, usually with three angled sides or a curved front. It adds light and floor space and is common on Italianate, Queen Anne and other Victorian houses. Dormer A window in a small roofed structure projecting from a sloping roof. Dormers add light and headroom to attic rooms on Cape Cod, Georgian and Second Empire houses.

Also look for

Stained glass Belt course Built-in cabinetry

history

In the United States, bungalows were first built as vacation homes and were most popular between 1900 and 1918. In Chicago the majority were built between 1910 and 1940. Among the earliest are those in the South Shore district, built from 1911: the first ones, in the 1910s, were stucco, and every bungalow built after 1917 is brick. The design was easy to replicate, which made it affordable to working-class buyers, and developers built them in groups. The Stolzner Construction Company built more than half of the 55 bungalows on the 4600 and 4700 blocks of West Wrightwood Avenue (1916-1926), and the architect Joseph Klafter varied details such as color, entrance position and dormer design.

The type spread into nearby suburbs. In Berwyn, Illinois, where Czech Americans made up 25 percent of the population by 1930, the Central Berwyn district has 1,109 brick Chicago bungalows, most built in the mid-1920s. Chicago still has more than 80,000 bungalows. The National Register of Historic Places has listed bungalow districts there since 2004, among them Wrightwood (2004), Rogers Park Manor (2005), South Shore (2008) and Gage Park (2020).

where to find it

Chicago's Bungalow Belt: the Gage Park, South Shore, Rogers Park Manor and Wrightwood bungalow districts, plus the Central Berwyn district in the suburb of Berwyn.

easy to confuse with

Gamble House, an example of Craftsman / Bungalow

Craftsman / Bungalow Low, broad bungalows with deep porches on thick tapered piers, visible rafter ends, and angled roof braces.

Robie House, an example of Prairie School

Prairie School Long horizontal lines: broad low roofs, deep overhangs, and continuous bands of windows hugging the ground.

American Foursquare, an example of American Foursquare

American Foursquare The honest box: two stories, a pyramid-shaped roof with a big central dormer, and a full-width front porch.