Saturday, August 04, 2007

Chicago Bungalows



5800 block of Navarre Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.

16 comments:

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Oh lovely! There is a lot about Chicago, at least in your photos, which reminds me of southern Ontario.

Joe said...

Cool pic. My favorite bungalows are the ones with the vaguely octagonal front rooms, but these are nice too

Splotchy said...

My wife's dream house is a Chicago bungalow, but not quite like these ones.

Still, nothing to sneeze at.

MacGuffin said...

I adore old houses, they have so much more character and odds are, were built better than newer homes. The craftsmenship just isn't the same nowadays.

J.D. said...

You make me think! I'm as shocked as you are...

JR's Thumbprints said...

Those old homes have much more character than the newer ones.

Erik Donald France said...

Very nice! I love bungalows.

GETkristiLOVE said...

Nice. I'd live there.

SkylersDad said...

Please educate this lost soul. What makes a house a bungalow?

Johnny Yen said...

Barbara-
Thanks! I've been to southern Ontario, but my memories are a little foggy-- there was a little Molson's involved in the trip. I'll have to revisit.

Bubs-
The octagonal ones are cool!

The city has a program-- tax rebates for people who restore their bungalows.

I would just cry if I saw a Chicago-style bungalow torn down to put up a bland 5,000 square foot teardown.

Splotchy-
I would love one of these. A lot of them are going for over 1/2 a million these days!

A friend of mine bought one in Ravenswood Manor (the governor's 'hood) for $129,000 back in 1989. She and her husband put about $150,000 into it a few years ago. It was recently accessed at nearly $800,000. Her husband is getting ready to retire, and they're thinking of selling it and buying a smaller condo. They refer to the house as their "retirement account."

Macguffin-
Absolutely! My landlord and I were talking about the difference in the original work in this building and stuff that's been done since. No comparison.

JD-
Thanks!

JR-
They definitely do. They're building stuff here in the city that looks like it should be in a suburb.

Erik-
They've got a lot of charm and character, don't they?

Kristi-
Definitely-- they're handsome and durable.

Skyler's Dad-
Not just a bungalow, but a Chicago Bungalow. Here's a Wikipedia entry on them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_bungalow

Scroll down for the Chicago Bungalows. One of their distinguising factors are the fact that their eaves are parallel to the street rather than perpendicular.

If you look at the Wikipedia article, there's a picture of another bungalow style that you see a lot in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, including Evergreen Park, where my mother grew up. My mother grew up in an old house-- they built a subdivision around in with houses in that style. It's funny to look at old pictures of my mother's childhood home all alone, surrounded by farms.

lulu said...

My mom grew up in one of these in Albany Park.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

Those are "pre war" bungalows?

Valerie said...

I used to live in a bungalow in Maywood, until I was five years old. Good memories. Good times.

Anonymous said...

Booooooring......

Johnny Yen said...

Anonymous-
Yeah not nearly as interesting as your fascinating blog. Oh, wait, fucktard-- you don't have one. You just sit and criticize other peoples' blogs. Feel free not to look at mine. Really.

Tenacious S said...

They are beautiful pictures and these homes ARE Chicago. Personally, I grew up in one of the very square Georgians, but my cousins and grandparents lived in bungalows.