Odd Duck Three-Flats

One of the more fun things of being an apartment building spotter is spotting odd duck, sore thumb, missing tooth or mismatching buildings. They can be the result of tear downs, unbuilt lots (aka land banking) or just odd circumstances in urban history. Often, they take the form of three flats, which today's post will focus on, in specific, what I am calling 'symmetrical' three flats, with a symmetrical front and side entry (or center entry, with an English Basement set up).

Our first example of this is actually the most "typical" example in it's detailing and decoration; a buttery orange-yellow brick, an octagon bay front (also, somewhat related to a bungalow in this respect). It sports it's original windows and front door and chaste classical trim, albeit of a medieval/heraldric type.


Our next example is a step up, if you will, into a more typically 20s neo-classical style - this time colonial in blond brick (very typically Chicago however, in this color choice). Here we have three windows on the front, chippendale window heads and quoins, all in limestone. This aesthetic is typical of "higher class" apartment houses from this period. Many 1920s apartment buildings feature this sort of decoration, as we shall see in further examples.


Here in our third example, we have a continuation of style and an increase in scale and granduer, although in this case the decoration seems to be a bit earlier, in a teens or early proto-deco manner (and with interesting esses in the third floor window key's. This example also ditches sash (i.e. double-hung) windows in favor of inward swinging casements.


In our fourth and final (yes, I'm sorry, it's the last one for today) example, we have what is in some ways the grandest, yet most domestic and homey of the four. This one is in red brick with a very wide facade, which most likely accommodates both living room and dining room in front. It has a very domestic neo-colonial cornice, friezes, window keys, divided lite windows and garlands in limestone as well as a simple awning or portico above the entrance. There is also a false roof or gable, which probably was originally slate or tile, but is now asphalt shingles.


I realize that I've cheated a bit in this entry, or used a false title, yeah, I was dishonest, as it was really more about symmetrical facade three-flats rather than their odd duck status, although each of these examples is on it's own, with no directly similar buildings around, which doesn't show up well in the photographs - perhaps more context should be added, but I do hope you've enjoyed this, dear reader...

The Three-Flat

I was going to start with the two flat, but a dearth of images, and more especially plans, stymied that plan. They will be covered ad nauseum in later posts.

Many three-flats follow the same basic plan of the two-flat, living room, dining room on one side with the bathroom and kitchen directly behind, off a corridor, and the bedrooms and stairs on the other side. Three-flats begin to vary this, with what I term the zig-zag layout, with the living room in front and the dining room behind the stairs - in this variation an actual entrance hall or foyer is also often provided. Then the kitchen can be directly behind the dining room of, completing the zig-zag in the other corner of the apartment, with a bedroom directly behind the dining room.



The plan above is a good example of this with the public rooms in opposite corners from each other (I include the kitchen in this). The bedrooms and bathrooms are fitted into this plan, and a nice touch, not accessed directly off of any of the public rooms, but from the foyer or back hallway.

The image to the right indicates this type well enough; this was typical in the teens more than any other era, and into the twenties, before the plan was refined into what many have called the golden age or era of apartment design (not just in Chicago, but nationally). A nice deep brick color and sparse limestone trim with heavy, solid porch columns make this a nice, discreetly elegant addition to any block. It also shows the waning craftsman influence which then flowered into a typically Chicago style of decoration, particularly on the bungalow, but also on multi-family dwelling as well. This one was not shorn of it's cornice like many, but has a minimal limestone coping above the third floor windows. Many of this type had a massive square projecting, protrusion like tin cornice, which I suspect was a stand, readily available product, cheap enough for developers of the era to be able to install and dress up an otherwise plain building. Unfortunately many of these have not been kept up and removed over the years - this was also done for aesthetic reasons in the middle of the last century when fussy ornament was out of style and older buildings were modernized (not the least for ease of maintenance).