Holsman, Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor

Holsman, Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor was one of Chicago's more venerable firms, descended from Henry K. Holsman, and the ancestor of today's real estate firm, Parker-Holsman. This entry is going to focus on one of their 1950's projects, centered around the intersection of Hood and Wolcott in West Rogers Park.

These were built by the architects development arm, Community Development Trust. This company specialized in high density, for-sale owner-occupied housing, which at that time meant cooperatives - or more specifically, mutual ownership in trust - via a not-for-profit corporation. These can be found across the city, and in fact, the Chicago area in general, as there is one project in Evanston.

Not only was this an usual ownership and development form, there was also technical innovation as well. They are built of bearing wall construction, of solid masonry - refer to the image at right, which shows the system, as built at the Lunt-Lake Apartments. They also feature radiant heating and an innovative structural floor system allowing lower floor to floor heights and enabling more floors within the overall building height.

In plan they are also economical, being fairly similar in size (unit-wise) to tract houses of the era. The structural system gives them almost an Eichler-esque interior feel, that of a single-family post and beam construction building, particularly on the top floor walk-up units. Units range from two to three bedrooms, with extra storage and laundries in the basements. In the walk-up buildings there is a dining area, with the top floor units having vaulted ceilings and fireplaces. The elevator buildings have four corner units on each floor, with one or two elevators depending on height.

Walk-up PlanElevator Plan

The site planning with lush greenery and open common space gives them a unique feel for the Chicago area, which typically favors very dense site development. With their mature landscaping they truly present an idyllic scene today, very much to the ideals of post-war planning.

View into central court

View of typical 5-story entrances

Entry view of 4-story entrance
(with intact lighting)

Entry view of 5-story building
Alternate entry type for 5-story building
(notice the "hat" shaped lighting fixture)

View of 5-story building

View of corner of 5-story building

The A. N. Rebori Cooperative Apartments

This post dedicated to Mr. Steve Hickson, for his interest in this building.

Street View from Southeast to Northwest

The A. N. Rebori Cooperative Apartments are located in Chicago's Gold Coast, somewhat discreetly tucked away on a street corner. This is a rather unusual building in many respects, and in many regards, is like the architect, Andrew N. Rebori's, other works.

Rebori is best known for his art deco studio apartment buildings just to the west and north of this building, which have quirky, picturesque shapes and plans (and are often, I believe, remodels) along with double-height studio living rooms.

This building does, in fact have the double-height studio living rooms, with double-height windows on the exterior, but clothed in a neo-classical, historicist garb. Also unusual for Chicago are the duplex or maisonette units, that is, units with two stories internally, as can be seen in the plan. All of this is wrapped around a lushly landscaped courtyard garden, secluded by a limestone and red brick colonnade.

As can be seen by an examination of the plans, the entrances are to the sides of the central "gateway" in the center of the wings or middle of the blocks as they project towards the street. At the sides are smaller units and in the northeast corner is a particularly large and grand unit with it's on street entrance off of the avenue. Many of these plan features can be seen later in his art deco "studio" apartment buildings, which are, comparatively, well featured on the web and in publications. The incorporation of service/exit stairs is also quite ingenious, as is the lack of elevators, as one only need climb to the third floor to access the upper units here. A solution which is often used, yet little known, in Chicago

Courtyard View
Vintage view

A San Francisco Sojourn*

And now for something completely different. Apartment buildings from a different city. On my most recent jaunt to San Francisco, I took a number of photographs of that cities vintage apartment stock. In some ways it is (housing stock-wise) very similar to Chicago; age, density and typology, while at the same time being completely different in aesthetic and plan (well, maybe not so different - or not?).

In San Francisco, there is very little brick construction, partially due, I'm sure, to ease of construction - think about schlepping bricks up the hills, availability of timber (mostly redwood, even for framing), lack of stringent fire codes as well as milder weather. There is also the California style of Spanish (or Spanish Colonial more accurately) influences, hence a massive amount of stucco in Mission styles and 1920s Classical Revival styles.

Most people seem to be familiar with the famous "Painted Ladies" of San Francisco's Victorian era, but less well known is the Edwardian and 1920s housing stock. There is also a large, vast by Chicago standards, trove of Art Deco housing as well. Another one of the big differences between the two cities (beyond mild weather, hills, earthquakes, trolleybusses and streetcars) is the lack of alleyways. Since there are no alleys, garages are either often originally incorporated into the front facade, or have been renovated into it.


Here we have a little red Mission style two-flat in the Mission District. This is identified by the cornice line which reflects the old mission churches of Old California, tile roofs and heavy massing. Of heavy San Francisco tradition are the light catching bay windows on the second floor. Although this house is on the "sunny side" of the city, it can still be foggy in the early morning hours here as well, making these windows quite useful. We also have a garage incorporated into the ground floor and a rather unusual appearing round entry with an almost craftsman appearing "roof" at the entry. The low and wide window on the first floor is also rather unusual, and strangely proportioned. Also note the little third floor (attic? or even just decorative) bay in the gable. My suspicion is that this was constructed immediately before the First World War, in the early teens.



Here we have a green two-flat, which I believe is locally known as a "Marina Style" building. This building reflects the 1920's version of Spanish style revival architecture as well as subtle hints of 1920's Classicism. In this case there are some echoes of Chicago buildings with octagonal bays, however, here the facade continues from lot line to lot line. These building also typically have dumbbell plans and light slots, making some rooms rather similar to Chicago apartments. This example comes from the Haight - Alamo Square border.

The interesting thing about these garages in the base, one is that they are often large enough for multiple cars, the other that they occur weather the slope is up from the street or down from the street (and of course they do occur on the sideways slope as well).

In this yellow example we have another example of this type of two-flat building. In this case, an almost indeterminate melange of 1920s forms and earlier decorative styles. An almost medieval cornice detail - or even a hint of Jugendstil or shades of Sezession massing and detailing. The windows and detailing make me think that this was constructed around 1920.

As with Chicago, these types also came in single-family and three story (though very few) versions. There are a large number of these in Richmond and Inner Sunset - two western areas of the city.

Now we move up and into larger format buildings. Here we have another building from the Haight to the left. This one is stuccoed in 1920's fashion, but notice the wood frame construction, as evidenced in the clapboard siding on the right side and the brick veneer base with garage doors. To the right is a corner building from the Mission District with much the same style of layout. The Haight building shows 1920's detailing, while the Mission building shows a light Colonial Revival treatment.

From these two examples it is only a short jump to the Art Deco extravagances which the city is justly known for (one hopes). The first few examples hail from Richmond and are similar in scale to the two previous examples, however, they are much more decorative with a riot of deco extravagances.

The three examples are all richly decorated with ornamented cornices and bay windows, all above the typical garage base which dominates San Francisco. This same style also applies to larger scale building, when the size changes the rhythm of the building less than one would imagine.




Here we have a grand deco entry way to an otherwise plain entry and two views of a spectacularly sited deco extravagance. Notice that the ever present bay windows are here too, with stunning city and park views.







Lastly we have some downtown examples. The first of which I don't really quite know how to categorize, however it is a spectacularly decorated building with extremely ornate bays, as you will note, on a very steeply sloping downtown street - Nob Hill, actually. I find it rather deco influenced, even though it's detailing is rather more Spanish Revival. The flat, plain facade surrounding the bays really implies a deco composition, though I suppose one could really argue that this is a 20's device or even conceit.

Nearby, also on Nob Hill, we have a riotous show of color and ornamentation in tropical greens and gold. Yet here again we find the typical bay windows and spandrel decoration. The decorative panels are typical deco detail, which can be found throughout the deco world.

The entry in this case is truly incredibly lush. I think that this is a good place to mention something about entries. San Francisco has a large number of grand or very charming entryways, both modern and traditional. Many of the apartment buildings have very inviting entry porches or forecourts, many unfortunately gated off today, but still lovely. Some even have cave-like entries, with atrium lighting from above, which incorporate carports within them (these are outside of our scope, as they are in single-family houses). However, there are still vast numbers of wonderful wood or marble lined entries all throughout the city, many of them lovingly preserved.

Our last building is at the top of Nob Hill, at the peak of the city. This is the Clay-Jones Apartments atop the hill, visible from miles around. Today it has a radio mast functioning as a spire, making it even more visible than it would have been.

This building was built in the very late 20's - 1927 to be exact - and contains two apartments per floor in the upper part of the tower above the setback, both of which are quite nicely laid out. The architect was one Albert H. Larsen and the construction cost was $585,000.
















This concludes our little San Francisco Sojourn. I think I may do another post in the future, but another trip out west will be spent doing more documentation of their local housing types and enjoying the Bay Area as much as possible. You'll note that I didn't touch on the more well known, much better known, in fact, twentieth century architecture, that of the Mid-Century, with such luminaries as William Wurster et al or the eponymous Eichler House.



*Apologies to Robert of A Chicago Sojourn

Parlez vous francais

Mais oui allons-y!

- Blossom Dearie

Who ever said that we don't like things ala Francais? It's a little bit of Paris on the prairie, in full on Second Empire mansard luxury, but in three-flat form!
In fact, except for the storm windows and triple-hung windows it could almost be in France. And, unusually, the interiors also match the exterior. That and the fact that the vehicles are from Wolfsburg, not Billancourt. Though one really expects a Déesse out front

Front Entries

I thought I'd do a quick post on the various front entries of Chicago buildings (shades of Doors of Chicago perhaps?). Here is just a selection of the variety of styles one can find. From art deco to neo-colonial and between.

Booth Hansen

Yes, dear readers, that is in fact, oh how I dread to say the name, SoNo*, product of Booth Hansen, one of Chicago's leading architectural firms, what we in the trade would call a design firm. This is, I think, one of their best, and one of the best new residential towers. In fact, so much more so than I had expected. The dark glass and black metal cladding make a dramatic, almost Miesian statement. For contrast to the under construction building, here are some shots of their recently completed building in the Gold Coast with it's sleek, glassy sweep of a south facade.

I also hope this entry doesn't shock my usual readers, but I am, in fact, a fairly staunch modernist, and this building appeals to me. It's a shame that their other new, in planning, building, won't look as good - I am, of course, referring to 5440 Sheridan Rd, which has been cut in height.

Unfortunately I don't have a good shot of the front - south - facade, but the edge condition, if you will, much like SoNo is quite spectacular, almost dissolving with the balconies. These are also, as you can plainly see, construction shots.



*I do have to say that this name is totally, utterly and completely ridiculous. I mean, I live in SoHo by that token - South of Howard that is, like most Chicagoans. The list of these silly names goes on for ever; luckily I cannot remember any others at the moment and will spare you the torture...

Balconies; Six-Flats with Balconies (Part I)

Another one of the distinctive and unique features of many Chicago apartment buildings are the balconies on the front. Usually they are not really truly useful, but just more of a decorative feature. However, they do often make an attractive facade and can provide some use. Of course, they are usually on buildings with larger apartment and bigger lots with more front yard area (this might have something to do with zoning/building line setbacks).

Some, however, can be very attractive and useful, and quite distinctive.

The example to the right is a neo-colonial example from the south side, which has a massive pediment and cornice as well as almost ante-bellum columns. In fact, this is one of the most unique buildings, in that there is really nothing quite like it elsewhere in town. In fact, it stands rather alone and is much grander than the more typical six-flats across from it.


The next example is across the street from the first one. This building features incredible massive front balconies, porches really, of brick with a roof over the third floor. Unfortunately the parapet has had a cornicectomy at some point, but the massive balcony piers remain, with their craftsman inspired detailing.

An interesting tidbit about this building is that the building at exactly the same position in the block, on the next street to the east has the same bay and window arrangement - two round bays of three windows each and one window per floor at the balcony, yet that building has a completely different feel and treatment, being of red brick and in a neo-heraldric (as opposed to medieval or renaissance) with limestone trim, Gothic arches and shields, and other signs of heraldry.














Our next example also features a similar arrangement on the facade, and even a similar brick color, however, the feel, due to the treatment of the facade, is quite different. In this case wooden porch columns in a similar vein to our first example extend only the support the deck of the third floor porches. In this example, the first floor units are at a disadvantage in that they do not have private porches or even a door out to a stoop. The railings are of iron, and have been since I can remember, they might once have been of wood or cast iron which disintegrated over the years. And I apologize for the poor visibility, once spring and summer arrive, some buildings are simply hidden, which in this case, being a south facing building, is to the residents advantage.

This is another open ended post which will be continued with further examples in the, hopefully, near future.