March 25, 2022
I really appreciate that people share house history information and anecdotes with me. It gives me the opportunity to investigate and learn more about our neighborhood’s history. Never know what interesting “tidbit” could be uncovered.
Recently, a neighbor shared with me that the house on Milwaukee and Cullom (4304 N. Milwaukee), next to Gyro Eats that used to be Hot Dog Express, was one of the original/oldest houses in the area.
Finding the building permit was not hard. There you go – 1909.
I guess it does not qualify as one of the oldest houses in the area.
Oh well.
On to the next “oldest house in the area”.
Shared by a Lawler neighbor: “When we first moved in I was told by the owner of 5003 W. Berteau that his was the original farmhouse for the area. That may be why the architecture is a little different.”
Since this is in my turf, I already knew the basic poop on this house. Permit pulled 1909. See the 5000 Berteau Block Records page. So, not the original farmhouse in the area. However, the house is, indeed, a little different. Here’s where it does get somewhat interesting…
All of the frame houses on the 5000 block of Berteau were built by Arthur W. Dickinson, except 5003. The house was built by a contractor named Christian Iverson, who pulled the permit for a 2 story frame and stucco residence, 33′ x 26′ on 2/10/1909. Iverson was a somewhat active self-employed Danish house builder. Here’s a partial list of houses he built between 1906 and 1911:
Besides building this house, Iverson shows up as living in the house on the 1910 census, along with a wife, 4 children, and a servant.
Here’s the somewhat interesting part: as I was researching another anecdote regarding Lawler, I managed to make contact with a Professor Emeritus of Architectural History at UIC – Urbana who has a surprising wealth of knowledge of the houses in our neighborhood. During the course of our correspondence, he wrote:
“Although you also refer to what I presume is Griffin’s Stecher house on Pensacola, do you know that he designed a house at 5003 W. Berteau for a contractor which unfortunately was not built to Griffin’s plans but retains some relationship to his original proposal?“
This means we have a partial Walter Burley Griffin design in our midst. In case you are not aware, the two closest Griffin houses are 4840 W. Pensacola and 4731 N. Knox, which is known as the Iverson house! If you aren’t familiar with Griffin, you can find his bio on the Walter Burley Griffin Society website. He is a major Prairie School architect.
Well, that explains why 5003 W. Berteau looks different than other houses in the area. It’s a better reason than just being old.
I will have to pay closer attention to 4920 Pensacola since I literally pass it/park next to it every day, for work. If you are ever interested in some History on St. John’s (a couple houses down from 4920) I would be happy to get it for you. They have some AMAZING records in the office from both the church and the school. Our dear neighbor Joan that passed a few years ago attended there back around the ’50’s-’60’s. In my classroom, the original part of the building, they still have the flooring from I don’t know how far back. It has cute designs in it. And one of the Girl Scouts that visited your butterfly project is in my class. Still getting her to work on your butterfly picture. 🙂