Miscellaneous and completely random brain farts about Chicago

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Spotted this today. Just sharing. Thought it was pretty cool.

Home styles of Chicago:



Credit: Wonder City Studio

I live in a vintage Chicago 3-flat, but ours is a later version that has a centered, squared-off projecting sun porch on the front facade in lieu of the more classic bay window pictured above.

Ours is most similar to the "Edgewater" example pictured below, but without the hipped roof over the sun porch, which makes sense because Lincoln Square was largerly built out at the same time as Edgewater (our 3-flat was built in 1920).



Source: https://wondercitystudio.com/products/the-three-flat

[PHX31]

My Dad was almost relocated to Chicago instead of Phoenix from LA for work just before I was born... so sometimes I've wondered how life would be if i was born in Chicago instead of Phoenix (I'd at least have enjoyed the Bulls beating the Suns in 1993 instead of being crushed).

I'd want to live in the Prairie-style house shown above, where are those predominantly located in the Chicago area?

[Chisouthside]

i think theyre rare in comparison to the other typologies but i do see alot nestled along the north lakefront neighborhoods and oak park, il which is an adjacent suburb.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Chisouthside

i think theyre rare in comparison to the other typologies but i do see alot nestled along the north lakefront neighborhoods and oak park, il which is an adjacent suburb.

Yeah, oak park is like planet earth's capital for prairie school residential (it's where FLW lived and practiced for his early classic period), but in the city proper, I can't think of any areas where the style overly predominates. There are certainly examples mixed-in, with some extremely notable examples like robie house down in Hyde Park, but nothing comes close to the concentration found out in oak park.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by PHX31

My Dad was almost relocated to Chicago instead of Phoenix from LA for work just before I was born... so sometimes I've wondered how life would be if i was born in Chicago instead of Phoenix

A little while ago having dinner with my parents, my dad relayed the story of how he almost took a job transfer to Terre Haute, IN because the company he worked for at the time wanted him to head up their regional office down there.

I was three years old at the time and have no memory of this, but it apparently went as far as my mom and dad going down there to house-hunt and such.

But in the end, thank God, my dad was just too much of a hopeless Chicagoan. Even though it would've been a good opportunity to ladder climb and make more money, he declined it because, in my father's words:

"I ultimately didn't want to uproot our family and completely reinvent our lives for some more money. My parents lived in Chicago, 4 of my 5 siblings and all of their kids lived in Chicago, all my lifelong friends lived in Chicago, your mom's whole family lived in Chicago, why the hell would I want to give all of that up? Just for a little more money? After thinking about it, it didn't make any sense to me. And plenty of other opportunities eventually came my way by staying in Chicago anyway."


I didn't fall very far from the apple tree.

Give me Chicago, or give me death!

Sometimes it's both.

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

A little while ago having dinner with my parents, my dad relayed the story of how he almost took a job transfer to Terre Haute, IN because the company he worked for at the time wanted him to head up their regional office down there.

I was three years old at the time and have no memory of this, but it apparently went as far as my mom and dad going down there to house-hunt and such.

But in the end, thank God, my dad was just too much of a hopeless Chicagoan. Even though it would've been a good opportunity to ladder climb and make more money, he declined it because, in my father's words:

"I ultimately didn't want to uproot our family and completely reinvent our lives for some more money. My parents lived in Chicago, 4 of my 5 siblings and all of their kids lived in Chicago, all my lifelong friends lived in Chicago, your mom's whole family lived in Chicago, why the hell would I want to give all of that up? Just for a little more money? After thinking about it, it didn't make any sense to me. And plenty of other opportunities eventually came my way by staying in Chicago anyway."


I didn't fall very far from the apple tree.

Give me Chicago, or give me death!

Sometimes it's both.

Yeah, sounds like he probably made the right decision. My Dad didn't have the same roots in the Los Angeles area, although he had deeper ones than most southern Californians. As a kid, we were one of the only members of the family that lived in Arizona, and I always kind of wished I lived closer to all of my Aunts and Uncles and cousins. But, we visited them, so that is fine and now I'm glad he made the relocation decision to Arizona.

I can't anymore ask my Dad why he chose Phoenix over Chicago (the decision may have been made for him by the company, not sure), but I should ask my Mom. I always had an affinity for Chicago, but perhaps that's partly because Ferris Bueller's Day off was one of my favorite movies and Family Matters was one of my favorite TV shows.

[Tom In Chicago]

Incidentally my old man could have been relocated to Fort Worth back when he worked for Radio Shack/Tandy. . . I wonder what kind of 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 I'd be today if I grew up there. . . a sunbelt 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 I suspect rather than the rust-belt 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 I am today

. . .

[Steely Dan]

^ and i coulda been a cornbelt 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 insted of a chicago 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵.

i don't really know much about Terre Haute, IN. never been there.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Source: https://wondercitystudio.com/products/the-three-flat

I love Chicago’s three-flats.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

I love Chicago’s three-flats.

Me too!!

They're magnificent density increasers in middle urbanism neighborhoods.

Where a standard bungalow belt neighborhood might have a density of 9,000 ppsm, that same exact neighborhood, but with three-flats instead of bungalows, gets you over 25,000 ppsm, which is WAY more conducive to producing and sustaining walkable neighborhood urbanism.

I like walking the walk, which is one of the reasons why I'm raising my family in a classic Chicago 3-flat.