Chicago Homes
A City Illustrated by Its Everyday Architecture
Will be published approx. on 20. November 2025
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-57284-357-8 (ISBN)
Description
A comprehensive, first-of-its-kind book about Chicago's residential architecture and the stories that shaped it. This is an entertaining and precisely illustrated story of Chicago homes from the city's earliest days through the Second World War, revealing everything about what makes a home a Chicago home.
A city famous for its architecture-and for arguing with New Yorkers about who built it first and best-now has a definitive guide to the unique housing types and styles that have inspired so much devotion. This book is for curious Chicagoans and visitors alike-anyone who's ever wondered how to spot a Foursquare or where to find Italianate homes from before the Great Chicago Fire.
Why are Chicago's lots so narrow? How many Chicagoans built homes from a kit? What exactly is a "greystone"? The authors combine their decades of experience in historic preservation and illustration to create an evergreen resource that Chicagoans and visitors will turn to for answers to these and other questions about the city's neighborhoods and the homes its citizens live in, visit, and admire.
A city famous for its architecture-and for arguing with New Yorkers about who built it first and best-now has a definitive guide to the unique housing types and styles that have inspired so much devotion. This book is for curious Chicagoans and visitors alike-anyone who's ever wondered how to spot a Foursquare or where to find Italianate homes from before the Great Chicago Fire.
Why are Chicago's lots so narrow? How many Chicagoans built homes from a kit? What exactly is a "greystone"? The authors combine their decades of experience in historic preservation and illustration to create an evergreen resource that Chicagoans and visitors will turn to for answers to these and other questions about the city's neighborhoods and the homes its citizens live in, visit, and admire.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago, IL
United States
Illustrations
B&W pen and ink drawings
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 184 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
894 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-57284-357-8 (9781572843578)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2025
Agate Midway
€36.49
Available for download
Persons
Carla Bruni has spent close to twenty years preserving, studying, and writing about historic architecture across dozens of US cities and four continents. She teaches graduate students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she holds a master of science degree in historic preservation. She has been a recurring guest discussing architecture and environmental issues on WGN Radio, and her work has been featured by StoryCorps Chicago, WLS, NPR, PRX, the Chicago Reader, Chicago Tonight, Chicago magazine, and various national and international publications. She also works to support the 30,000+ members of the Chicago Bungalow Association, overseeing energy efficiency retrofits, creating history and home maintenance resources, and leading the charge to list thousands of vintage homes in the National Register of Historic Places. Her professional involvement in community repair and revitalization has taken her to every corner of Chicago, her native city.
Phil Thompson is the cofounder and illustrator behind Wonder City Studio (wondercitystudio.com), a company dedicated to creating artwork of the places worth preserving, with a special love for Chicago. For ten years, he has captured more than a thousand homes and buildings with his pen-and-ink illustrations. His work has been featured in dozens of media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, Chicagoist, Curbed, Business Insider, and Chicago magazine. Clients have included the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the Chicago Architecture Center, among others, and his prints are sold at seventeen retail locations throughout the city.
Phil Thompson is the cofounder and illustrator behind Wonder City Studio (wondercitystudio.com), a company dedicated to creating artwork of the places worth preserving, with a special love for Chicago. For ten years, he has captured more than a thousand homes and buildings with his pen-and-ink illustrations. His work has been featured in dozens of media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, Chicagoist, Curbed, Business Insider, and Chicago magazine. Clients have included the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the Chicago Architecture Center, among others, and his prints are sold at seventeen retail locations throughout the city.
Content
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Early Inhabitants, Early Homes 1780 to 1837
Introduction
Little Home on the River
Homes of the French Colonial/Creoles
The DuSable Home
Homes of the Native Americans in the Region
Early American Settlers: The Log Cabin
The Making of the Chicago Grid
New Town, New Gables Abound
From Timber to Balloon Frame
The Greek Revival Home
The Clarke-Ford Home
A City by 1837
Chapter 2: From Founding to Fire 1837 to 1871
Introduction
Homes for a Booming Metropolis
Building Materials
The Pre-Fire Homes Still with Us
Interior Spaces in the mid-1800s
Heating and Cooling, Lighting, Plumbing
The Pre-Eminent Workers Cottage
House Moving | House Raising
The Ornate Cottages and Rowhouses of Chicago (pre-1871)
Italianate
Second Empire
Pre-Fire Homes in the Former "Suburbs"
Chapter 3: Rising and Rebuilding 1871 to 1882
Introduction
Fire Limits and Regulation
Decline of Pine, Uptick of Brick
Joliet Limestone, "Athens Marble"
Post-Fire Patterns of Population Growth
The Post-Fire Limits, Pre-Annexation Homes of the "Suburbs"
Architecture as a Profession
The Dominant Style of the Era
The Brick Workers Cottage
The Rise of "Flats" Buildings
Two-Story and Wood-frame Italianates
Chapter 4: Annexation and Elevation 1882 to 1893
Introduction
Bold New Architecture in Chicago
Raging Styles
New Heights
The Apartment Hotels and the First Courtyard Building
Terra Cotta Finds Its Moment
The Real Estate Developers
Company Towns, Company Housing
Annexation and the Changing Fire Limits
City Lights, City Heats
Italianate, continued
Chateauesque
Stick Style | Shingle Style
Chapter 5: White City, Blight City 1893 to 1900
Introduction
The World's Columbian Exposition
Sidebar: Clarifying Windows
Beaux Arts/Classical Revival
Romanesque Revival (and Interment)
Chateauesque
Farewell to the Queen (Anne)
Colonial Revival
Greystones + Brick Flats
Workers Cottages Just Keep on Working
Sidebar: Working Class Domestic Life
Courtyard Apartment Buildings
Prairie Style
American Foursquares
Tudor Revival
Sidebar: Coach Houses
Chapter 6: New Century, New Chicago 1900 to 1917
Introduction
Adapting The Workers Cottage
Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago
Frame and Stucco Bungalows
Chicago Bungalows
Sears Home Catalogs
Tudor Revivals
Colonial Revivals
Greystones
Prairie Style Homes
American Foursquares
Bleak Housing Conditions and Tenement Reform
Courtyard Apartment Buildings
Brick Two-Flats and Variations on a Theme
The Back Porch
Chapter 7: Death, Speed, and a Bit of Whimsy 1917 to 1929
Introduction
Chicago Bungalows
Brick Two-Flats and Variations on a Theme
Courtyard Apartment Buildings
The "Own Your Own Home" Movement
Tudor Revivals
Colonial Revivals
Spanish Revivals
Foursquares
Homes for Cars
Art Deco
Chapter 8: Hard Times, New Deals, and a Century of Progress 1929 to 1941
Introduction
The National Mortgage Crisis
Redlining
Lingering Chicago Bungalows
Tudor Revivals
World's Fair 1933
West Burton Place and the Creative Response to the Depression
Art Deco and Moderne
Chapter 9: Common Modifications to Homes: How We Really Live
Introduction
Dormer and Second Story Additions
Enclosed Porches
Metal Awnings
Perma-Stone / Formstone
Removing + Hiding Fireplaces and Stained Glass
Vinyl Siding
Glass Block + PIcture Windows
Raised Workers Cottages
Metal Hand and Porch Rails
Street- or Courtyard- Facing Metal Balconies
Overlord Additions
Epilogue
Introduction
Chapter 1: Early Inhabitants, Early Homes 1780 to 1837
Introduction
Little Home on the River
Homes of the French Colonial/Creoles
The DuSable Home
Homes of the Native Americans in the Region
Early American Settlers: The Log Cabin
The Making of the Chicago Grid
New Town, New Gables Abound
From Timber to Balloon Frame
The Greek Revival Home
The Clarke-Ford Home
A City by 1837
Chapter 2: From Founding to Fire 1837 to 1871
Introduction
Homes for a Booming Metropolis
Building Materials
The Pre-Fire Homes Still with Us
Interior Spaces in the mid-1800s
Heating and Cooling, Lighting, Plumbing
The Pre-Eminent Workers Cottage
House Moving | House Raising
The Ornate Cottages and Rowhouses of Chicago (pre-1871)
Italianate
Second Empire
Pre-Fire Homes in the Former "Suburbs"
Chapter 3: Rising and Rebuilding 1871 to 1882
Introduction
Fire Limits and Regulation
Decline of Pine, Uptick of Brick
Joliet Limestone, "Athens Marble"
Post-Fire Patterns of Population Growth
The Post-Fire Limits, Pre-Annexation Homes of the "Suburbs"
Architecture as a Profession
The Dominant Style of the Era
The Brick Workers Cottage
The Rise of "Flats" Buildings
Two-Story and Wood-frame Italianates
Chapter 4: Annexation and Elevation 1882 to 1893
Introduction
Bold New Architecture in Chicago
Raging Styles
New Heights
The Apartment Hotels and the First Courtyard Building
Terra Cotta Finds Its Moment
The Real Estate Developers
Company Towns, Company Housing
Annexation and the Changing Fire Limits
City Lights, City Heats
Italianate, continued
Chateauesque
Stick Style | Shingle Style
Chapter 5: White City, Blight City 1893 to 1900
Introduction
The World's Columbian Exposition
Sidebar: Clarifying Windows
Beaux Arts/Classical Revival
Romanesque Revival (and Interment)
Chateauesque
Farewell to the Queen (Anne)
Colonial Revival
Greystones + Brick Flats
Workers Cottages Just Keep on Working
Sidebar: Working Class Domestic Life
Courtyard Apartment Buildings
Prairie Style
American Foursquares
Tudor Revival
Sidebar: Coach Houses
Chapter 6: New Century, New Chicago 1900 to 1917
Introduction
Adapting The Workers Cottage
Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago
Frame and Stucco Bungalows
Chicago Bungalows
Sears Home Catalogs
Tudor Revivals
Colonial Revivals
Greystones
Prairie Style Homes
American Foursquares
Bleak Housing Conditions and Tenement Reform
Courtyard Apartment Buildings
Brick Two-Flats and Variations on a Theme
The Back Porch
Chapter 7: Death, Speed, and a Bit of Whimsy 1917 to 1929
Introduction
Chicago Bungalows
Brick Two-Flats and Variations on a Theme
Courtyard Apartment Buildings
The "Own Your Own Home" Movement
Tudor Revivals
Colonial Revivals
Spanish Revivals
Foursquares
Homes for Cars
Art Deco
Chapter 8: Hard Times, New Deals, and a Century of Progress 1929 to 1941
Introduction
The National Mortgage Crisis
Redlining
Lingering Chicago Bungalows
Tudor Revivals
World's Fair 1933
West Burton Place and the Creative Response to the Depression
Art Deco and Moderne
Chapter 9: Common Modifications to Homes: How We Really Live
Introduction
Dormer and Second Story Additions
Enclosed Porches
Metal Awnings
Perma-Stone / Formstone
Removing + Hiding Fireplaces and Stained Glass
Vinyl Siding
Glass Block + PIcture Windows
Raised Workers Cottages
Metal Hand and Porch Rails
Street- or Courtyard- Facing Metal Balconies
Overlord Additions
Epilogue