Walking Tour of LaGrange Historic District - Tour #3 Preview

1

101 S Spring

101 South Spring is a vernacular house among the homes cited for particular architectural significance. Note the graceful arches of the porch and the sidelights at the entrance.

2

109 S Spring

109 South Spring is an interesting vernacular which blends classical elements with a Mansard roof over a basic foursquare design. It is known as the Clarke Edward Warren House. Mr. Warren served on the vestry of Emmanuel Church for twelve years and on the District 102 School Board.

3

112 S Spring

112 South Spring was the home of Harley Bradford Mitchell. He was Village President from 1905-1907, a founder of the La Grange State Bank, and a county commissioner. He was also president of Mitchell Brothers Publishing Company, publishers of the magazine Popular Aviation. The house is a shingle style Victorian. Notice the extensive use of lattice windows, complicated roofline, and turret. This house remains largely unaltered.

4

126 S Spring

126 South Spring is an example of the Victorian.

5

136 S Spring

136 South Spring was built in 1902. Its original owner was P. Eustice, who moved to La Grange in 1891 and was instrumental in establishing the public library and the country club.

6

205 S Spring

205 South Spring is a Queen Anne house built in 1890 and later remodeled by William Hulsberg. It is known as the Judge Barnes House and was also the boyhood home of Graham Hunter, the artist-creator of “Little People.” Notice the ornamental panels with floral relief decoration on the two-story turret.

7

222 S Spring

222 South Spring is known as the Pratt House. George Pratt served in the Civil war; when he celebrated his 100th birthday, Mr. Pratt was honored with a historic party as the last surviving veteran of the Civil War to be living in La Grange. George Pratt was a Village trustee from 1893 until 1896. The house was also owned by Andrew Mitchell, the Flannigan family, and the Hasselhoff family, whose son is a popular television actor. Built c. 1870, the house is a vernacular with influences from the Italianate and Second Empire styles. Notable architectural elements include the Mansard Roof, elaborate windows and cornices, brackets in pairs, and two story rounded entrance tower with rounded double doors.

8

308 S Spring

308 South Spring was the home of Charles Wales, developer of the first adding machine and of electric pipe organ action.

9

314 S Spring

314 South Spring belonged to the nationally famous designer of stage scenery, Walter Wilcox Burridge. Mr. Burridge designed the set for the first stage production of the Wizard of Oz, which was performed at the Chicago Grand Opera, and for presentations at the World Columbian Exposition and the McVickers Theater.

10

345 S Spring

345 South Spring was the home of the State Senator Arthur W. Sprague. It is an enlarged foursquare style with lattice windows throughout.

11

350 S Spring

350 South Spring was once owned by Louise M. Greeley, a former Village attorney and a Village trustee from 1930-1931. This Colonial revival home features a cross gambrel roof and a flat portico in front with classical column supports. It also has an unusual projecting third story balcony on the façade.

12

405 S Spring

405 South Spring is a vernacular house that combines elements of the Prairie, Victorian, and other styles. Note the bay with leaded glass windows, the double dormer, and the horizontal lines. The plan is from the American Foursquare, the double brackets from the Italianate, and the fish scales from the Queen Anne styles. The various details are united in a house of architectural value that has largely been unchanged over the years.

13

416 S Spring

416 South Spring is another vernacular that has undergone little alteration. The cottage-like effect is achieved through the roofline, large dormer, and stucco finish.

14

421 S Spring

421 South Spring is an example of a vernacular house. Notice the sidelights beside the doors.

15

425 S Spring

425 South Spring is a vernacular house that borrows from the American Foursquare and Queen Anne/Victorian. Notice the unusual treatment under the eaves.

16

431 S Spring

431 South Spring was the home of Frank A. Mitchell, Chairman of the Executive Committee and member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Association of Commerce. It is an enlarged American foursquare.

17

437 S Spring

437 South Spring is a simplified Queen Anne style. It was the home of Dr. Paul Guilford, a well-known eye, ear, and throat specialist. Dr. Guilford was president of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society.

18

445 S Spring Ave

445 South Spring belonged to A.R. Wagenknight and to O.P. Chamberlain. It is a vernacular based on the American Foursquare. Notice the lovely front entrance with sidelights. Also of interest are the two story bays on both sides of the façade and on the north side.

19

448 S Spring Ave

448 South Spring is another excellent example of vernacular architecture. The wide front porch and horizontal effect give it a prairie-style appearance.

20

425 S Kensington Ave

425 South Kensington is a wood-shingle bungalow. It is the former home of Goodman and Giorgia Mottelson, whose son won a Nobel Prize for his work in physics.

21

418 S Kensington Ave

418 South Kensington belonged to Marshall Miles, a partner of F.D Cossitt in the real estate and insurance business. Mr. Miles was married to Mr. Cossitt’s daughter Jean. Mr. Miles’ mother worked for women’s rights as a suffragette after her arrival in La Grange in 1893.

22

334 S Kensington Ave

334 South Kensington is a vernacular house with elements of the Italianate (notice the paired rounded windows throughout), Victorian, and American Foursquare. The house resembles a small church partly because of the high pitch of the roof. It appears to us largely as it did when first constructed.

23

315 S Kensington Ave

315 South Kensington was the only house on this block when William Hulsberg designed it for his brother Herman. It is an American Foursquare.

25

222 S Kensington

This Queen Anne Style home was built in 1894 by an architect with the name of Tilden who was also the first resident. Previous owners included David Sackett who lived in this home from 1937-1958. He is a 1952 graduate of Lyons Township High School who was inducted into their hall of fame in 2002. Dr. Sackett, who passed away in 2015, was a neurosurgeon and pioneer of evidence based medicine. He was a Principal Investigator in the trials that showed, for the first time anywhere, the life-saving benefits of aspirin for patients with threatened stroke and threatened heart attack. He authored 10 books, 50 chapters for others and wrote over 300 papers. Dr. Sackett went on to live in Canada in his later years and won many awards, most notably he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and McMaster University in Canada. He was appointed as Honorary Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, at the West China University of Medical Sciences, and Adjunct Professor of the University of Ottawa, Canada. He received the Gairdner award in 2009 which Canadians consider the “Baby Nobel” and was an Officer of the Order of Canada.

26

223 S Kensington

223 South Kensington is a Tudor-like vernacular built c. 1907 by Henry Sands and Designed by Joseph C. Llewellyn, a prominent architect and La Grange resident. The house has been altered several times.

27

212 S Kensington

212 South Kensington is a Queen Anne/Victorian with a lovely Wrap-around porch with trellis and interesting windows. Notice the unusual shingles.

28

201 S Kensington Ave - Emmanuel Episcopal Church

201 South Kensington is the Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The present structure was designed in 1925 by John Tilton, Jr., after a previous one designed by his father was destroyed by fire. An even earlier church on this site had been designed by john Clay. David Lyman and Frank Cossitt selected this place for the church when a survey of the Village determined that it was the exact center of what was then the Village of La Grange. The church is named after the Episcopal Church in La Grange, Tennessee.

29

135 S Kensington Ave

135 South Kensington is known as the Griesbach home. It was also owned by George J. Corey, United States Consul in Amsterdam. Mrs. Corey was the second president of the La Grange Women’s Club. The Top floor of the house was destroyed by a fire in 1954. The house was restored to its current condition in recent years.

30

129 S Kensington Ave

129 South Kensington is an example of the vernacular/Italianate. Notice the broad hipped roof, the elaborate cornice, the pairs of brackets under the eaves, and other details.

31

123 S Kensington Ave

123 South Kensington is a vernacular based on the American Foursquare and designed c. 1920 by J.N. Tilton, who was the original owner. Mr. Tilton, who was born in Rome, Italy, and was an architect and thirty-year resident of La Grange. He was also president of the La Grange Public Library Board.

32

103 S Kensington

103 South Kensington is a little altered Victorian/Queen Anne and is known as the Lord House. The Lord Lumber Company once stood on the corner of Hillgrove and Waiola Avenues. Note the stained glass in the vestibule, the turret, and the façade’s fishscale shingle beltcourse between the first and second storys.