ORDINANCE
West Burton Place District 150-160 W. Burton Place 143-161 W. Burton Place
WHEREAS, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), Sections 2-120-630 through -690, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that West Burton Place District (the "District"), consisting of 150-160 (evens) West Burton Place and 143-161 (odds) West Burton Place, Chicago, Illinois, legally described in Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein, satisfies five (5) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1),(3),(4),(5) and (6) of the Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS,,the District is one of the few remaining "artist colonies" extant in the City of Chicago, which exemplifies the use of found objects, handmade carvings, stained and painted art glass, concrete and plaster reliefs and other artwork. These and various other materials were used to create works of art in internal and external contexts in artist studios in which artists and craftsmen lived and worked; and
WHEREAS, the District became the successor to the Towertown neighborhood as a cohesive geographical enclave for artists in the late 1920s and 1930s. Artists began relocating to the District after Towertown was redeveloped into a higher rent and increasingly commercial area following the completion in 1920 of the Michigan Avenue Bridge; and
WHEREAS, the artist colony that developed in the District became the home and work place of numerous prominent artists and architects of national and international stature for over eight decades, and artists, architects and patrons of the arts continue to reside and/or work in the proposed District; and
WHEREAS, the architects and artisans who built and resided in the District contributed to the unique artistic fabric of the District, and the broader Old Town neighborhood and City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, several of these artists, architects and craftsmen achieved enduring regional, national or international stature during their lifetimes and afterwards; and
WHEREAS, artists who lived and worked in (and worked on) the artist studios in the proposed District that achieved international fame include Boris Anisfeld and Mark Tobey. Anisfeld taught at the Art Institute for almost 30 years and his paintings and operatic set designs became and remain internationally known. Mark Tobey was an internationally famous abstract painter. The art of both artists is on display in several museum collections; and
WHEREAS, several artists who lived and worked on the block enjoyed a national reputation, and many were involved with important WPA art projects in Chicago and elsewhere during the Great Depression. Among these were Edgar Miller, Edgar Britton, Eleanor de Laittre and Edward Millman; and
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WHEREAS, artists in the District who enjoyed regional prominence include muralist John Norton, commercial designer and painter Taylor Poore, and artists of various media Sol Kogen, Stuart Rae, Jesus Torres and Clive Rickabaugh; and
WHEREAS, later, the District was home to television personality Dave Garroway, the first host of NBC's Today Show, and nationally-syndicated film critic Roger Ebert; and
WHEREAS, the buildings in the District contain a mix of high-quality "classic" Chicago residential buildings from the late 1800s, as well as original remodeled structures created by a community of artists and architects in the interwar period. These remodeled structures represent an organic merger of art and architecture that is rare and possibly unique in the United States; and
WHEREAS, seven street-facing structures, and several coach houses on the block are artist-remodeled studio complexes that reflect an eclectic mix of Art Deco, Art Moderne, Arts and Crafts and International Styles that have retained their architectural integrity since the 1930s and 1940. These buildings feature highly distinctive and high quality architectural and artistic flourishes, including stained and painted art-glass windows with geometric and figurative motifs, sculptural reliefs of concrete, plaster and stone, detailed tile and brick work, mosaics, and carved wood doors and other architectural installments; and
WHEREAS, five street-facing structures are high quality Victorian-era residential buildings, displaying influences of the Classic Revival, Queen Anne and Italianate styles. These 19th century residences narrate the history of the District as buildings of this type and vintage that were transformed by the community of artists and architects between the 1920s and 1940s; and
WHEREAS, half of the structures in the District reflect the work of architects, designers, and artists whose individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States, as discussed above with respect to Criterion 3; and
WHEREAS, the remodeled artist studios on West Burton Place feature stunning architectural designs and details by nationally significant architects Andrew Rebori and master designer and artist Edgar Miller. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Rebori designed several well-known buildings (some of which have achieved Landmark status), including the Fisher Studios on North State Parkway (he collaborated on this building with Miller), the Roanoke Building, the La Salle-Wacker Building, and the Racket Club of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the District reflects architectural, cultural, historic, and social themes expressed as a distinctive District composed of traditional Victorian buildings juxtaposed against remodeled artist studios featuring significant and distinctive works of art; and
WHEREAS, the District features a distinctive mix of eclectic styles: from the "handmade homes" to the classic homes from the late 1800s. The unique blend of styles contribute to the overall narrative of the block - that a group of artists and architects came together during the Great Depression to create art from extant structures using unique materials and intricate architectural features; and
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WHEREAS, consistent with Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code, the District has a significant historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value, the integrity of which is preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and ability to express such historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value; and
WHEREAS, on April 7, 2016, the Commission adopted a resolution recommending to the City Council of the City of Chicago (the "City Council") that the District be designated a Chicago Landmark; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO: SECTION 1. The above recitals are hereby adopted as the findings of the City Council.
SECTION 2. The District is hereby designated a Chicago Landmark in accordance with Section 2-120-700 of the Municipal Code.
SECTION 3. For purposes of Sections 2-120-740 and 2-120-770 of the Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features of the District are identified as:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the District buildings visible from the West Burton Place public right-of-way; and
The following built features:
walls, fences and gates located at the front perimeter of 143, 147, 155, 159, 161 and 152-156 West Burton Place; and
the iron fences in the parkway in front of 143 West Burton Place; and
the marble and tile surface of the sidewalk in front of 155 West Burton Place.
SECTION 4. The Commission is hereby directed to create a suitable plaque appropriately identifying the District as a Chicago Landmark.
SECTION 5. If any provision of this ordinance shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the invalidity or unenforceability of such provision shall not affect any of the other provisions of this ordinance.
SECTION 6. All ordinances, resolutions, motions or orders in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.
SECTION 7. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and approval.
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EXHIBIT A
Property Index Numbers (PINs) and Addresses in the District
Permanent Index Number (PIN) Address
17-04-204-049-0000 158 W. Burton Place
17-04-204-056-0000 17-04-204-055-0000 160 W. Burton Place
17-04-205-010-0000 147 W. Burton Place
17-04-205-005-0000 161 W. Burton Place
17-04-205-009-0000 151 W. Burton Place
17-04-205-053-0000 159 W. Burton Place
17-04-204-034-0000 154 and 156 West Burton Place
17-04-204-035-0000 152 West Burton Place
17-04-204-050-1001 158 West Burton Place #1
17-04-204-050-1002 158 West Burton Place #2
17-04-204-050-1003 158 West Burton Place #3
17-04-204-050-1004 158 West Burton Place #4
17-04-205-056-1001 145 West Burton Place #1
17-04-205-056-1002 145 West Burton Place #2
17-04-205-056-1003 145 West Burton Place #3
17-04-205-065-1001 155 West Burton Place #1
17-04-205-065-1002- 155 West Burton Place #2
17-04-205-065-1003 155 West Burton Place #3
17-04-205-065-1004 155 West Burton Place #4
Permanent Index Number (PIN) Address
17-04-205-065-1005 155 West Burton Place #5
17-04-205-065-1006 155 West Burton Place #6
17-04-205-065-1007 155 West Burton Place #7
17-04-205-065-1008 155 West Burton Place #8
17-04-205-065-1009 155 West Burton Place #9
17-04-205-065-1010 155 West Burton Place #10
17-04-205-065-1011 155 West Burton Place #11
17-04-205-065-1012 155 West Burton Place #12
17-04-205-065-1013 155 West Burton Place #14
17-04-205-065-1014 155 West Burton Place #15
17-04-205-065-1015 155 West Burton Place #16
17-04-205-065-1016 155 West Burton Place #17
17-04-204-045-1001 150 W. Burton Place #1
17-04-204-045-1002 150 W. Burton Place #2
17-04-204-045-1003 150 W. Burton Place #3 -
17-04-205-063-1001 143 West Burton Place #1S
17-04-205-063-1002 143 West Burton Place #1N
17-04-205-063-1003 143 West Burton Place #2S
17-04-205-063-1004 143 West Burton Place #2N
17-04-205-063-1005 143 West Burton Place #3S
17-04-205-063-1006 143 West Burton Place #3N
DiPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
CITY OF CHICAGO
May 6, 2016
The Honorable Susana Mendoza City Clerk City of Chicago Room 107, City Hall 121 North LaSalle Street Chicago, IL 60602
RE: Recommendation for the designation of West Burton Place as a Chicago Landmark District, 150-160 W. Burton Place; 143-161 W. Burton Place
Dear Clerk Mendoza:
We are filing with your office for introduction at the May 18, 2016, City Council meeting as a transmittal to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago the recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks that West Burton Place be designated as a Chicago Landmark District.
The material being submitted to you for this proposal includes the:
Recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks; and
Proposed Ordinance.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Eleanor Esser Gorski, AIA Deputy Commissioner
Planning, Design and Historic Preservation Division Department of Planning and Development
cc:
ends.
Alderman Walter Burnett, Jr., 27 Ward (via email without enclosure)
121 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602
CITY OF CHICAGO COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
April 7,2016
RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHICAGO THAT CHICAGO LANDMARK DESIGNATION BE ADOPTED FOR THE
WEST BURTON PLACE DISTRICT
Including the Following Address Ranges (even/odd addresses):
150-160 West Burton Place (evens) 143-161 West Burton Place (odds)
Docket No. 2016-01
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago:
Pursuant to Section 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code of the City of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the West Burton Place District (the "District") is worthy of Chicago Landmark designation. On the basis of careful consideration of the history and architecture of the District, the Commission has found that it satisfies the following five (5) criteria set forth in Section 2-120-620 of the Municipal Code:
1. Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the heritage of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.
Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of (he development of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.
Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.
Its identification as the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States
Its representation of an architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other theme expressed through distinctive areas, districts, places, buildings, structures, works of art, or other objects that may or may not be contiguous.
I. BACKGROUND
The formal landmark, designation process for the District began on August 6, 2015, when the Commission approved a preliminary landmark recommendation (the "Preliminary Recommendation") for the District as a Chicago Landmark. The Commission found that the District meets five (5) of the seven (7) criteria for designation, as well as the integrity criterion, identified in the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance (Municipal Code, Section 2-120-580 et seq.). The Preliminary Recommendation, incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit A, initiated the process for further study and analysis of the proposed designation of the District as a Chicago Landmark. As part of the Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission identified the "significant historical and architectural features" of the District as:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the district buildings visible from the West Burton Place public right-of-way; and
the following built features:
o walls, fences and gates located at the front perimeter of 143, 147, 155, 159,
161 and 152-156 West Burton Place; and o the iron fences in the parkway in front of 143 West Burton Place; and o the marble and tile surface of the sidewalks in front of 151 and 155 West
Burton Place.
Also, as part of the Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission adopted a Designation Report, dated August 6, 2015, incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit B.
At its regular meeting of October 1, 2015, the Commission received a report from David Reifman, Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development, stating that the proposed landmark designation of the District is consistent with the City's plans and policies for the surrounding Near North Side community areas and is consistent with the City's other governing plans and policies. This report is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit C (the "DPD Report").
On November 13, 2015, the Commission officially requested consent to the proposed • landmark designation from the owners of properties within the District. It has been the Commission's practice to send one consent form to the owner of each tax parcel, identified by Property Index Number (or PIN), in a proposed landmark district. Six (6) properties in the District are held by fee simple owners under one PIN and one consent form was sent to each of these owners. Under the Commission's Rules and Regulations, when a building is owned by a cooperative corporation or divided into condominiums, the corporation or condominium association is considered the owner, and one consent form is sent to these entities representing all of the owners in the building. One (1) property in the District is owned by a cooperative corporation and a single consent form was sent to this entity. Four (4) properties in the District are condominiums and one consent form was sent to each condominium association. The Commission sent a total of 12 consent forms.
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As of December 28, 2015, the end of the request-for-consent period, nine (9) of 12 request-for-consent forms mailed to property owners had been returned to the Commission. Of these, five (5) owners consented to the proposed landmark designation, while four (4) did not consent, and three (3) owners did not respond to the Commission's request. (As of April 7, 2016, the date of this recommendation, one (1) additional request-for-consent form was returned to the Commission as a non-consent. Therefore final consent tally is: ten (10) responses, five (5) owners consenting, five (5) owners not consenting, and two (2) owners not responding.)
Upon the end of the consent period, as required by the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance, the Commission notified owners of properties within the District in a letter dated March 1, 2016, of a public hearing on the proposed designation scheduled for March 21, 2016. Notices of the time and date of the hearing were also (a) posted on signs in the proposed District, and (b) published as a legal notice in the Chicago Sun-Times, as required by the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance. A notice was also posted on the DPD web site.
II. PUBLIC HEARING
The hearing was convened, as scheduled and noticed, on Monday, March 21, 2016, at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., Rm. 201-A. Commission member Gabriel Ignacio Dziekiewicz served as Hearing Officer, assisted by Lisa Misher, Senior Counsel of the Real Estate and Land Use Division of the City's Law Department, as legal counsel to the Commission, and Eleanor Esser Gorski, Deputy Commissioner of the Planning, Design and Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Planning and Development. The hearing was conducted in accordance with the Commission's Rules and Regulations, specifically Article II regarding the conduct of public hearings for landmark designation.
The Commission staffs presentation recommending the proposed landmark designation was given by Matt Crawford, Coordinating Planner.
At the conclusion of the staff presentation, the Commission's Rules and Regulations allow property owners, regardless of whether they request party status, to question the staff and/or the staffs expert.
Two (2) property owners or owner representatives for properties within the proposed District specifically requested and were granted party status by the Hearing Officer:
Mary Cvengros, representing the three owners in the condominium association at 145 W. Burton Place, was granted party status in favor of the District. Ms. Cvengros stated that all of the property owners in her condominium association supported the District, though the association would like the Commission to extend the District boundaries west to include 164 to 172 W. Burton Place. It should be noted that the condominium association did not respond to the Commission's request for consent.
Robert Zadylak was granted party status in opposition to the District. Mr. Zadylak owns shares in the West Burton Place Corporation, a residential cooperative
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consisting of a group of buildings at 152, 154 and 156 W. Burton Place. Mr. Zadylak spoke as a majority shareholder (66%) in the corporation. He opposes the inclusion of the cooperative's buildings on the basis of physical integrity, stating that many of the facades that were from the 1930s and 1940s have recently been rebuilt. Mr. Zadylak also stated that he opposed the District because it did not include the building at 1500 N. LaSalle Street. Later in the hearing, two other shareholders in the cooperative who did not claim party status spoke in favor of the designation. They also noted that the recently replaced facades were designed based on historic photographs from circa 1940.
After presentations by parties, property owners within the District not requesting party status and members of the general public made statements. Eight owners of property within the District spoke in favor of the District. Four owners of property within the District spoke in opposition to the District. 11 members of the general public, including representatives of the Midwest Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Chicago Art Deco Society, the Edgar Miller Legacy, Landmarks Illinois and Preservation Chicago, spoke in favor of the proposed designation.
One property owner stated that there is no marble and tile surface in the sidewalk in front of 151 W. Burton Place, and recommended that this be removed from the significant historical and architectural features of the District.
The transcript (the "Hearing Transcript") and related exhibits from the public hearing are attached hereto.
r
HI. TALLY OF CONSENTS TO THE DESIGNATION AND CHANGES TO THE DISTRICT
As of the date hereof, ten (10) of 12 request-for-consent forms mailed to property owners have been returned to the Commission. Five (5) owners consented to the proposed landmark designation, while five (5) did not consent, and two (2) owners did not respond to the Commission's request.
IV. FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code, the Commission shall determine whether to recommend the proposed landmark designation to City Council within 30 days after the conclusion of a public hearing; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code, the Commission has reviewed the entire record of proceedings on the proposed Chicago Landmark designation, including the Designation Report, the DPD Report, the Hearing Transcript and all of the information on the proposed landmark designation of the District; and
WHEREAS, the District meets the five (5) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of the Municipal Code; and
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WHEREAS, the District is one of the few remaining "artist colonies" extant in the City of Chicago, which exemplifies the use of found objects, handmade carvings, stained and painted art glass, concrete and plaster reliefs and other artwork. These and various other materials were used to create works of art in internal and external contexts in artist studios in which artists and craftsmen lived and worked; and
WHEREAS, the District became the successor to the Towertown neighborhood as a cohesive geographical enclave for artists in the late 1920s and 1930s. Artists began relocating to the District after Towertown was redeveloped into a higher rent and increasingly commercial area following the completion in 1920 of the Michigan Avenue Bridge; and
WHEREAS, the artist colony that developed in the District became the home and work place of numerous prominent artists and architects of national and international stature for over eight decades, and artists, architects and patrons of the arts continue to reside and/or work in the proposed District; and
WHEREAS, the architects and artisans who built and resided in the District contributed to the unique artistic fabric of the District, and the broader Old Town neighborhood and City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, several of these artists, architects and craftsmen achieved enduring regional, national or international stature during their lifetimes and afterwards; and
WHEREAS, artists who lived and worked in (and worked on) the artist studios in the proposed District that achieved international fame include Boris Anisfeld and Mark Tobey. Anisfeld taught at the Art Institute for almost 30 years and his paintings and operatic set designs became and remain internationally known. Mark Tobey was an internationally famous abstract painter. The art of both artists is on display in several museum collections; and
WHEREAS, several artists who lived and worked on the block enjoyed a national reputation, and many were involved with important WPA art projects in Chicago and elsewhere during the Great Depression. Among these were Edgar Miller, Edgar Britton, Eleanor de Laittre and Edward Millman; and
WHEREAS, artists in the District who enjoyed regional prominence include muralist John Norton, commercial designer and painter Taylor Poore, and artists of various media Sol Kogen, Stuart Rae, Jesus Torres and Give Rickabaugh; and
WHEREAS, later, the District was home to television personality Dave Garroway, the first host of NBC's Today Show, and nationally-syndicated film critic Roger Ebert; and
WHEREAS, the buildings in the District contain a mix of high-quality "classic" Chicago residential buildings from the late 1800s, as well as original remodeled structures created by a community of artists and architects in the interwar period. These remodeled
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structures represent an organic merger of art and architecture that is rare and possibly unique in the United States; and
WHEREAS, seven street-facing structures, and several coach houses on the block are artist-remodeled studio complexes that reflect an eclectic mix of Art Deco, Art Moderne, Arts and Crafts and International Styles that have retained their architectural integrity since the 1930s and 1940. These buildings feature highly distinctive and high quality architectural and artistic flourishes, including stained and painted art-glass windows with geometric and figurative motifs, sculptural reliefs of concrete, plaster and stone, detailed tile and brick work, mosaics, and carved wood doors and other architectural installments; and
WHEREAS, five street-facing structures are high quality Victorian-era residential buildings, displaying influences of the Classic Revival, Queen Anne and Italianate styles. These 19th century residences narrate the history of the District as buildings of this type and vintage that were transformed by the community of artists and architects between the 1920s and 1940s; and
WHEREAS, half of the structures in the District reflect the work of architects, designers, and artists whose individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States, as discussed above with respect to Criterion 3; and
WHEREAS, the remodeled artist studios on West Burton Place feature stunning architectural designs and details by nationally significant architects Andrew Rebori and master designer and artist Edgar Miller. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Rebori designed several well-known buildings (some of which have achieved Landmark status), including the Fisher Studios on North State Parkway (he collaborated on this building with Miller), the Roanoke Building, the La Salle-Wacker Building, and the Racket Club of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the District reflects architectural, cultural, historic, and social themes expressed as a distinctive District composed of traditional Victorian buildings juxtaposed against remodeled artist studios featuring significant and distinctive works of art; and
WHEREAS, the District features a distinctive mix of eclectic styles: from the "handmade homes" to the classic homes from the late 1800s. The unique blend of styles contribute to the overall narrative of the block - that a group of artists and architects came together during the Great Depression to create art from extant structures using unique materials and intricate architectural features; and
WHEREAS, consistent with Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code, the District has a significant historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value, the integrity of which is preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and ability to express such historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value; now, therefore,
THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS HEREBY:
|1010|Incorporates the preamble and Sections I, II, III, and IV into its findings; and
Adopts the Final Designation Report, as revised, and dated this 7th day of April 2016; and
Finds, based on the Designation Report, DPD Report, the Hearing Transcript and the entire record before the Commission, that the District meets the five (5) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Sections 2-120-620 (1), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of the Municipal Code; and
Finds that the District satisfies the "integrity" requirement set forth in Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code; and
Finds that the significant historical and architectural features of the District are identified as follows:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the district buildings visible from the West Burton Place public right-of-way; and
the following built features:
o walls, fences and gates located at the front perimeter of 143, 147, 155, 159,
161 and 152-156 West Burton Place; and o the iron fences in the parkway in front of 143 West Burton Place; and o the marble and tile surface of the sidewalk in front of 155 West Burton Place.
6. Recommends that the District be designated a Chicago Landmark.
Rafael M. L&$\{Chairman Commission on Chicago Landmarks
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Resolution by the
Commission on Chicago Landmarks on the
Preliminary Landmark Recommendation for the
WEST BURTON PLACE DISTRICT
Including the Following Address Ranges (even/odd addresses):
150-160 West Burton Place (evens); 143-161 West Burton Place (odds)
August 6, 2015
Whereas, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (hereinafter the "Commission") preliminarily finds that:
The West Burton Place District (hereinafter the "District"), located at the addresses noted above, meets five criteria for landmark designation set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), as specifically described in the Preliminary Summary of Information submitted to the Commission on this 6th day of August, 2015, by the Department of Planning and Development (the "Preliminary Summary"); and
the District satisfies the historic integrity requirement set forth in Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code as described in the Preliminary Summary; now, therefore
Be it resolved by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks:
Section 1. The above recitals are expressly incorporated in and made part of this resolution as though fully set forth herein.
Section 2. The Commission hereby adopts the Preliminary Summary and makes a preliminary landmark recommendation concerning the District in accordance with Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code.
Section 3. For purposes of Section 2-120-740 of the Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features of the District are preliminarily identified as:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the district buildings visible from the West Burton Place public right-of-way; and
the following built features:
o walls, fences and gates located at the front perimeter of 143, 147, 155, 159, 161 and 152-
156 West Burton Place; and o the iron fences in the parkway in front of 143 West Burton Place; and o the marble and tile surface of the sidewalks in front of 151 and 155 West Burton Place.
Section 4. The Commission hereby requests a report from the Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development which evaluates the relationship of the proposed designation to the City's governing plans and policies and the effect of the proposed designation on the surrounding neighborhood in accordance with Section 2-120-640 of the Municipal Code.
Rafael M. Leon, Chlnrrnan Commission on Cfricago Landmarks
(U - o).
LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT
West Burton Place District
143-161 West Burton Place; and 150-160 West Burton Place
Final Landmark Recommendation adopted by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, April 7, 2016
CITY OF CHICAGO Rahm Emanuel, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development David Reifman, Commissioner
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. The Commission is responsible/or recommending to the City Council which individual buildings, sites, objects, or districts should be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law.
The landmark designation process begins with a staff study and a preliminaiy summary of information related to the potential designation criteria. The next step is a preliminary vote by the landmarks commission as to whether the proposed landmark is worthy of consideration. This vote not only initiates the formal designation process, but it places the review of city permits for the property under the jurisdiction of the Commission until a final landmark recommendation is acted on by the City Council.
This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within a designation ordinance adopted by the City Council should be regarded as final.
Contents
Map of District 5
District History and Development 6
Old Town and Existing Neighborhood 6
The Artist Colony Movement in Chicago 7
Transformation of West Burton Place into an
Artists' Enclave 9
A Collaboration of Artists and Architects . 12
Artists and Architects Associated with West Burton
Place 13
Building Descriptions 18
Criteria for Designation 31
Significant Historical and
Architectural Features 35
Selected Bibliography 36
Address Ranges 38
Building Catalog 38
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West Burton Place District
143-161 West Burton Place; and 150-160 West Burton Place
Period of Significance: 1870s-1940s
Reader's note: West Burton Place was known as Carl Street until 1936.
The West Burton Place District encompasses a portion of one short residential block on West Burton Place in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago. Old Town is one of Chicago's oldest residential neighborhoods, located at the foot of Lincoln Park, a few blocks west of the lakefront and approximately two miles north of the Loop. The district is comprised of twelve principal structures on either side of West Burton Place and five residential coach houses behind principal structures on the north side of the street, from LaSalle Street on the east to the alley adjacent to a small park on Wells Street on the west. The earliest structures on the block date from the mid-18705 and early 1880s, but the architectural, artistic and cultural significance of the street is primarily found in the remodelings of many of the buildings into artist studios from the late 1920s through the 1940s.
The West Burton Place District is architecturally and culturally significant as the backdrop against which artists and craftspeople of the Depression Era transformed what were then deteriorating 19th century rooming houses into a series of unique and cohesive artist studio environments. Led by artist/entrepreneur Sol Kogen and master designer Edgar Miller with the Carl Street Studios, other artists got involved on the street, and Burton Place became a mecca for artistic innovation in the built environment. This spirit of recreating and remodeling urban dwellings spread throughout the Old Town community, which became a forerunner to the modern day back-to-the-city preservation and rehabilitation movement in Chicago. As a result of this pioneering artistic expression, the Old Town community acquired a reputation for the arts that endures today.
During the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s, several 19th century dwellings and flat buildings in the district were remodeled and reconfigured into multi-level artist studio spaces with handcrafted features by many then-prominent Chicago artists and craftspeople. Seven of the structures on the block were transformed in this manner while five retain their 19th century historic appearance, providing an informative context for understanding what the street looked like when the artists began their work on the block. Perhaps more than any other neighborhood in Chicago, West Burton Place exemplifies the organic merger of art and architecture. The block offers a cohesive architectural fabric comprised of stately Victorian structures juxtaposed against artistically transformed structures that evolved from other similar Victorian structures. There are two main periods of construction activity for this district: the mid-1870s through 1896
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and 1927 through the 1940s, although the block continued to attract artist and craftspeople through the present day. Several of the artists who lived and worked in the district enjoyed a national reputation, and a few achieved international stature.
Proposed West Burton Place Historical District
Key
C = Contributing AR = Artist Remodel OF = Original Facade
The proposed landmarked district, which also includes coach houses on the north side of the street at 152 through 160 West Burton Place, and on the south side of the street at 151 through 155 West Burton Place. The District is located two miles north of Chicago's Loop in the Near North Side community area.
This map is meant for illustrative purposes only. The final district boundary and description would be defined in a Chicago landmark designation ordinance passed by City Council.|1010|
District History and Development
Old Town and Existing Neighborhood
Old Town was first settled in the 1840s and 1850s by German farmers and semi-skilled workers. Known then as North Town (the term Old Town did not come into official use until the 1940s), the area soon filled with modest frame cottages with basements for coal and vegetables and rear outbuildings for keeping small livestock. Although the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 completely wiped out this part of the city, it was quickly rebuilt, first with hastily constructed fire shanties, and then, within a few years, with two- and three-story brick dwellings and flat buildings in popular architectural styles such as Italianate and Queen Anne. Lining LaSalle Street on the eastern edge of the neighborhood, large mansions and brick-and-stone-faced town-houses began to appear as early as 1872. Several of these structures still exist and provide context for the housing stock of the post-fire 1870s. As the 1880s approached, brick and stone multi-family flat buildings and row houses so typical of Chicago's urban housing at the time filled the streets of North Town for an expanding middle-class. As a practical consequence of the Great Fire, a city ordinance passed in 1874 outlawing frame construction within the city limits further dictated this type of construction.
West Burton Place underwent a post-fire development in the 1870s and 1880s during which several traditional brownstone and greystone mansions and three-flat structures, similar to those built on LaSalle Street, were built in the district. This was generally a more prosperous and fashionable neighborhood relative to other sections of North Town, such as the neighborhood to the north which is now referred to as the Old Town Triangle. By the early 1920s the neighborhood had suffered an economic decline, and many of the residences on West Burton Place were converted into inexpensive multi-family rooming houses, and some fell into disrepair. The value of real estate in the neighborhood suffered a corresponding decline.
(photograph of Towertown courtesy of Forgotten Chicago).
Nearby Towertown, roughly surrounding the old Water Tower at Chicago and Michigan Avenues, had established itself as the city's primary artistic community from the late 19th century into the first decades of the 20th century. The historic location of the Towertown bohemian community is not precisely defined, however most historians suggest it extended from Tree Studios at State and Ohio Streets north and east to the historic Water Tower at Chicago and Michigan Avenues. Within this area bohemians concentrated on Wabash Avenue, Ohio, Erie, Huron, Superior, Chestnut and State Streets. After World War I, Towertown's proximity to the Loop and its inexpensive real estate made it attractive to commercial development. This process was hastened after the opening of the Michigan Avenue Bridge across the Chicago River in 1920. In the 1920s commercial development forced the bohemian community in Towertown to move to the more affordable Near North Side neighborhood now known as Old Town
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The Artist Colony Movement in Chicago
Chicago's rich history of artist colonies dates back to the late 19th century. In 1894, Anna and Lambert Tree erected the Tree Studios (a designated Chicago Landmark) at 4 E. Ohio Street as a way to attract and retain artists in Chicago after the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The low-cost housing and open floor plans in the studio building provided the ideal environment in which artists could live, work, and form a supportive community. The Trees established a legal trust for the building (effective until 1959 when it was sold), allowing only artists to reside and work in the studios and keeping the rent prices affordable.
Shortly afterwards, in the early 1900s the 57th Street Artists' Colony in Hyde Park took shape on Chicago's South Side. Using cheaply made wood-frame concession stalls from the 1893 World's Fair, artists and writers began to occupy the spaces in order to live inexpensively, exhibit their art, and congregate and share ideas. One of the first on the scene was writer and poet Floyd Dell, who moved into an old Chinese laundry on 57th Street. Writers Theodore Dreiser, Margaret Anderson, Carl Sandberg, and poet Harriet Monroe all gathered at his studio.|1010|By the 1910s, due to its affordable rents and its convenient location, Towertown, the neighborhood surrounding the Tree Studios, also proved attractive to artists, writers, activists, and other bohemian-types. To serve this group's needs, many businesses such as bookstores, coffee houses, tea rooms, art suppliers, and used furniture dealers began opening in Towertown. Nightclubs, bars, and saloons followed closely behind, catering not only to the residents of Towertown but also to more affluent visitors who came from other neighborhoods to enjoy the bohemian community. Towertown became a smaller version of the artistic, cultural, political and commercial milieu of New York's Greenwich Village. One of Towertown's most influential residents was poet and editor Harriet Monroe, who founded Poetry magazine in 1912 and is credited with discovering Carl Sandberg, the world-famous poet who called Chicago the "city of big shoulders."
In 1914, Jack Jones, a former miner, housepainter, and union organizer, established one of the most culturally significant meeting places of Towertown, the Dill Pickle Club, at 18 West Tooker Place. Just off Washington Square Park, known colloquially as "Bughouse Square" for its teeming hobo population and frequent soapbox debates and political demonstrations, the Dill Pickle catered to a diverse intelligentsia who lived in or often visited the neighborhood. Featuring all manner of avant-garde plays, political speeches, social debates, and modern art shows, the Dill Pickle was a melting pot of fascinating people and new ideas unlike anywhere in the United States. Famous regulars of the Dill Pickle included writers Sherwood Anderson, Maxwell Bondenheim, Theodore Dreiser, Ben Hecht, Alfred Kreymborg, Mary MacClane, Kenneth Rexroth, Carl Sandberg, Upton Sinclair, and Vincent Starett. Political activists such as Clarence Darrow, Emma Goldman, Big Bill Haywood, Hippolyte Havel, Lucy Parsons, Dr. Ben Reitman, and Nina Spies were also regular members of the Dill Pickle set.
(Photograph of the Dill Pickle courtesy of the Newberry Library)
Back in Hyde Park, the 57th Street Artists' Colony continued to thrive following World War I. In 1927, modem dancer Katherine Dunham moved her dance studio from downtown after she experienced harassment for her racially-mixed studio. In her new Hyde Park location, the bohemian culture already established there welcomed people from diverse backgrounds. Her space included a storefront theater known as the Cube Theatre, founded by her brother, which became a popular venue for African-American artists. Among its notable regulars were Illinois Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks, authors Margaret Walker, Richard Wright, and Willard Motley, sociologist Horace Cayton, and artist Charles White.
By the 1930s, the Towertown and Hyde Park art colonies were not as edgy as they once were, but they still attracted important residents, such as architect Bertrand Goldberg and artist and civic leader Edward Millman, who were roommates in Towertown. Towertown also served as Chicago's earliest neighborhood with a prominent, openly gay and lesbian population.
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Transformation of West Burton Place into an Artists' Enclave
The redevelopment of Towertown into a higher rent and increasingly commercial district in the 1920s set the stage for a wave of artist migration to less expensive North Town. Following World War I, a clique of enterprising and innovative artists enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Two such art students were Sol Kogen and Edgar Miller. Sol Kogen's family were reasonably prosperous merchants from Chicago. A bon vivant and nonconformist throughout his lifetime. Kogen was expelled from SAIC after he and a group of other students, including Edgar Miller, rebelled against the SchooFs administration. Kogen then entered the family business and did well enough to leave the business in the mid-1920s, travel to Europe for a number of years, and pursue more independent and artistic endeavors.
Prior to Kogen's sojourn to Paris, Kogen and Miller spent some time at Jane Addams Hull House, utilizing the kilns and studio spaces there to continue artistic endeavors. According to Kogen, Addams taught him to "love everybody." Miller said she "was amazing to me because she took our concerns seriously enough to offer us the time and the opportunity to work there."
In 1927, Kogen, having spent two years in Paris, and in particular Montmartre, the artistic enclave of that city, conceived ofa plan to develop an artist studio in Chicago, where independent -leaning Midwestern artists could pursue, somewhat belatedly, the "moderne" artistic trends that had developed in Europe during the 1910s and were imported to the United States starting with the famous New York Armory Show of 1913. At the time, the Art Institute of Chicago clung to a more conservative approach to art, and the Chicago art community, comprising a group of talented post-impressionist artists (e.g Frederic Milton Grant, Carl Krafft, Charles Abel Corwin. Frederick Fursman, Frederick Frieske, Rudolph Ingerle, Pauline Palmer, etc.), instinctively weighed in against the new art of Europe typified by the Armory Show. Against this backdrop, Sol Kogen sought an environment in which modern art could be encouraged and flourish in Chicago.
To assist him in this enterprise, Kogen called upon his former fellow student and friend, Edgar Miller, whose earliest work at SAIC showed a clear inclination toward modernism, and who won the Institute's prestigious Logan Medal of the Arts for his innovative work on a stained glass panel that is still displayed in the Art Institute's permanent collection. Over time, Miller became one of the most well-known Chicago artists of his era and contributed substantially to the Chicago's modern art movement of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
In the 1920s, Miller initially operated a gallery above the Dill Pickle Club, and later opened a small art gallery on Pearson Street (also in Towertown), quaintly referred to as the House at the End of the Street, where he exhibited his own diverse opus of work, as well as the work of other modem artists, including Lionel Feininger, Rudolph Weisenbom, John Storrs, and John W. Norton.
Edgar Miller's artistic venue was quite diverse — he excelled at oil painting, watercolor, pastels, mural painting, plaster reliefs, sculpture, iron, steel and copper work, ceramics, textiles, mosaics, print-making of every type, wood carving, and stained glass. Since leaving SAIC, Miller had worked for nearly five years in the commercial studio of Chicago sculptor Alfonso lannelli and quickly became the studio's top craftsman. Miller's versatility in a wide range of media made him the perfect collaborator for Kogen's artist studio project.|10 10|
In August 1927, Kogen purchased a three-story mansion built in the 1880s at 155 West Carl Street, which stood on three city lots. Kogen partnered with Edgar Miller to help transform the structure into an aesthetically enticing studio and living environment known as the Carl Street Studios. Since neither Kogen nor Miller had sufficient knowledge of structural principles of architecture, they often relied on Miller's friend Andrew Rebori as a consulting architect. From the outset, Kogen and Miller's central idea behind Carl Street Studios was to create a series of unique art studio apartments that would open out to enclosed communal exterior spaces dotted with gardens, fountains, koi fish ponds and, of course, installed art. Unlike the older Tree Studios, Kogen and Miller's planned artist studio complex would feature interior and exterior spaces that would themselves be works of art, not merely functional spaces where artists could create art independent of the built environment.
Several well-established and emerging Chicago artists joined in Kogen and Miller's effort to
create the Carl Street Studios
(Photograph of Carl Street Studios under construction in 1927 care of the Chicago History Museum)
(and later, other structures on the block) into an artistic enclave, including prominent architect Andrew Rebori and artists Edward Millman, John Norton, Boris Anisfeld, Stuart Rae, Edgar Britton, Clive Rickabaugh, Carl Peter Koch and a highly talented and versatile Mexican immigrant named Jesus Torres. Together, these artists lived and worked in the remodeled complexes during and after construction.
Miller is credited with creating the interior space plan for all of the studio units in the former mansion, which included using basement spaces as primary living areas, a novel concept at the time. Miller's plan featured duplex architectural configurations which provided for lofted bedrooms and living areas and art studio spaces below. The exterior walls of the mansion were masked with a new face of common brick and featured artistic textural elements and designs.
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Miller and his fellow artists met the challenge of maximizing light in each studio while maintaining privacy. In some units, soaring windows of stained, painted and/or translucent glass were installed. The building also featured extensive use of glass block and molded textured glass for primary living space windows. Interior walls (finished mainly with plaster), fireplaces, and floors were aesthetically enhanced with painted murals, plaster reliefs, and hand-carved patterned wood elements. One of the most distinctive features of the apartments is the extensive and highly innovative use ofa myriad of colored marbles, terrazzo, and Rookwood, Teco, Grueby and Batchelder tiles on all manner of surfaces. Decorative copper, iron and steel work abound, and creative lighting (for the time) added allure and intrigue to the studios. The exterior door of each studio enjoys its own distinctive personality (many with intricate hand carved elements by Edgar Miller and Jesus Torres), and contributes to the asymmetrical flavor of the building.
Much of the high-grade material used in the building was reclaimed by the artists from demolished mansions in the area, demolished buildings from the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition (in which many of the artists had a contributing role), and Maxwell Street Market vendors. After work on the studios in the original mansion was completed, the artists erected additional buildings, four stories high, lining the periphery of the property that enveloped the internal east courtyard. Artistic flourishes, such as interesting brick and tile work, mosaics, plaster and ceramic reliefs and wood carvings, mainly by Miller and Torres, enhanced the aesthetic impression of these newer structures, which contained additional artist studios with equally fanciful and dramatic interior spaces. Committed to the artistic gestalt of the complex, Miller and his crew of artists at an early date replaced the sidewalk in front of the building with a dramatic walkway of colorful and diverse tiles and marble.
A Collaboration of Artists and Architects
Carl Street Studios was Kogen and Miller's first remodeling project, and initiated the conversion of other Victorian-era mansions and flat buildings on West Burton Place and elsewhere in Old Town into unique modern artist studios. Miller once described his work at the Carl Street Studio complex as the process of taking "an obsolete structure and setting out to make it into something new, fascinating, and living." The living spirit of the studios permeated the entire block and spread to surrounding properties so that today, seven of the twelve principal structures in the district are renovated in a manner inspired by Edgar Miller's original design concepts.
The second Kogen remodeling project on Burton Place (Miller was not involved) was the former two-story, 1880s two-flat at 151 West Burton, purchased by William G. Giuliani, a retired baritone with the Metropolitan Opera, and his wife, Mae, in 1930. With Kogen hired as an advisor, they turned the converted rooming house into artists' studios similar in feel to the Carl Street Studio complex next door. Dominating the front facade of this building is a series of stacked windows of curved glass accented with stained glass pieces, originally used in the Swift and Company exhibit at the 1933-34 Century of Progress World's Fair. Shortly after the completion of 151, the owner of 160 W. Burton, Archie H. Siegel, undertook remodeling work on his own 1880s brick flat building, again with Kogen's assistance. (In 1943, Siegel sold the remodeled building to Kogen).
Kogen's and Miller's work on West Burton attracted other urban pioneers to undertake renovation projects on the street at 161 and 143 West Burton Place. In 1940 Norman E. Johnson renovated a three-flat at 161 West Burton Place. The design is attributed to Andrew Rebori as it bears strong resemblance to several of Rebori-designed residences in the Gold Coast and, incidentally, to Kogen's remodeling project at 151 West Burton.
The sweeping curve and inset front entry echo that of 151, but here the window is executed in glass block. The four-unit studio building boasts the typical features that are characteristic of the street—two-story windows reflecting the open, two-story interior spaces, colorful tile on steps, sills, and countertops, and wood-burning fireplaces in stucco hearths.
Another renovation on the street from 1940 is the Theophil Studios at 143 West Burton. Its redesign by architect Frank Lapasso on its prominent corner location distinctively marks the
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block as something quite different than other historic Old Town streets. The building's Burton Place front facade is clad in white stucco and red face brick. Its simplified, asymmetrical arrangement of window openings suggests the arrival of the International Style to the neighborhood, making it stand quite apart from the earlier, handcrafted work of Edgar Miller. The casement stained glass windows are glazed with Miller-inspired chevron elements as well as several porthole windows that light an interior stairwell. There are several original Edgar Miller sculptural works and at least one re-cast work installed on the facade near the Burton Place entrance.
During the mid-1930s, a group of commercial artists led by Clive Rickabaugh and Carl Peter Koch remodeled the two rooming houses at 156 and three rear coach houses at 154 into artist studios. Vestiges of the original brick facade are visible at 156 in the patchwork of face and common brick. At 152 West Burton, the massing with hexagonal bay identifies this as a nineteenth-century residential structure, while the highly simplified facade in new face brick shows its modernity.
On the rear of the lots on the north side of Burton Place there are five coach houses that have also been remodeled. The one behind 160 West Burton was part of the Kogen remodeling project for Archie Siegel. There are other remodeled coach houses at 156, 154, and 152 West Burton, which reflect the work of Rickabaugh and Koch. Behind 158 West Burton is a newer remodeling from 1966. The last structure on the block to fall under the artist-craftsman influence is called the Sun House (which, although falling outside of the period of significance in the landmarking district, was heavily influenced by the artists' movement of the interwar period). It was design by architect Ron Dirsmith and the north (alley) elevation feature large, curvilinear glass cutlets in varied hues, embedded and molded into the facade, giving the appearance of the side of a cliff.
The architects and artists who renovated West Burton Place created a bohemian artistic community with a unique character based on the radical transformation of 19th century buildings with original architectural and artistic expressions. Examples of these renovations are not confined to West Burton Place; several other buildings in the Old Town area were similarly remodeled and converted into artist studios or residences where non-artists could enjoy a bohemian lifestyle. Three such buildings were built on Schiller Street, one block south of Burton Place. Kogen and Miller created another seminal Old Town artist studio project at 1734 N. Wells Street, also in the late 1920s. Their work, and that of the other artists on West Burton Place who were similarly inspired, led to the revitalization of the broader Old Town community in the 1930s and 1940s.
Artists and Architects Associated with West Burton Place
Edgar Miller (1899-1993) - Miller was born James Edgar Miller in Idaho Falls, Idaho. At an early age, it was clear to his family that Miller was incredibly gifted in the visual arts. In 1917, he moved to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), but left before graduation. Miller briefly worked in Jane Addams' Hull House studios, and was then retained in 1919 by established Chicago designer, sculptor, and artist Alfonso lannelli as the creative leader of his staff. After several years he left the lannelli Studios, and began a long career of self-employment, pursuing any and all commissions he felt were interesting or profitable,
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sometimes both. In the late 1920s and 1930s, Miller partnered with Sol Kogen, an old friend from SAIC, in creating the artist studio complexes at 155 W. Carl Street, known as the Carl Street Studios, and the Kogen-Miller Studios at 1734 N. Wells Street in Old Town. Later, he designed the Walter Guest Apartments at 2150 N. Cleveland Ave., and partnered with prominent architect Andrew Rebori on the Fisher Apartments at 1209 N. State Parkway, a designated Chicago Landmark. He collaborated with the architects Holabird and Root and Howard Van Doren Shaw on many other projects.
During the 1920s through the 1960s, Miller achieved a national reputation as an artist capable of working in many media. He excelled at oil painting, watercolor, pastels, mural painting, plaster relief sculpture, iron, steel and copper work, ceramics, textiles, mosaics, printmaking, wood carving, and stained glass. During his most productive period, Miller was contracted to create extensive murals for the Tavern and Standard Clubs in Chicago, stained glass, sculpture and relief work for many commercial, government, educational and religious buildings throughout the Chicago area, New York and in other cities, and design work for restaurants and individual residences. In his time, Miller was widely known and acclaimed as Chicago's foremost accomplished and unique artist. In the 1960s he retired to Florida, and later found his way to San Francisco, only to return to Chicago in the 1980s. In 1990, he was presented with a Distinguished Senior Citizen Award by Mayor Richard M. Daley, and given the honorary title of "Grandfather of Old Town."
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Sol Kogen (1900-1957) - Kogen was bom to a Russian immigrant family in Chicago that owned a small but prosperous clothing business. In 1917, he met Edgar Miller while attending SAIC. Kogen, a lifelong rebel and bon vivant, led a group of students, including Miller, in a
walk-out against the school administration, which he saw as stifling artistic creativity and the modernist movement emerging in the United States. He "retired" from the family business and traveled to Paris in 1925, living in and around the Montmartre artistic scene. Upon his return to Chicago, he pursued the development of a series of artist studios by rehab-bing several Victorian residences in working-class neighborhoods on Chicago's Near-North Side. Kogen invited his old friend Edgar Miller to be his partner on these projects. After many conflicting press reports on the subject, it is generally accepted that Kogen acted as contractor and Miller as designer, lead artisan and artistic director. After his parting with Miller over a dispute concerning the financial arrangement of their partnership in 1936, Kogen went on to develop and repurpose more old homes in the North Town neighborhood, which eventually became known as Old Town.
(Photograph of Sol Kogen courtesy of
Jesus Torres (1900-1949) - Torres was a Mexican-
American artist and craftsman who immigrated to Chi- save Our Street Save^Our Story)
cago in the 1910s. He enrolled in English and art classes at Jane Addams' Hull House, where he met Edgar Miller and Sol Kogen. He went on to become Miller's apprentice at the Carl Street and Kogen-Miller artist studio complexes, developing a talent for woodcarving, mosaic, tilework, and fresco painting. After Miller's departure from the Carl Street Studios project in 1936, Torres became Kogen's main artisan, and continued to do handmade designs of wood and tile for many Kogen projects throughout Old Town. He also achieved a notable local reputation as a ceramicist in his own right.
(Photograph of Jesus Torres courtesy of Wallace Kirkland, UIC, Jane Addams Memorial
Andrew N. Rebori (1886-1966) - Andrew N. Rebori is one of Chicago's most original and idiosyncratic architects of the 20th century. Beginning his career in the Beaux Arts style, by the mid-1920s his architectural style shifted dramatically to reflect the Art Deco influences coming out of Europe at the time. As the architectural consultant on the Carl Street Studios, and the attributed architect of 161 West Burton Place, Rebori was instrumental in guiding Edgar Miller's architectural ideas. Other famous works by Rebori include the Fisher Apartments on State Parkway (1936, a designated Chica-Landmark), designed and constructed with Edgar Miller's Collection)
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assistance; the Roanoke Building (1915-1925, a designated Chicago Landmark) and the LaSalle-Wacker Building (1930), together with Holabird and Roche; the Racquet Club of Chicago (1923); and the Madonna della Strada chapel at Loyola University (1929, a designated Chicago Landmark). He was also a major contributor to the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition, constructing a "Home of Tomorrow" and serving as director of the "Streets of Paris" exhibition.
John W. Norton (1876-1934) - Norton was an Illinois easel artist and muralist who pioneered the field in the United States. He attended SAIC in the late 1890s (and later became an instructor there) and produced murals throughout the Midwest, in such buildings as the Cliff Dwellers Club (1909). Chicago Daily News Building (1929), the Chicago Board of Trade Building (1930), the Hamilton Field House, the St. Paul City Hall, and the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College in Wisconsin (1923). Norton lived and worked at the Carl Street Studios.
Boris Anisfeld (1878-1973) - Anisfeld was a Russian-American painter and theater designer who taught at SAIC from 1929 to 1957. Having already become a successful artist throughout Europe, Anisfeld emigrated to the United States in 1926 and settled in Chicago, living at Carl Street Studios most of the remainder of his life (i.e., 1934-1973). He is known particularly for his incredible set designs, which graced the stages of the Chicago Civic Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and many others. During his lifetime and afterwards Anisfeld achieved an enduring international reputation.
Taylor Poore (1905-??) - Bom in Minnesota, Poore was a designer and art director, and a pioneer in graphics in advertising. He and his wife Madge were very close friends of Edgar Miller and lived at the Carl Street Studios during the 1930s and 40s. Poore was a founding member of the Chicago 27, began in 1936 as a forum to show off the work of member designers and enhance Chicago's reputation as the world center of printing. He was also the President of the Chicago Art Center.
Edgar Britton (1901-1982) - Britton, bom in Kearney, Nebraska, was an American painter, muralist, and sculptor who achieved a national reputation. He moved to Chicago in 1925 and became a close friend of Edgar Miller's while working on various pieces of art at the Carl Street Studios. He painted many murals in and around Chicago, many for the WPA, for which Miller was a jurist. His works included, among others, murals at Lane Tech High School, Highland Park High School, and the University of Illinois Medical Center. His murals generally depict pastoral scenes, offering escape and relief from life in the city and the trials of the Depression era.
Eleanor de Laittre (1911-1998) - Born in Minneapolis, de Laittre was an early proponent of abstract, cubist-inspired, and largely non-objective art. She participated regularly in annual exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1934 to 1940. She and her husband Edward Mill-man held parties in their Carl Street Studios apartment which they funded by auctioning paintings made earlier in the day by de Laittre and other artists in the colony.
Edward "Eddie" Millman (1907-1964) - Born in Chicago and a student of SAIC under John
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W. Norton. Millman gained prominence in the 1930s as one of Illinois' most prolific WPA muralists. He studied with Mexican muralist Diego Rivera in the mid-1930s. He worked and lived at Carl Street Studios in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Millman was commissioned to paint a large mural for the Century of Progress Exhibition of 1933. Among other accomplishments, he was a Navy combat artist during World War II and received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his 1000+ wartime productions. He went on to become the chief illustrator for the Chicago Evening American and taught at Indiana University, Washington University (St. Louis), University of Arkansas, and Cornell University. Millman enjoyed a national reputation as an artist throughout his life.
Stuart Rae (d. 1984) - Rae was an Irish immigrant who found his way to Chicago to study at SAIC and lived at the Carl Street Studios during the 1930s. He went on to become a charter member of the Chicago Art Directors Club, the National Art Directors Club, and the Chicago Artists Guild.
Mark Tobey (1890-1976) - Tobey was a widely recognized American painter, born in Center-ville, Wisconsin, who briefly studied at SAIC and traveled extensively throughout his life. He most likely met Sol Kogen in Paris in 1925, in or around the salon of Gertrude Stein, which led to later stays at Carl Street Studios in the 1940s. His work resembles Abstract Expressionism and is often compared to, and predates, the work of New York-based artist Jackson Pollack. Tobey was also a founding member of the Northwest School, an art movement in the Seattle area which came to prominence in the 1930s and 1940s. He achieved international stature as a modernist painter.
Clive Rickabaugh (1906-1973) - Rickabaugh, born in Missouri and transplanted to Chicago at some point in his youth, was an American theater designer, sculptor, and Broadway producer who rose to prominence in the Chicago theater scene in the 1930s. He designed stages, costumes, ornamentation and puppetry for many companies and productions, including the Old Town Players Theater at 1720 N. North Park, founded in 1933 (closed in 1981). The Chicago Sun-Times called the company the "best community theater in the city." Rickabaugh guided the remodeling of Victorian structures at 152-156 West Burton Place into artists' studios in the 1930s and lived there the remainder of his life.
David Garroway (1913-1982) - Garroway was an American television personality and founding host of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961 who lived on Burton Place in the 1940s and 1950s. After hosting a radio show while stationed in Honolulu during World War II, he worked as a disc jockey at WMAQ in Chicago, then hosted an experimental musical variety show telecast live from Chicago from 1949 to 1951. He was a pioneer of the television talk show, along with Studs Terkel and Hugh Downs.
Roger Ebert (1942-2013) - Ebert was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and host of a popular film criticism television show co-hosted by Gene Siskel (1-946-1999). Ebert lived at Carl Street Studios during the late 1960s and early 1970s as the artist colony continued to be a home to creative individuals. At this time, the Old Town neighborhood was taking shape as a prominent center of the counter-culture movement in Chicago.
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Building Descriptions
The district comprises a portion of a block of West Burton Place, an east/west street on the Chicago orthogonal grid system. Once running from LaSalle Street on the east through to Wells Street on the west, it is now a short cul-de-sac street entered from LaSalle Street on the east with a turn-around at the west end where it meets an alley bordering the pedestrian plaza and park on Wells Street. On the south side there is a narrow, landscaped, tree-lined parkway between the sidewalk and the street. On the north side there is no parkway; the sidewalk is built up to the curb.
There are twelve principal residential structures, three to four stories in height, and some with basements. Although all were originally constructed between 1877 and 1896, the exterior appearances of the facades today reflect a time period of construction ranging from 1877 to 1940. Within this period there are two distinct time periods of construction and design themes. Five structures retain their original 19th century appearance from 1877-1896 as typical Chicago three-flats with Italianate, Queen Anne or Classical features, while seven structures feature a completely remodeled appearance that dates from roughly 1927 through the early 1940s and are generally Art Deco, eclectic Arts and Crafts, Art Moderne, or International in styling. In addition to these principal structures, there are five coach houses in the rear of properties on the north side of the street that are separate residential units and share similar design styles as the principle structures fronting the street that were remodeled during the Depression era.
Most structures are basically rectilinear in plan and built at or close to the front and side property lines. Front facade materials include one greystone, one grey-painted brick, three with stone bases combined with brick, three with red face brick, and three with variegated common brick. All have flat roofs. There are long, brick walls along the front property line for both older and remodeled structures: two principal structures and one rear coach house behind one wall on the north side, and four principal structures behind walls on the south side of the street. Seven houses, five of those with the original facades, have a few steps up to traditional front entry porches. For two structures, both remodeled, the principal entry is a few steps below grade.
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There are seven principal residential structures on the south side of the street. This includes three from the 19th century and four that were remodeled in the 1930s. All of these are considered contributing. From east to west, they are as follows:
Theophil Studios, 143 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1892; artist renovation: 1940
The Theophil Studios complex is a three-story, six-unit condominium building. Originally built in 1892 as a three-story flat building, the property today is a rectangular red brick, stucco and stone corner structure that fills the lot lines. The original structure was substantially remodeled in 1940. Generally Art Moderne in style, the geometrically composed principal facade has a vertical stucco panel with stacked circular windows beside a red brick panel with rectangular windows. Portions of the windows feature stained glass elements. The east and south elevations are comprised of white stucco accented with red brick and painted wooden features, including a partially concealed outside staircase. Decorative sculptural panels by artist Edgar Miller accent the ground floor and principal entry. The architect for the remodeling was Frank LaPasso. The front yard wall and fence at grade and cantilevered entryway roof were designed as part of the 1940s renovation and are considered significant.
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145 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1896
145 W. Burton Place is a three-story, three unit condominium building. It was built in 1896 as a flat building with a stone base and yellow brick upper floors and retains its original historic Classical Revival character, with minor alterations to the cornice. The architect for the design was W. L. Klewer.
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147 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1881
147 W. Burton is a three-story single-family residence. Built in 1881 as a three-story dwelling, the red brick structure retains its historic Italianate character with an elaborate cornice and decorative brackets. The original stairs leading to a raised entry were removed and replaced with a balcony and the main entrance was relocated to the ground floor. In 2012, the front facade of the building underwent further remodeling, including the erection of a curved iron staircase leading to a small porch at the primary entrance, now placed on the second floor, and an iron fence supported by common brick columns bordering the sidewalk.
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151 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1870s and 1880s; artist remodeled: 1932-1935
151 W. Burton Place is a three-story, three-flat apartment building. The historic structure on this lot existed before 1880, and in 1887 a two-story barn was erected at the back of the lot. Between 1932 and 1935. the primary structure and the barn were remodeled into the Art Moderne appearance they have today. A curved window bay with stacked, multi-light windows sets off an inset front entry with a small cantilevered roof. The unique curved glass panels were originally part of the Swift and Company exhibit at the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair. The common brick facade is accented with random imbedded stones and projecting brick headers. The sidewalk outside of 151 West Burton features patterns of marble and tile that are considered significant.
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The Carl Street Studios, 155 West Burton Place
Original construction 1877; artist remodeled: 1927-1940s
Carl Street Studios is a three-story, seventeen-unit condominium building. Highly irregular in floor plan, it incorporates and was built around an 1877 two-story Victorian red brick and limestone single-family structure. It was substantially remodeled by artists and craftsman starting in 1927 and extending to the 1940s.
The signature project of artists Sol Kogen and Edgar Miller (with Andrew Rebori acting as consulting architect), the building today is a meandering complex of structure, whimsical passageways, and courtyards, covering three lots. The facade is variegated common brick with window openings of differing size, shape, and placement. Design elements such as stone, stained and painted art glass windows (featuring geometric and figurative motifs), ceramic tiles, plaster and concrete reliefs, mosaics and carved wood pieces are used throughout as architectural accents. Most of these design elements were the work of Edgar Miller.
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The overall effect manifests unique and eclectic Art Deco and Arts and Crafts styles. A brick wall runs along the front property line, separating the building's entry and private courtyard from the public sidewalk. There is an internal east courtyard enveloped by the original home and additional surrounding structures built in the late 1920s and early 1930s. At the west of the original structure, there is a second courtyard visible from the street featuring a large rectangular koi fish pond, and is bounded on the west by a decorative iron fence supported by brick columns. These features, which were part of the 1930s renovation, are considered significant. The outer and inner sidewalk surfaces, which comprise unusual and colorful patterns of marble and tiles, are also considered significant: So too is the front wall of the property, which is studded intermittently with tiles and stones, and includes an entryway flanked by carved concrete reliefs by Miller and a decorative iron gate displaying Sol Kogen's initials "SK."
159 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1891
159 W. Burton is a three-story, three-unit condominium. Built in 1891 as a three-flat building, the stone and red brick structure has a rusticated stone base with inset front entry. It retains the Classical Revival historic character ofa typical Chicago three-flat building despite the removal of its original cornice. The stone work of the front facade includes carved reliefs, including a three-leaf motif, and the top of the front facade features a series pressed brick Sulli-vanesque geometric design patterns. There has long been a wall of common brick lining the front of the property interrupted by an entryway featuring an iron gate. The old wall was replaced in recent years with a new common brick wall, although the gate is considered significant.
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161 West Burton Place
Original const ruction: 1879; artist remodeled 1940
161 W. Burton Place is a three-story, four-unit apartment building. The original structure was an 1879 two-story, Italianate dwelling. In 1940, the original home was completely transformed to the existing structure. It has long been believed that the redesign of the building was the work of architect Andrew Rebori. The remodeled facades of this building certainly bear a striking resemblance to other residential structures designed by Rebori in the Gold Coast area. Built up to the front lot line and extended in the rear, the three-story Art Moderne structure has a curved corner window bay with expansive glass block, and an inset front entry. The east, north and a portion of the west facade exterior walls are of variegated common brick, accented with random imbedded stones, and considered significant. The short common brick wall forming the northwest boundary of the property near the front entryway is also considered significant.
There are five principal residential structures on the north side of the street and five residential coach houses located behind the street-facing structures. The buildings include two from the 19th century and three that were remodeled in the 1930s. All of these are considered contributing to the district. From west to east, they are the following:
160 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1886-1887; artist remodeled: 1938
160 W. Burton Place is a three-story, four-unit apartment building with a one-story single-family coach house in the rear. The original front building dates from before 1886 and a one-story addition at the back was built in 1887. The front structure was substantially remodeled in 1938 as a stark, flat front facade with two long, vertical window stacks placed off-center. Decorative sculptural panels by Edgar Miller accent the ground floor and the principal entry is a few steps below grade along the side of the building. With its geometric simplicity, it could be identified as International Style. The rear coach house is one-story and faced with common brick. It is probably a residential remodeling ofa three-car garage that replaced an original stable on the property sometime between 1886 and 1906. The stacked stained glass windows and Edgar Miller sculpted panels on the front facade are considered significant.
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158 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1880s; artist remodeled: 1938 and 1966
158 W. Burton Place is a three-story, four-unit condominium with a three-story, single-family coach house in the rear. The flat-fronted red brick building likely dates from the early 1880s and retains its nineteenth-century appearance with minor Italianate features. In 1938 a three-story coach house was built by architects Glicken and Glicken. The coach house exists today and its alley facade displays highly idiosyncratic windows imbedded in stucco panels. This remodeling was by Ron Dirsmith in 1966 in a similar artistic spirit to the earlier projects. The front wall and decorative iron gate at the front of the property are also considered significant.
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152-156 West Burton Place
Original construction: before 1886; artist remodeled: 1932-1938
This multi-structure complex includes a residential cooperative that combines a three-story front building at 156 W. Burton with two two-story rear coach houses, one directly behind 156 W. Burton and one on the next lot at 154 W. Burton. The original front structure at 156 W. Burton Place was probably built before 1886. The front structure at 152 W. Burton Place is a three-story, four-unit apartment building, also built before 1886. These building underwent significant alterations by artists and craftsmen between 1932 and 1938.
Today the property at 154-156 consists ofa three-story front building with a patched brick fa-fade obviously reflecting International Style changes combined with original historic elements. The alley facades of the coach houses reveal glass block windows reflective of the 1930s development on the street behind 156. The coach house at the back of 154 has a stucco facade. In the 1930s remodeling, the massing of the exterior facade of 152 was retained, but its overall appearance was simplified. The porch was removed and a stacked glass block sidelight was added to the entry. Windows in the second floor bay were bricked in, and an Art Deco style brick cornice was added. The entire facade also appears to have been refaced in new brick. There is a small rear structure that is a separate coach house.
The internal courtyard tying the properties together features numerous planting beds and artistic elements, including free standing sculptural works, a fountain, carved wood doors, and sculptural reliefs on the walls of the buildings. A common brick wall, originally part of the 1930s renovation and repaired and updated in recent years, extends across the properties at 152-156 at the front property line adjacent to the sidewalk. It is interrupted at the center by a wooden entry gate. These features are also considered significant.
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150 West Burton Place
Original construction: 1889
150 W. Burton Place is a three-story, three-unit condominium building. Built in 1889, this three-flat today retains its classic 19th century rusticated greystone appearance except for a large, boxed-in cornice of unknown vintage. There is a brick and iron fence lining the front of the property, which is also considered significant.
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Criteria for Designation
According to the Municipal Code of Chicago (Section 2-120-690), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has the authority to make a preliminary recommendation of landmark designation for an area, district, place, building, structure, work of art or other object within the City of Chicago if the Commission determines it meets two or more of the stated "criteria for designation." as well as possesses sufficient historic integrity to convey its significance.
The following should be considered by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in determining that the West Burton Place District be designated as a Chicago Landmark:
Criterion 1: Value as an Example of City, State or National Heritage
Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social or other aspect of the heritage of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois or the United Stales.
The district is one of the few remaining "artist colonies" extant in the City of Chicago, which exemplifies the use of found objects, handmade carvings, stained and painted art glass, concrete and plaster reliefs and other artwork. These and various other materials were used to create works of art in internal and external contexts in artist studios in which artists and craftsmen lived and worked.
The district became the successor to the Towertown neighborhood as a cohesive geographical enclave for artists in the late 1920s and 1930s. Artists began relocating to the district after Towertown was redeveloped into a higher rent and increasingly commercial area following the completion in 1920 of the Michigan Avenue Bridge.
The artist colony that developed in the district became the home and work place of numerous prominent artists and architects of national and international stature for over eight decades, and artists, architects and patron of the arts continue to reside and/or work in the proposed district.
Criterion 3: Significant Persons
Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the development of the City of Chicago, State o f Illinois, or the United States.
The architects and artisans who built and resided in the district contributed to the unique artistic fabric of the district, and the broader Old Town neighborhood and City of Chicago.
Several of these artists, architects and craftsmen achieved enduring regional, national or international stature during their lifetimes and afterwards.
Artists who lived and worked in (and worked on) the artist studios in the proposed district that achieved international fame include Boris Anisfeld and Mark Tobey. Anisfeld taught
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at the Art Institute for almost 30 years and his paintings and operatic set designs became and remain internationally known. Mark Tobey was an internationally famous abstract painter. The art of both artists is on display in several museum collections.
Several artists who lived and worked on the block enjoyed a national reputation, and many were involved with important WPA art projects in Chicago and elsewhere during the Great Depression. Among these were Edgar Miller, Edgar Britton, Eleanor de Laittre and Edward Millman.
Artists in the district who enjoyed regionally prominence include muralist John Norton, commercial designer and painter Taylor Poore, and artists of various media Sol Kogen, Stuart Rae, Jesus Torres and Clive Rickabaugh.
Later, the district was home to television personality Dave Garroway, the first host of NBC's Today Show, and nationally-syndicated film critic Roger Ebert.
Criterion 4: Exemplary Architecture
Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.
The buildings in the district contain a mix of high-quality "classic" Chicago residential buildings from the late 1800s, as well as original remodeled structures created by a community of artists and architects in the interwar period. These remodeled structures represent an organic merger of art and architecture that is rare and possibly unique in the United States.
Seven street-facing structures, and several coach houses, on the block are artist-remodeled studio complexes that reflect an eclectic mix of Art Deco, Art Moderne, Arts and Crafts and International Styles that have retained their architectural integrity since the 1930s and 1940. These buildings feature highly distinctive and high quality architectural and artistic flourishes, including stained and painted art-glass windows with geometric and figurative motifs, sculptural reliefs of concrete, plaster and stone, detailed tile and brick work, mosaics, and carved wood doors and other architectural installments.
Five street-facing structures are high quality Victorian-era residential buildings, displaying influences of the Classic Revival, Queen Anne and Italianate styles. These 19th century residences narrate the history of the district as it was buildings of this type and vintage that were transformed by the community of artists and architects between the 1920s and 1940s.
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Criterion 5: Work of Significant Architect or Designer
Its identification as the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States.
Half of structures in the district reflect the work of architects, designers, and artists whose individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States, as discussed above with respect to Criterion 3.
The remodeled artist studios on West Burton Place feature stunning architectural designs and details by nationally significant architects Andrew Rebori and master designer and artist Edgar Miller. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Rebori designed several well-known buildings (some of which have achieved Landmark status), including the Fisher Studios on North State Parkway (he collaborated on this building with Miller), the Roanoke Building, the La Salle-Wacker Building, and the Racket Club of Chicago.
Criterion 6: Distinctive Theme as a District
Its representation of an architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other theme expressed through distinctive areas, districts, places, buildings, structures, works of art, or other objects that may or may not be contiguous.
The district reflects architectural, cultural, historic, and social, themes expressed as a distinctive district composed of traditional Victorian buildings juxtaposed against remodeled artist studios featuring significant and distinctive works of art.
The district features a distinctive mix of eclectic styles: from the "handmade homes" to the classic homes from the late 1800s. The unique blend of styles contribute to the overall narrative of the block - that a group of artists and architects came together during the Great Depression to create art from extant structures using unique materials and intricate architectural features.
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Integrity Criterion
The residential structures in the district, within the two time periods of construction, 1877-1896 and 1925-1940, retain excellent historic integrity. Most notably, the buildings that were remodeled in the 1920s and 1930s retain an almost pristine appearance from those historic alterations. The 19th century structures have had some loss of their original fabric, most noticeably the removal of cornices and the presence of non-historic replacement windows. Nonetheless, the street retains an, 19th century residential collection juxtaposed against a modem mix of original artist-made structures.
While intact residential buildings from the late 1800s are found throughout Chicago, it is unusual to find a collection of residences that combine both historic visual character and overall integrity in the manner that the district possesses.
All of the buildings on the block were originally constructed between 1877 and 1896, and a little less than half of the structures retain facades have remained largely unchanged since that time. Others were remodeled in the 1920s through the 1940s by and for a community of artists and architects. The architectural integrity of the block has remained roughly the same since 1940.
The district demonstrates very good integrity in both its overall streetscapes and individual buildings. The physical character of these buildings in terms of scale, setback from the street, entries, and general door and window configuration have remained consistent and work together to provide the onlooker with a strong sense of the overall architectural fabric and character of the historic streetscapes.
The district's buildings retain most of the physical characteristics that define their historic significance. These include historic wall materials, including brick and stone, as well as fine architectural details such as decorative metal and carved wood, building entrances, cornices, stone entrance and window surrounds, and a variety of terra-cotta, stained and painted art glass windows, and stone and tile ornament. Several buildings retain historic walls. In all, these building features continue to serve the same function nearly a century or so after their construction with little discernible changes in style.
Most importantly, the overall sense of place remains strong throughout the proposed district. One typical change to the Victorian vintage buildings within the district is the replacement of windows, although most newer windows are visually compatible with typical windows of the late nineteenth century. The stained and painted art glass windows in the remodeled "handmade homes" remain largely the same as they were during the interwar period, and are in remarkably good condition. Other common minor changes include the loss of a few decorative cornices, a common occurrence with many historic buildings throughout the city.
Despite these minor alterations, the district overall retains a high degree of physical integrity and the ability to express its historic architectural and aesthetic value through its individual buildings and the visually consistent way they relate to each other.
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Significant Historical and Architectural Features
Whenever a building, structure, object or district is under consideration of landmark designation, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is required to identify the "significant historical and architectural features" of the property. This is done to enable the owners and the public to understand which elements are considered most important to preserve the historical and architectural character of the proposed landmark.
Based upon its evaluation of the West Burton Place District, the Commission recommends that the significant features be identified as follows:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the district buildings visible from the West Burton Place public right-of-way; and
the following built features:
walls, fences and gates located at the front perimeter of 143, 147. 155, 159, 161 and 152-156 West Burton Place; and
the iron fences in the parkway in front of 143 West Burton Place; and
the marble and tile surface of the sidewalks in front of 155 West Burton Place.
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Selected Bibliography
Books and Theses
Cahan, Richard; Williams, Michael; Vertikoff, Alexander; "Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home: Chicago's Forgotten Renaissance Man," CityFiles Press, (2d Ed. 2009)
Frye, Tim, "Landmark Designation Report and Design Guidelines for the Miller-Kogen Studios District," Thesis in Support of Master of Science in Historic Preservation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Burnham and Ryerson Library (2004)
Breeze, Carla, "American Art Deco: Architecture and Regionalism, W.W. Norton & Co. (1st Ed.2003)
Potter, Sarah McCraken, "Edgar Miller and his Work on Two Studio Complexes in Chicago in the Late 1920s and Early 1930s," Thesis in Support of Master of Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Burnham and Ryerson Library (1994)
Keegan, Edward, "Chicago Architecture: 1885 to Today," Chicago Architecture Foundation (1st Ed. 2008)
Blackwell, "Frommers Chicago," Frommers (17th Ed. 2012). Jones, Wilbert, "Chicago's Goldcoast," Arcadia Publishing (2012)
Wolfe, Gerald, "Chicago In and Around The Loop, Walking Tours of Architecture and History," McGraw- Hill (1996)
Cliff, Terry, Chicago Off the Beaten Track: A guide to Unique Places Magazine Articles
Schlesinger, Terry, "Old Town's Mad Masterpice," Chicago Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 5, p. 122 (May 1988)
Mix, Sheldon A., "Burton Place - The Hand Made Street," Chicago Magazine, p. 32 (Spring 1966)
Bowley, Devereaux, "The Montmarte Look: Sol Kogen's Old Town Fling," Inland Architect, p. 18 (Ja. 1978)
"The Legacy of Sol Kogen," Chicago Rehabber, p. 16 (Fall 1979)
Matsoukas, Nick J., "The Kogen-Miller Studios," Western Architect, Vol. 39, No. 12, p. 197 (Dec. 1930)
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Reed, Earl H., "Edgar Miller: Designer-Craftsman," Architecture, Vol. 66, No. 2, p. 63 (Aug. 1932)
Hiller, Nancy, "Edgar Miller and the Carl Street Studios," Arts and Crafts Homes, (Sept. 2012)
"Edgar Miller A Versatile Artist & Craftsman," American Artist (may 1963) Newspaper Articles
Ford, Ann, "Artist Colony Forms One Big Happy Family," Chicago Tribune (No. 15, 1942)
Shephard, Seth, "Drabness Gone in this Neighborhood," Chicago Daily News (Nov. 20, 1940)
Bargelt, Louise, "Old Apartment House Answers to Modernizing, Chicago Tribune, p. C4 (April 29, 1934)
Artner, Alan G., "Back in Town: Edgar Miller, Design Pioneer," Chicago Tribune, p. EI2 (July 2, 1978)
Landis, Dylan, "Marriage of Minds: Magic of'20s Artist Recaptured," Chicago Tribune mpg. Nl (Oct. 26, 1986)
Illustrations
As attributed. Building photographs on pages 19-30 by Lauren Whitney.
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Address Ranges
143-161 West Burton Place; and 150-160 West Burton Place
Building Catalogue
Address Construction Date(s) Architects / Artists Contributing/ Non-Contributing
143 W Burton PI Theophil Studios 1892; remodeled in 1940 Frank LaPasso c
145 W Burton PI 1896 W. L. Klewer c
147 W Burton PI 1881 c
150 W Burton PI 1889 c
151 W Burton PI 1870s-1880s; remodeled 1932-1935 c
152-156 W Burton PI Before 1886; remodeled 1932-1938 c
155 W Burton PI The Carl Street Studios 1877; remodeled 1927-1940s Sol Kogen, Edgar Miller, Andrew Rebori c
159 W Burton PI 1891 c
158 W Burton PI 1880s; remodeled 1938 and 1966 Glicken and Glicken; Ron Dirsmith c
160 W Burton PI 1886-1887; remodeled 1938 c
161 W Burton PI 1879; remodeled 1940 Andrew Rebori c
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Acknowledgements
CITY OF CHICAGO
Rahm Emanuel, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development
David Reifman, Commissioner
Patricia A. Scudiero, Managing Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Zoning and Land Use Eleanor Esser Gorski, Deputy Commissioner; Planning, Design & Historic Preservation Division
Compiled by
Keith M. Stolte, Board of Directors of the Carl Street Studios Condominium Association Amy E. Keller, Executive Vice President of the Chicago Art Deco Society Zac M. Bleicher, Director of the Edgar Miller Legacy Lauren Whitney, Photographer
Project Staff
Eleanor Gorski, editing Matt Crawford, editing
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COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
Rafael M. Leon, Chairman
James M. Houlihan, Vice-President
David L. Reifman, Secretary
Gabriel Ignacio Dziekiewicz
Juan Gabriel Moreno
Carmen Rossi
Mary Ann Smith
Richard Tolliver
DPD
Ernest C. Wong
The Commission is staffed by the:
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
Department of Planning and Development
Bureau of Zoning and Land Use
Planning, Design and Historic Preservation Division
City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., Room 1101
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312.744.3200 (TEL)
Printed August 2015; revised and reprinted April 2016.
Department of Planning and Development
CITY OF CHICAGO October 1,2015 Report to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on the
WEST BURTON PLACE DISTRICT
150-160 West Burton Place (evens) 143-161 West Burton Place (odds)
The Department of Planning and Development finds that the proposed designation of the West Burton Place District as a Chicago Landmark supports the City's overall planning goals for the surrounding Near North Side community areas and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
The West Burton Place District encompasses a portion of one residential block on West Burton Place in the Old Town neighborhood within the larger Near North Side community area. The earliest structures on the block date from the mid-1870s and early 1880s, but the architectural, artistic and cultural significance of the street is primarily found in the remodeling of many of the original buildings into artist studios from the late 1920s through the 1940s. The district is comprised of twelve principal structures on either side of West Burton Place and five residential coach houses behind principal structures on the north side of the street.
All of the buildings in the district are zoned RM-5 which is intended to accommodate multi-unit residential buildings. The buildings to the north and south of the district are also zoned RM-5. Across LaSalle Street to the east lies Residential Planned Development No. 14 which was established for the Carl Sandburg Village, a high-rise urban-renewal development built between 1960 and 1975. To the west of the district lies the Wells Street, a commercial corridor which is zoned B3-5 to accommodate a very broad range of retail and service uses. That section of Wells Street is also designated as a Pedestrian Street, a zoning designation intended to preserve and enhance Chicago's best examples of pedestrian-oriented shopping districts.
West Burton Place was originally a through-street running between LaSalle and Wells, however in 1978 the City of Chicago constructed a cul-de-sac on Burton Place at the west end of the proposed district to reduce through-traffic on the residential street. At the same time a small pocket park was built between the cul-de-sac and Wells to create a buffer between the commercial corridor on Wells and the residential character of Burton Place. In the early 2000s the park was improved with a fountain, planting beds and new paving.
The proposed district is well-served by public transportation. Several Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus routes, including the #156, 22, 36, 72 and 37 routes, serve the immediate quarter mile area, as is the CTA Brown and Purple Line stop at N. Sedgwick Street.
121 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602
West Burton Place was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 and the boundaries of the National Register district match those of the proposed Chicago Landmark district.
The Department supports the designation of the West Burton Place District as a Chicago Landmark. Preserving buildings such as this provides many long-term benefits to the City. Landmark designation encourages community pride and the preservation and rehabilitation of properties through a range of incentives. It serves as a model for sustainable development by retaining existing buildings and adapting them to modern conditions. Preservation of Chicago's architectural heritage attracts tourists and new residents as well as contributes to the quality of life for Chicago citizens.
David Reifman Acting Commissioner
In conclusion, landmark designation of the West Burton Place District supports the City's overall
planning goals for the Near North Side community areas and is consistent with the City's governing
policies and/plbnsi /,
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