Department of Planning and Development city of chicago
November 5, 2019
The Honorable Anna M. Valencia City Clerk City of Chicago Room 107, City Hall 121 North LaSalle Street Chicago, Illinois 60602
RE: Ordinance designating the Claremont Cottage District (Generally the 1000 Block of S. Claremont Avenue) as a Chicago Landmark
Dear Clerk Valencia:
We are filing with your office for introduction at the November 13, 2019,-City Council meeting as a transmittal to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago the recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks that the Claremont Cottage District be designated as a Chicago Landmark.
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. Sincerely,
^ A r K M~A- ... s
Kathleen FJ. Dickhut
Bureau Chief ^
Bureau of Planning, Historic Preservation & Sustainability , _^
Department of Planning and Development .4 .".:: 12
ends. 5i>
cc: Alderman Ervin, 28th Ward (via email w/ enclosure)
121. NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60602
i
ORDINANCE
Claremont Cottage District
1000 Block of S. Claremont Avenue, between W. Taylor Street and W. Grenshaw Street
and 2342 W. Grenshaw Street
WHEREAS, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), Sections 2-120-620 through -690, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Claremont Cottage District (the-"District"), located along the 1000 Block of S. Claremont Avenue, between W. Taylor Street and W. Grenshaw Street and 2342 W. Grenshaw Street, Chicago, Illinois, as more precisely described in Exhibit A and depicted in Exhibit B, attached hereto and incorporated herein, satisfies three (3) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1),(4) and (6) ofthe Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the District exemplifies the importance of the worker's cottage building type to the development of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Chicago working- and middle-class neighborhoods. Worker's cottages are commonly found in many Chicago neighborhoods and typically display a relatively restrained palette of decorative building materials and ornamentation; and
WHEREAS, the District represents the highly-decorative, finely-crafted houses revered-by Victorian-era Chicagoans of all socioeconomic strata. Developers such as Turner & Bond supplied the demand, often through pattern catalogs like "The Claremont Cottages in Seven Styles" in which the spiritual and physical health benefits of residing in a beautiful, well-constructed building were sermonized. The District is one of the finest surviving examples of a speculative development of worker's cottages in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the District is exceptional in the context of Chicago residential architecture as a finely-detailed and exceptionally well-preserved set of Queen Anne-style worker's cottages; and
WHEREAS, the District is a rare surviving example of a speculative, planned development by the prolific real estate partnership of Turner & Bond based on designs from an architectural pattern catalog attributed to notable Chicago architect Cicero Hine; and
WHEREAS, through the unified use of Queen Anne architecture and ornamental details, the District creates a distinctive and recognizable sense of place within the Near West Side Community Area; and
WHEREAS, belying their relatively small scale, the buildings of the District are crafted with visually-impressive architectural features in a manner that is unusual for worker's cottages: high gabled rooflines, triangular gable apices, sloped roofs with overhanging eaves and rectangular projecting bays on the 2nd story. The buildings feature a variety of exterior building materials including pressed, patterned, and painted brick, carved stone, rusticated stone and colored glass. The cottages also feature a well preserved assortmentof turned wood ornamental|1010|
details that contribute to their cheerful, picturesque quality: brackets applied beneath overhanging eaves; flared wood fans; grooved bargeboards with fan motifs; and faceted wood block ornament; and
WHEREAS, the District is in its repeated use of standard design types which result in a cohesive but not homogenous visual appearance rare among Chicago residential blocks of the period; 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; and
WHEREAS, on October 3, 2019, 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 buildings visible from public rights of way.
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
PIN(s) Address |109|17-18-327-019-0000 1016 S. Claremont Ave. |109|17-18-327-020-0000 1020 S. Claremont Ave. |109|17-18-327-021-0000 1022 S. Claremont Ave. |109|17-18-328-012-0000 1023 S. Claremont Ave. |109|17-18-328-013-0000 1025 S. Claremont Ave. |109|17-18-327-022-0000 1026 S. Claremont Ave. |109|17-18-328-014-0000 1027 S. Claremont Ave. |109|17-18-328-015-0000 1029 S. Claremont Ave. |10 9|17-18-327-023-0000 1030 S. Claremont Ave.
10 17-18-328-016-0000 1033 S. Claremont Ave.
11 17-18-327-024-0000 1034 S. Claremont Ave.
12 17-18-328-017-0000 1035 S. Claremont Ave.
13 17-18-327-025-0000 1036 S. Claremont Ave.
14 17-18-327-026-0000 1038 S. Claremont Ave.
15 17-18-328-018-0000 1039 S. Claremont Ave.
16 17-18-328-019-0000 1041 S. Claremont Ave.
17 17-18-327-027-0000 1042 S. Claremont Ave.
18 17-18-328-020-0000 1045 S. Claremont Ave.
19 17-18-327-029-0000 2342 W. Grenshaw St. |1010|EXHIBIT B
CITY OF CHICAGO COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
October 3, 2019
RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHICAGO THAT CHICAGO LANDMARK DESIGNATION BE ADOPTED FOR THE
CLAREMONT COTTAGE DISTRICT
1000-BLOCK OF SOUTH CLAREMONT AVENUE BETWEEN WEST TAYLOR STREET AND WEST GRENSHAW STREET AS WELL AS 2342 WEST
GRENSHAW STREET
Docket No. 2019-05
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 Claremont Cottage 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 three (3) criteria set forth in Section 2-120-620 ofthe Municipal Code:
1. Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the heritage of the Cily of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United Stales.
4. Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation,
rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.
6. 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.
1. BACKGROUND
In May of 2018, owners of property in the proposed District, working alongside Landmarks Illinois, submitted a suggestion to the Program Committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks ("Commission") to designate the District as a City of Chicago Landmark. The owners hired a consultant, Katy Gallagher, with help from Landmarks Illinois to write the designation report for the District.
On December 4, 2018, DPD held a community meeting in the District at the offices of Vista Group Realty, located at 2323 W. Taylor Street to discuss the proposed designation and gauge support. All owners were notified of this meeting in a letter from DPD-dated November 23, 2018. No opposition to the proposed District was voiced at this meeting.
At its regular meeting of March 7, 2019, the Commission approved a "preliminary landmark recommendation" (the "Preliminary Recommendation") for designation ofthe District as a Chicago Landmark. A letter from Commission staff to the owners in the District announcing this meeting was sent on February 21, 2019. The Commission found that the District appeared to meet three of the seven criteria for designation, as well as the integrity criterion, identified in the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance (Municipal Code of the City of Chicago, Section 2-120-580 et seq.). The Preliminary Recommendation, identified as Exhibit A, initiated the consideration process for further study and analysis ofthe possible landmark designation of the District. As part ofthe Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission preliminarily identified the significant historical and architectural features ofthe District as: all exterior elevations, including rooflines, ofthe buildings visible from public rights of way. As part ofthe Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission also adopted a preliminary summary of information, dated March 7, 2019, and identified as Exhibit B. In a letter dated March 15, 2019, the Department of Planning and Development, on behalf ofthe Commission, notified the owners within the District, of the Preliminary Recommendation.
At its regular meeting of May 2, 2019, the Commission received a report, identified as Exhibit C, from David Reifman, then Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development, stating that the proposed landmark designation of the District supports the City's overall planning goals and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
In a letter dated May 6, 2019, the Commission officially requested the consent to the proposed landmark designation from the owners of property within the District. The letter also requested the return of an enclosed written consent form indicating consent or non-consent by June 20, 2019.
In a letter dated June 12, 2019, the Commission sent a reminder to the owners who had not submitted consent forms yet to do so by June 20th. Another copy of the consent form was also enclosed.
At the end of the request-for-consent period, Commission staff had received nine of 19 consents for designation and zero "non-consent" forms. Without written consents from all of the property owners, Section 2-120-650 of the Chicago Landmarks- Ordinance required the Commission to hold a public hearing on the Preliminary Recommendation with respect to the designation ofthe District as a Chicago landmark.
In a letter dated August 14, 2019, the Commission notified the owners of the properties within the District ofthe public hearing scheduled for September 9, 2019. A notice of the hearing date was also posted on two signs in the public right-of-way within the District. In addition, the public hearing time and place was published as a legal notice in the Chicago Sun-Times. The public hearing notice was also posted on the Department of Planning and Development's web site.
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/
n. PUBLIC HEARING
The hearing was convened, as scheduled and noticed, on Monday, September 9, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., Rm. 1003-A. Commission member Richard Tolliver served as Hearing Officer, assisted by Michael Gaynor, Supervising Assistant Corporation Counsel of the Real Estate and Land Use Division of the City's Law Department, as legal counsel to the Commission, and Dijana Cuvalo, head of the Historic Preservation staff of the Planning, Historic Preservation and Sustainability Division of the Department of Planning and Development. The healing 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 Daniel Klaiber, 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. No property owners presented questions to staff, nor did they request party status. No members of the public requested party status.
Four property owners as well as two members of the general public did make statements in support of the landmark designation, including representatives of Landmarks Tlliriois and Preservation Chicago. One property owner made a statement in opposition to the designation.
The transcript (the "Hearing Transcript") and related exhibits from the public hearing are attached hereto.
III. FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 2-120-690 ofthe 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 three (3) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (4) and (6) ofthe Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the District exemplifies the importance of the worker's cottage building type to the development of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Chicago working- and middle-class neighborhoods. Worker's cottages are commonly found in many Chicago
|1010|
neighborhoods and typically display a relatively restrained palette of decorative building materials and ornamentation; and
WHEREAS, the District represents the highly-decorative, finely-crafted houses revered by Victorian-era Chicagoans of all socioeconomic strata. Developers such as Turner & Bond supplied the demand, often through pattern catalogs like "The Claremont Cottages in Seven Styles" in which the spiritual and physical health benefits of residing in a beautiful, well-constructed building was sermonized. The District is one of the finest surviving examples of a speculative development of worker's cottages in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the District is exceptional in the context of Chicago residential architecture as a finely-detailed and exceptionally well-preserved set of Queen Anne-style worker's cottages; and
WHEREAS, the District is a rare surviving example of a speculative, planned development by the prolific real estate partnership of Turner & Bond based on designs from an architectural pattern catalog attributed to notable Chicago architect Cicero Hine; and
WHEREAS, through the unified use of Queen Anne architecture and ornamental details, the District creates a distinctive and recognizable sense of place within the Near West Side Community Area; and
WHEREAS, belying their relatively small scale, the buildings of the District are-crafted with visually-impressive architectural features in a manner that is unusual for worker's cottages: high gabled rooflines, triangular gable apices, sloped roofs with overhanging caves and rectangular projecting bays on the 2nd story. The buildings feature a variety of exterior building materials including pressed, patterned, and painted brick, carved stone, rusticated stone, colored glass. The cottages also feature a well preserved assortment of turned wood ornamental details that contribute to their cheerful, picturesque quality: brackets applied beneath overhanging eaves; flared wood fans; grooved bargeboards with fan motifs, and faceted wood block ornament; and
WHEREAS, the District is in its repeated use of standard design types which result in a cohesive but not homogenous visual appearance rare among Chicago residential blocks of the period; and
WHEREAS, the District is a rare surviving example of a speculative, planned development by the prolific real estate partnership of Turner & Bond based on designs from an architectural pattern catalog attributed to notable Chicago architect Cicero Hinc; and
¦ WHEREAS, through the unified use of Queen Anne architecture and ornamental details, the District creates a distinctive and recognizable sense of place within the Near West Side Community Area.
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
|1010|ability to express such historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value; now, therefore,
THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS HEREBY:
1. Incorporates the preamble and Sections I, II and III into its findings; and
Adopts the Final Designation Report, as revised, and dated this 3rd day of October
2019;and
Finds, based on the Designation Report, DPD Report, the Hearing Transcript and the entire record before the Commission, that the District meets the three (3) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Sections 2-120-620 (1), (4) 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 buildings visible from public rights of
way.
6. Recommends that the District be designated a Chicago Landmark. This recommendation was adopted Aj^y^q.^. ji^n^Jtr^^if^ CB ~Q
Rafael M. Leon, Chairman Commission on Chicago Landmarks
EXHIBIT A
Resolution by the
Commission on Chicago Landmarks on the
Preliminary Landmark Recommendation For the
CLAREMONT COTTAGE DISTRICT
Including the Following Address Ranges:
1016-1042 S. Claremont Avenue (evens), 1023-1045 S. Claremont Avenue (odds), 2340-2344 W. Grenshaw Street (evens)
March 7, 2019
Whereas, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (hereinafter the "Commission") preliminarily finds that:
The Claremont Cottage District (the "District"), located at the addresses noted above, meets three (3) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (4)
and (6) of the MunicipaLCodCof Chicago (the/Municipal_Cgdc'')5 as specifically -
described in the Preliminary Summary of Information submitted to the Commission on this 7th day of March, 2019, 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 ofthe Municipal Code.
Section 3. For purposes of Section 2-120-740 of the Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features ofthe District are preliminarily identified as:
• All exterior elevations, including rooflines, ofthe buildings visible from public rights of way.
Section 4. The Commission hereby requests a report from the Commissioner ofthe Department of Planning and Development which evaluates the relationship of the proposed designation to the
City's governing plans and policies and the effect ofthe proposed designation on the surrounding neighborhood in accordance with Section 2-120-640 ofthe Municipal Code.
Rafael M. Leon, Chairm
Rafael M. Leon, Chairman Commission on Chicago Landmarks
Dated: ^Y}a^JL 7,*rPJ 7
EXHIBIT B
Preliminary Summary of Information
Submitted to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in March 2019
Claremont Cottage District
1000-Block of S. Claremont Avenue Between Taylor and Grenshaw Streets
CITY OF CHICAGO Rahm Emanuel, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development David Reifman, Commissioner
Table of Contents
Map of District|910|District History and Development|910|Architect Cicero Hine 11
The Queen Anne Architectural Style 16
Worker's Cottages Building Type 17
Criteria for Designation 19
Significant Historical and
Architectural Features 22
Bibliography 23
|1010|Claremont cottage district
1000-Block of S. Claremont Ave.; 2342 W. Grenshaw St. Built: 1884-1885
Architect: attributed to Cicero Hine
The 1000-block of South Claremont Avenue is lined on both sides by nineteen one and one-half
story Queen Anne-stylexottages primarily builHn~l 884rln their high-level of designrcrafts=
manship, and physical integrity, this is a rare surviving development of Queen Anne style "worker's cottages." The 1000-block is located between W. Taylor and W. Grenshaw Streets on Chicago's Near West Side within the larger Tri -Taylor Historic District, which was listed in the National Register in 1983. The Chicago Historic Resources Survey, published in 1996, identified the area as a potential Chicago Landmark district.
The worker's cottage was a common building type in the context of Chicago working- and middle-class neighborhoods that were developed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, the cottages in this district are distinctive for their design and detailing. No two cottages in the district are identical. Each one is clad with eclectic ornamentation and exterior building materials a little differently than the last, but the striking visual appeal of the block is in its uniformity. The high gabled roofs, overhanging eaves with turned wood brackets beneath, oriel windows and carved stone trim produce a higher level of visual character than what is typically found in worker's cottages. The district also stands out as a largely intact speculative development, built as an ensemble 125 years ago, that has managed to survive the ravages of time, economic downturns, and extensive urban renewal projects nearby.
Named the "Claremont Cottages" by prolific real estate developers Turner & Bond, these buildings reflect the appreciation that Victorian-era Chicagoans had for highly-decorative, finely-crafted houses, even ones of modest scale, as well as the importance of small-scale residential buildings to the history of Chicago.
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The proposed Claremont Cottage District (pictured in the map above) is comprised of the 1000-block of S. Claremont Ave. between W. Taylor and W. Grenshaw Streets. It is located within the larger Near West Side community area.
District History and Description
The Claremont Cottage District is situated in the Tri-Taylor neighborhood within the larger Near West Side Community Area. The Near West Side is bounded to the north by W. Kinzie St., to the east by the South Branch of the Chicago River, and 16th Street at its southern edge. In addition to the Tri-Taylor District, the Near West Side is comprised of the Fulton-River District, Greektown, the Illinois Medical District, Little Italy, South Water District, University Village/Maxwell Street, West Loop, and the United Center Area. These neighborhoods represent, to an extraordinary degree, the dynamism and turbulence of the economic, cultural, and political transformations that have taken place in Chicago over the past 175 years.
Development of the area began as early as 1837, as small, wood-frame cottages occupied by Irish immigrants sprang up west ofthe Chicago River. The Irish were soon followed by German, Czechs and Bohemians, and French immigrants. The late 1840s through the 1860s saw much growth on the Near West Side. Two train depots— the Chicago Galena and Union station, built at Halsted and Kinzie in 1848, and the Union Depot at Canal and Madison, constructed in 1860— and associated commercial and industrial development attracted European immigrant workers to the area.
Development blossomed in the wake of the 1871 Chicago Fire as the Near West Side was almost completely untouched by the fire's destruction, and the area's close proximity to downtown-brought an-influx of both commercial and'residential-development, creating a building boom in the years immediately after the Fire.
By the 1880s much of the Near West Side began to transform into a densely populated working class neighborhood of immigrants from Greece, Italy and Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. Many of these immigrants worked in the food wholesale markets on Fulton Market and Randolph Streets. Within this rapidly transforming area Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened Hull House on Halsted Street providing social and educational services for the neighborhood's ethnically diverse residents.
The Claremont Cottage District is located within the Tri-Taylor National Register District which encompasses a triangular area bounded by Congress Parkway to the North, Ogden Avenue to the East, Roosevelt Road on the south and railroad tracks on the west. The neighborhood's quiet Victorian residential character contrasts with the Illinois Medical District to the east and the commercial thoroughfares of Ogden and Western Avenues to the west and south.
Tri-Taylor derives its significance from its role as a "second-settlement" ethnic urban neighborhood developed during the last two decades ofthe nineteenth century. The vast majority of residential and/or commercial structures in the district are row houses and cottages as well as three-flats. The district includes Taylor and Harrison Streets, where mixed residential/commercial development in the 1880-1910 period helped to define a community whose built history has survived surprisingly intact.
Census records show that by 1900, the early residents ofthe Claremont Cottage District were a blend of first and second generation European immigrants. Residents included the DeGrood
|1010|family, owners of 1038 S. Claremont. Originally from New York, Halsted DeGrood, 65 was a clerk. He shared the space with his wife and son, an electrician. William Alterberg, 77, a tanner born in Germany, owned 1033 S. Claremont where he lived with his daughter Lo Hoyers and granddaughter, Lula Hoyers, a stenographer.
Ellen Hoagland, 83, originally from New Jersey, rented 1034 S. Claremont, where she lived with 4 children; A. Abram, a 36-year old painter and his wife Emma Abram, 32, originally from Germany, owned 1034 S. Claremont. Peter Cunningham, a 38-year old teamster from Ireland rented 1035 S. Claremont with his wife Kathryn and daughter Mary. In a different unit in that building Mary Freeman lived with 2 sisters, both telephone operators and 2 brothers, tailors. At the turn of the century masses of Italians moved to the Near West Side, an impetus for the earlier German and Irish residents to relocate farther away from the city's center. The Italians remained until after World War TI, though as early as the 1930s and 1940s new waves of African Americans and Mexican immigrants began to settle in the neighborhood as well.
More changes came to the Near West Side as a result of the Eisenhower Expressway (1-290) built between 1949 and 1961, and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) expansion- both of which displaced thousands of residents and numerous businesses in the former immigrant area around Hull House and parts of Greektown. Portions of Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood survives between the UIC campus and the continually growing Illinois Medical District (IMD), a special use zoning district which occupies 560 acres from Ashland Ave. west to Damen Ave.
The 19 cottages of the Claremont Cottage District were conceived and built as a single speculative development by the developers Turner & Bond. Col. Henry L. Turner (1845-1915) and William A. Bond (1850-1943) formed their partnership in May, 1875. Occupying offices at No. 102 Washington St., the firm specialized in residential property on the South and West Sides of the city. They became one of the most prominent real estate and mortgage firms in Chicago, partnering with notable architects and overseeing the construction process. Bond was an active member of the Real Estate Board and Turner was elected Board President in 1888.
Turner's professional and personal interests were diverse. Prior to establishing the real estate business, he had fought in the Civil War with an Illinois regiment and was later the proprietor ofthe religious newspaper The Advance. Turner was also a writer of fiction and poetry, often with a religious theme, and sometimes under the pen name "Old Don Henri." His interest in publishing and literature may have inclined him toward the creation of the catalog that his firm used to market the cottages. The printers used for the project, Knight & Leonard, had also printed books written by Turner. In 1888 Turner became President and Bond became Vice-President of the Western Publishing House. By 1892 Turner had become exclusively concerned with the functioning of the publishing company, which lead to the dissolution of his real estate partnership. In Turner's later years he was widely recognized for his military efforts, commanding the First Regiment, Illinois National Guard, which saw active service in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Less detail is known about the life of Bond, but later in 1892 the company reemerged as Wil-
|1010|liam A. Bond & Co. The real estate firm continued to thrive well into the 20th century with Bond's son, William S. Bond at the helm, following his father's death in 1943.
Between February 20th and March 1st 1884, City of Chicago building permits were issued to Turner & Bond for the construction of eight one- and one-half story 20'x 40' cottages on S. Claremont Ave. (then named Idaho Street). An advertisement for the development, touted as "The Berkeley Cottages," was printed in the February 14, 1884, edition of the Chicago Tribune:
We expect to have ready by May 1, six or eight of these beautiful cottages. They have been designed for us by one of the ablest architects in the cily, and will be thoroughly built. They will be located Oakley Av. and Idaho St. (the former name for Claremont Ave.), south of Taylor St., only one and two blocks from the Ogden Av. and Twelfth St. cars. They will have seven good-sized rooms, besides bathroom, pantry and closets. They will be furnished with sewer, and city water. Any who propose to buy or rent this spring will do well to visit the cottage^ now almost done, on Oakley Av. near corner, Grenshaw St., or to inspect, at oar office, the plans, which contain several new features. Turner & Bond 102 Washington St.
By May of 1884, Turner & Bond's vision for the cottage development on Idaho St. had become • more expansive and the Berkeley Cottages were rebranded as the "Claremont Cottages." The rebranding under the Claremont appellation led to the renaming of the street itself from Idaho to Claremont Ave. four years later. An advertisement in the Chicago Tribune in May of 1884 announced:
FOR SALE-THE CLAREMONT COTTAGES: 7 different styles, will be the handsomest series of low priced houses ever built in the Northwest... a sample of our no. 4 is nearly finished on Idaho St. near Grenshaw ...Price: $2,300.
Eight permits have been identified for the first wave of the cottages on Claremont Ave. Six were purchased by Turner & Bond on February 20, 1884 (address numbers 1030, 1034, 1036, 1038, 1042 and 1048); one on February 25, 1884 (1023) and one on March 1, 1884 (1037). Research has not identified original building permits for the remaining buildings in the district, however, it is likely that the district was completed and occupied by mid-1885, because in May of that year, the frequent Turner & Bond advertisements running in the Chicago Tribune had stopped marketing the 1000-block of Claremont and began to market a new development of cottages nearby on the 1300-blocks of S. Oakley, S. Heath and S. Claremont Avenues. Many of the cottages in this later development have been demolished or have lost integrity.
The designs for the 1000-block of S. Claremont and the nearby 1300-blocks were featured in a Turner & Bond authored catalog entitled 777
'The model cottage referenced in the advertisement as "'now almost done" may be 1042 S. Oakley Ave. located on the block directly east ofthe Claremont Cottage District. This was the first Turner & Bond cottage to be built in the area in 1883. It was also the only one to be built on the 1000-block of S. Oakley.
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The Claremont Cottages in Seven Styles Catalog used for the development and marketing of the 1000-block of S. Claremont Ave. by prolific Chicago real estate developers Turner & Bond, ca 1885.
The Claremont Cottage designs were largely based on "Style #6" from the catalog.
|10 10|
10
1885. Narrative in the catalog provides insight into the cottage construction boom taking place in Chicago in the 1880s:
The requirements ofthe modern Real Estate market being such that every well-equipped office must of necessity have its Cottage Department, we have made an exhaustive study ofthe subject of Cottage Building... we offer the world of cottage buyers the Claremont Cottages, which we are now building, as the most perfect series of cottages ever constructed. And in a manner that was typical for the era, Turner & Bond's catalog imbued their cottages with meaning, suggesting that to reside in one would promote the physical and mental health of the inhabitant, meet the practical needs of city dwelling: while providing enrichment through artistic design.
We believe they are unequaled: In their adaptation to the narrow limits of the ordinary city lot. Large and commodious living rooms being secured with an abundance of light and air for each.
In the elegance and variety of their designs. Believing that beauty and
artistic effect in due proportion are as desirable in the cottage home as in
the palace, we have spared no effort to secure the most attractive designs
possible, -— ' -
In the thoroughness and durability of their construction. These cottages are not contract-built, but all materials are bought and all labor done under the direct supervision of our office, and possible purchasers are afforded every facility for examining the work while in progress.
Architect Cicero Hine
While The Claremont Cottage in Seven Styles catalog identified Normand S. Patton as the architect, architectural historians have long attributed the design of the cottages to Cicero Hine who was a draftsman working for Patton in 1884 and part of 1885, the period that Turner and Bond began construction on the Claremont Cottages and published their catalog of homes. This attribution is based on Hine's specialization in Queen Anne-style residences like those found on Claremont. Compared to Cicero Hine, Pat-ton's body of work was far different, characterized by larger institutional buildings like schools, churches, libraries and universities. Additionally, a comparison of sketches known to come from Hine with the sketches in the catalog bear striking similarities in style and common features.
While Cicero Hine is most commonly associated with Queen Anne residences today, he was well known in the Chicago area in
Cicero Hine (1849-1925) Chicago Daily Tribune, May 20, 1922.
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An architectural sketch by Cicero Hine for the design ofthe George Brown Mansion in 1886 (above, right) and style #5 from Turner & Bond's Claremont Cottage in Seven Styles catalog (above, left). Architectural historians have long attributed the designs ofthe cottages to Cicero Hine who was employed by well-known Chicago architect Normand S. Patton between 1884 and 1885.
the 1880s through the early 1900s for designing a diverse body of work. Hine was also known for his contributions to the Architectural Sketch Club of Chicago, of which he was a founding member, and for his work with the Brunswick, Balke, Collender Co. later in his career.
Born in Derbyshire, England on March 23, 1849, to parents William and Elizabeth, the family came to Chicago in 1869, when Hine was 20, at which point he began drafting in the office of Gurdon P. Randall (l821 -l 884) who designed many large public buildings throughout the Midwest including churches, railroad stations and schools.
Hine served in Randall's office from 1869 to at least 1875, during which time he assisted with the design for the First Baptist Congregational Church built in 1871 and designated a Chicago Landmark in 1982. Hine also worked on the entry submitted by the office for the new Cook County Courthouse and Chicago City Hall building design competition, held in 1873, in which Randall's design was accorded second prize. Hine left Randall's office in 1875 to take a position in the office of the government architect of Canada at Ottawa, where he worked until 1883, ultimately returning to Chicago. Hine's return marked an energetic chapter in his career. Sketching for among others, architect John Mills Van Osdel and the office of Wheelock & Clay, he joined the office of Normand S. Patton in 1884.
Hine's independent practice began soon after the publication of the Claremont cottage catalog in 1885. Among the designs Hine executed during the first year of his independent practice was the large Queen Anne-style George Brown Mansion in Chesterton, Indiana in 1886 (listed on the National Register of Historic Places). In late 1886 Hine again partnered with Turner & Bond for a new group of cottages. Details of this development, to be built onS. Berkeley and S. Lake Park Avenues, were made public in the Chicago Inter Ocean newspaper of January 15, 1887:
Architect Cicero Hine designed the following residences in the last year: Eleven Berkeley cottages on Berkeley Avenue between 41st and 42nd
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streets. Some of them are built partially of stone and others entirely of stone. The houses embody in a marked degree the elements of the attractive and popular along with the economical and substantial. The end house on the North has a tasteful effect and a chimney runs up the face of the lower. Throughout, the Queen Anne architecture of all these houses is as attractive as it is diversified.
Clearly designed as an ensemble, but not based on The Claremont Cottages in Seven Styles, these cottages were mostly finished by the end of 1886. The buildings that survive are well preserved and form a cohesive group that is part of the Oakland Historic District.
Throughout the late 1880s Hine designed several notable buildings, including the John 1. Jones House in Oak Park, a striking Queen Anne residence; a Presbyterian church in Ashland, Wisconsin., St. John's Episcopal in Maywood, Illinois and the Martha Washington Home in the Ravenswood neighborhood. An 1887 Interocean article also credits Hine with flat buildings in Lincoln Park and Hyde Park, and seven cottages in Berwyn.
After working a number of years in independent practice, Hine became staff architect for the Brunswick Balke Collander Company around 1913. In the company's Chicago office, he designed public interior spaces like pool halls and bowling alleys. He also designed furnishings and related products like cue racks, phonograph components and game tables, patented by Hine and-manufactured by the Brunswick Balke Collander Company. This professional shift paral-_ leled a shift in favored architectural form from Hine's hallmark Victorian eclecticism to the more cohesive Prairie School. Hine stayed at Brunswick until his death on October 6, 1925.
There are nineteen buildings in the Claremont Cottage District, taking up most of the 1000-block of S. Claremont Ave. beginning at the alley just south of Taylor St. and extending south on Claremont to its intersection with Grenshaw St. All but one of the cottages faces Claremont, the exception being 2342 W. Grenshaw St. on the southwest corner of the block, which is located at the rear of the lot behind a brick two-flat brick residence built in 1904 (1044 S. Claremont).
The Claremont Cottage District consists of highly detailed one- and one-half story cottages. Seven ofthe buildings have a ground level basement with a porch accessed by steps. Most of the buildings were built on narrow lots, but two of the buildings sit on a wider parcel of land. Each lot has a uniformly positioned fence at the front, made of either chain link or wrought iron. One cottage retains an Eastlake style porch with turned wood spindles. The buildings share common character-defining elements, but they vary in terms of building material and ornament. The high pitched front-facing gable roofs with overhanging eaves and 2nd floor oriel windows are magnified by the cottages' compact size, producing a charming, picturesque quality. The overall effect of the ensemble's architectural composition and detail is unexpected and visually striking.
The buildings ofthe Claremont Cottage District are a variation of style number six in The Claremont Cottages in Seven Styles catalog. The features of style number six exhibited in the district include the high-pitched gable roof and pediment, turned-wood brackets and ornamenta-
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For the most part, windows are symmetrically arranged on the facades with uniform spacing and sizing throughout the district. Many build-
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Architectural detail is primarily expressed within the oriel window bays and around the high gabled roofs, which feature pronounced pediments and wide, overhanging eaves with carved wood bargeboards, commonly including a fanned motif. Beneath the eaves are carved wood brackets visible on the facade and side elevations.
tion. As built, the cottages on Claremont vary from style number six in that the oriel projection is rectangular in shape rather than circular and the entry is situated in the center ofthe building rather than inset to the left.
The front facades of the cottages are constructed of red stretcher-bond brick.Foundation walls are composed of rubble stone. Oriel window materials and colors vary. They are most typically comprised of painted wood and white aluminum siding. About half of the buildings have a basket weave brick pattern beneath the gable on the second story. Decorative strips of projecting brick divide the first story from the second half-story of each building.
At each cottage architectural decoration is primarily expressed around the high gabled roof,
which features pronounced pediments and wide, overhanging eaves. The pediment on one of
the buildings features scalloping on the trim and inset faceted blocks with "bull's eye" centers
within. Other pediments contain shingles and one contains rubble stone. Two roofs in the dis-
trict contain a jerkinhead gable. The eaves reach down to the first story. Most of the cottages
feature wood carved fan motifs and additional carved detailing on the bargeboards as well as
wood fans flared between the oriel window bay and the gable. The fan motif is a common fea-
ture among Hine's cottages; it can also be seen on cottages in the 1300-block group and the
Berkeley Cottages in the Oakwood Historic District. Beneath all of the eaves in the district are
carved wood brackets visible on the facade and the side elevations. Some oriel windows are
adorned with carved wood pilasters. Windows and entrances feature stone lintels and sills. On
some buildings the lintels are carved with ornament. _ •
The first story entrances are generally located at the center of the front facades and marked by a projection, but to a lesser degree than the oriel window located directly above. Window openings are a significant aspect ofthe Claremont Cottage design. For the most part, they are symmetrically arranged on the facade, with uniform spacing and sizing. Two first floor windows flank the entrance doors. Some buildings in the district retain multi-light stained-glass windows in triangular roof dormers, oriel windows and both front and side elevations. The south-facing side of 1045 S. Claremont Ave. in view from Grenshaw St. displays several multi-light stained-glass windows. The south elevation of each building also features protruding hooded window bays not easily seen from the front view.
The Queen Anne Architectural Style
The buildings ofthe Claremont Cottage District exemplify the Queen Anne style of architecture. The Queen Anne was a visually-varied style common in America in the late 1880s and 1890s. The name "Queen Anne" had been coined in England in the 1860s to describe asymmetrical buildings that combined medieval and classical forms and ornament, such as the sprawling manor houses designed by architect Richard Norman Shaw in Britain. In America, the Queen Anne style was originally used for visually eclectic suburban houses and seaside resort cottages in the 1870s, but it quickly became a popular style for a wide variety of urban residences and commercial buildings. The popularity of the Queen Anne Style in America is often attributed to the 1876 exposition in Philadelphia, where it made its debut. The style possesses great visual richness and texture due, in part, to its use of finely-crafted and detailed building materials. The variety of ornament and form utilized by this style often included irregular rooflines, bay windows, turrets, balconies, brackets, decorative glass, porches and balconies.
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While enclaves of worker's cottages are common throughout the city, the Claremont Cottage District is exceptional for its visual complexity and richness that characterized much Queen Anne architecture in Chicago through features such as oriel windows with pilaster surrounds, overhanging eaves with carved bargeboards, carved wood brackets, fanned wood and faceted block "bull's eye" detailing. The cottage designs incorporate a large variety of materials, including stretcher brick and patterned brick, limestone, wood, shingles, and stained glass. Overall, the buildings in this district express the importance and influence of the Queen Anne style.
The Worker's Cottage Building Type
The buildings ofthe Claremont Cottage District are exceptional examples of "worker's cottages," a common yet important building type characteristic of Chicago's nineteenth-and early twentieth-century working- and middle-class neighborhoods. As Chicago grew from its origins as a frontier settlement in the mid-nineteenth century, the city developed residential neighborhoods that ringed the original town settlement at the mouth of the Chicago River. These neighborhoods were built up with a relatively small variety of building types, most commonly residential, commercial, and religious. Among these building types, the worker's cottage was one ofthe most prominent, built in great numbers to form small-scale residential streetscapes. Built both by individual property owners and as part of larger real-estate developments like those produced by Turner & Bond on Claremont, worker's cottages became a distinctive element in
working-and middle-class Chicago neighborhoods, and were built throughout-the nineteenth -
and early twentieth centuries.
The "worker's cottage" property type developed in response to the grid-like subdivisions common to Chicago as the city spread in all directions across the flat northern Illinois prairie. These cottages are typically rectangular in overall plan, with the short side of the plan facing the street and the house itself fitting snugly within the confines of the narrow yet deep building lot typical in Chicago. The city's relatively low land costs in many developing neighborhoods allowed single-family home ownership through cottages to be available for striving working- and middle-class families.
Worker's cottages are typically modestly-scaled. They could be either one or one-and-a-half stories in height and typically had gabled roofs facing the street. Early Chicago cottages (built before the 1870s) typically were built of wood, while later cottages were more often built of brick, although this varied among neighborhoods and the requirements of City of Chicago building and fire codes. Although many early cottages were built atop modest wood pilings, it later became common for them to be raised above the ground on more substantial masonry foundations, creating basements lighted and ventilated with small windows, examples of which can be seen in the Claremont Cottage District. Front doors were typically to one side of the front facade, visually balanced by windows, typically in pairs, that were detailed with wood or (in the case of brick cottages) stone lintels. Front stoops were usually built of wood with cast-iron railings and posts. Often a pent roof or porch with wood posts and details sheltered the building's front entrance. If a cottage had a second floor or attic, it would be lighted by a single window set within the front gable and sometimes also small side dormers. Early cottages had wooden cornices supported with brackets or dentils.
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The worker's cottage is an important building type found in Chicago working- and middle-class neighborhoods built in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most were relatively simple in design and relatively indistinguishable from others. Top: A photograph of worker's cottages in an unidentified neighborhood, circa 1900.
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fec^i,u,'/.t
Chicago's earliest worker's cottages were typically built of wood and designed in a variety of architectural styles. Top left: An early worker's cottages designed in the relatively simple Greek Revival style. Top right: An elaborate example of an Italianate-style cottage. Middle: A more visually restrained Italianate-style cottage. Bottom: The Bellinger Cottage at 2121 N. Hudson (built 1869) is a rare cottage that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871.
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Such worker's cottages were standardized enough in their overall forms and details as to allow ease of construction. Yet they could also be personalized depending upon materials and ornament used. This building type reflects the importance of traditional building materials, including brick, stone, wood, and metal, along with more recently available materials such as terra cotta and pressed metal, in creating the overall appearance of Chicago neighborhoods. The earliest worker's cottages in Chicago from the 1830s through 1850s utilized Greek Revival details, including simple rectilinear door surrounds. Later cottages built in the 1860s through early 1880s were constructed with Italianate-derived ornament, including incised lintels built of wood or stone. Still later, in the late 1880s and 1890s, cottages were often ornamented in \ the more elaborate Queen Anne style.
Criteria for Designation
According to the Municipal Code of Chicago (Section 2-120-620 and -630), 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 possess sufficient historic design integrity to convey its significance. The following should be considered by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in determining whether to recommend that the Claremont Cottage District be desighated~as a Chicago LaridmarkT ~"~
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 ofthe heritage of ihe City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United Slates.
The Claremont Cottage District exemplifies the importance of the worker's cottage building type to the development of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Chicago working-and middle-class neighborhoods. Worker's cottages are commonly found in many Chicago neighborhoods and typically display a relatively restrained palette of decorative building materials and ornamentation.
The Claremont Cottage District represents the highly-decorative, finely-crafted houses revered by Victorian-era Chicagoans of all socioeconomic strata. Developers such as Turner & Bond supplied the demand, often through pattern catalogs like "The Claremont Cottages in Seven Styles" in which the spiritual and physical health benefits of residing in a beautiful, well-constructed building was sermonized. Claremont Cottage District is one ofthe finest surviving examples of a speculative development of worker's cottages in Chicago.
Criterion 4: Exemplary Architecture
Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished hy innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials or craftsmanship.
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The Claremont Cottage District is exceptional in the context of Chicago residential architecture as a finely-detailed and exceptionally well-preserved set of Queen Anne-style worker's cottages.
The District is a rare surviving example of a speculative, planned development by the prolific real estate partnership of Turner & Bond based on designs from an architectural pattern catalog attributed to notable Chicago architect Cicero Hine.
Through the unified use of Queen Anne architecture and ornamental details, the Claremont Cottage District creates a distinctive and recognizable sense of place within the Near West Side Community Area.
Belying their relatively small scale, the buildings of the Claremont Cottage District are crafted with visually-impressive architectural features in a manner that is unusual for worker's cottages: high gabled rooflines, triangular gable apices, sloped roofs with overhanging eaves and rectangular projecting bays on the 2nd story. The buildings feature a variety of exterior building materials including pressed, patterned, and painted brick, carved stone, rusticated stone, colored glass. The cottages also feature a well preserved assortment of turned wood ornamental details that contribute to their cheerful, picturesque quality: brackets applied beneath overhanging eaves; flared wood fans; grooved bargeboards with fan motifs, and faceted wood block ornament.
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 Claremont Cottage District is in its repeated use of standard design types which result in a cohesive but not homogenous visual appearance that is rare among Chicago residential blocks of the period.
The District is a rare surviving example of a speculative, planned development by the prolific real estate partnership of Turner & Bond based on designs from an architectural pattern catalog attributed to notable Chicago architect Cicero Hine.
Through the unified use of Queen Anne architecture and ornamental details, the Claremont Cottage District creates a distinctive and recognizable sense of place within the Near West Side Community Area.
Integrity
The integrity ofthe proposed landmark must be preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and ability to express its historic community, architecture or aesthetic value.
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The buildings present a range of physical integrity levels, but virtually all of the buildings retain key characteristics that define their historic significance. These include historic wall materials, including pressed brick and carved stone lintels; massive oriel windows; fine architectural details such as high gabled roofs with wide, overhanging eaves with bargeboards and turned wood brackets beneath. Additionally, they continue to serve the same function more than a century after their construction. It is unusual to find a block-long collection of residences on both sides ofthe street from the mid-1880s that combine the character and overall integrity in the manner that the Claremont Cottage District possesses. Unlike other enclaves of worker's cottages in Chicago from the period, the entire district was designed and built as a unified whole.
The most common exterior changes to buildings in the district include the addition of enclosed porches on two cottages, reconfigured entries on the first floor of two cottages, replaced windows and'doors, covered building facades, replaced material on the oriel windows. These changes are not unusual for residential buildings of this vintage and they are reversible.
Significant Historical and Architectural Features
Whenever an area, district, place, building, structure, work of art or other object is under consideration for landmark designation, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is required to identify the "significant historical and architectural features" ofthe property. This is done to «nable-tne 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 preliminary evaluation of the Claremont Cottage District, the Commission staff recommends that the significant features be identified as:
• All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the buildings visible from public rights of way.
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Selected Bibliography
"50 Years Married," Chicago Daily Tribune, May, 1922 "Berkeley Cottages," Chicago Daily Tribune, February 1884. Chicago Inter Ocean. January 15, 1887. "City Real Estate," Chicago Daily Tribune, 17 April 1883.
Department of United States Census. Twelfth Census of ihe United States. Chicago: Dept. of Census, 1900.
"Display Ads," Chicago Daily Tribune, 16 July 1885.
The Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 2005.
Inland Architect and Builder. August, 1883.
Kitagawa, Evelyn: Tauber. Karl. Local Community Fact Pack. Chicago: I960. j
National Register Nomination, George Brown Mansion. Chicago: 1990. National Register Nomination, Tri-Taylor District. Chicago: 1983.
"Preliminary Staff Summary of Information on the Oakland District" Chicago: Commission on Chicago Landmarks, 1990.
"Preliminary Staff Summary of Information on the Martin Schnitzius Cottage," Chicago: Commission on Chicago Landmarks, June 2012.
"Real-Estate Firm Dissolved," Chicago Daily Tribune, 18 August 1892.
Sinkevitch, Alice and Petersen, Laurie M., eds. AIA Guide to Oak Park. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2014.
Turner and Bond. The Claremont Cottages in Seven Styles. Chicago: ca 1884.
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Acknowledgments
City of Chicago Rahm Emanuel, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development
David Reifman, Commissioner
Eleanor Esser Gorski, Bureau Chief; Bureau of Planning, Historic Preservation and Sustainability
Project Staff
Katy Gallagher (consultant), research, writing, photography, and layout Matt Crawford (project manager)
This Preliminary Summary of Information prepared with support provided by Landmarks Illinois Preservation Heritage Fund Grant and the Tri Taylor Neighborhood Association.
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 for recommending to the City Council that individual building, sites, objects, or entire districts be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law. The Commission is staffed by the Chicago Department of Planning and Developmeni, Bureau of Planning, Historic Preservation and Sustainability, City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room 1006, Chicago, TL 60602; (312-744-3200)phone; (312-744-9140) fax, web site: www.cilyofchicago.org/landmarks
This Preliminary Summary of Information is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within the final landmark designation ordinance as approved by City Council should be regarded as final.
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Department of Planning and Development
CITY OF CHICAGO
May 2, 2019
Report to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks On the Claremont Cottages District 1000 Block of South Claremont Avenue
The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) finds that the proposed landmark designation ofthe Claremont Cottages District supports the O'ty's overall planning goals for the surrounding Near West Side Community Area and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
The 19 cottages were designed and built as a group and are part ofthe Tri-Taylor Historic District-which was listed in the National Register of-Historic Places in 1988. In l996,-the Cn/cogo Historic Resources Survey identified this block as a potential historic district.
The Claremont Cottages District is zoned entirely RS-2 (Residential Single-Unit Detached House District) and surrounding land uses generally include other low density houses with some multi-unit buildings along the busier thoroughfares. Taylor Street is the primary commercial street in the area and Western Avenue is the primary vehicular thoroughfare, and also has one of the CTA bus routes included in the Transit Served Location Ordinance. The district is located between the Western/Ogden PMD to the south and the Illinois Medical District (IMD) to the east. The IMD includes more than 40 healthcare related facilities including the $654 million Rush University Medical Center. The recently landmarked Cook County Hospital Administration Building is also part of a larger redevelopment project which includes adjacent vacant parcels that total approximately 13 acres. Nearby public investments include CTA train station improvements at the IMD Blue Line Station, Malcolm X College expansion, and the reconstruction ofthe Jane Byrne Interchange.
David L. ^eifman, Commissioner Department of Planning and Development
In conclusion, the landmark designation ofthe Claremont Cottages District supports the City's overall planning and economic development goals for Chicago's Near West Side Community Area and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
12 1 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602