Chicago Bungalows - The Villa
I spent much of the weekend under the weather, but we did spend a few hours Saturday morning on a mini-field trip. We set out to find The Villa, a historical district in Chicago known for its bungalows.
We had high interest in checking it out as The Villa is designated a Historic Neighborhood, has been profiled in American Bungalow magazine, and also has had a house or two featured on HGTV.
Well, for starters The Villa isn't easy to find! Maybe we didn't do enough preliminary reserach but we spent at least 20 minutes driving around trying to find the place.
The reason we couldn't find it? It's a super tiny neighborhood.
Once we found it, it took about 10 minutes to explore the entire neighborhood. Distinguished by its wide double-laned streets, it featured a distinct range of bungalow architecture playing off of the typical Chicago bungalow design.
The funny thing is that we were kinda underwhelmed. Maybe our expectations were too high, but we were really expecting some dramatic (or at least iconic) bungalow architecture. The houses were nice and featured large front yards, but they weren't as architecturally distinct as we'd expected.
Part of that impression was that the boulevards were a bit overgrown. (They actually reminded me of the film Great Expectations, much of which takes place on an aged and overgrown estate.)
In the end we were happy to have gone, even though it took a while to find and it was a bit different than we were expecting. It's a nice reflection of Chicago's residential architectural style in a well maintained quiet corner of the city.
(3)
Looking for More?
| Search for more on 'Chicago bungalows' on this site. |
| Search for 'Chicago bungalows' on on other houseblogs like this one. |
| Search for 'Chicago bungalows' on Google. |
| Search for 'Chicago bungalows' on Amazon.com. |
Cabinet Refacing:
Face Your Kitchen | Your Guide to Kitchen Cabinet Refacing |
Comments
Ha - we just watched Great Expectations the other night - one of my all time favorites. While watching it I said to Trissa "How about we fix up a place like _that_" referring to the crazy woman's mansion...
Seattle doesn't have a lot of boulevards - I remember them being pretty common in Minneapolis though. Maybe it's a midwestern thing?
Posted by: Nick | September 14, 2005 9:05 AM
Nice photos... I love getting a sense of the neighborhoods that are out there in other cities.
Posted by: john m | September 15, 2005 6:03 AM
Next time you are out & about, check out the 1700 block of Columbia, in Rogers Park. The street runs from Hermitage to Ravenswood, has 8 bungaloes on each side.One of which I owned for 22 years....POPS -30-
Posted by: POPS | September 15, 2005 12:30 PM