Rowhouses of Chicago.

[herodotus]

Found most of these on an old hard drive. Chicago is not really a rowhouse city, but it does have a nice collection of distinctive rows. Enjoy!

[MilwaukeeMark]

Very cool. Crazy how different they can be, hey? It's interesting to see how some of them have been kept up and updated while others seem to have been left just as they were when they were first built.

This is probably my favorite style:


And this one, my least favorite:

[i_am_hydrogen]

Nice. A lot of these are in my neighborhood.

[NaptownBoy]

Jesus Christ, this is one of the best housing stock threads I've EVER seen. I would love to move to Chicago after graduating and fix up an old rowhouse.

Great thread!

[i_am_hydrogen]

I'd love to live in one, too. Unfortunately, they cost between $900,000 on up.

[NaptownBoy]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

I'd love to live in one, too. Unfortunately, they cost between $900,000 on up.

Yes, you're absolutely right in that they are expensive which makes it a pretty daunting goal.

I have a buddy that lives at 41st and King Drive and I'm always impressed by the amount of time, effort, and money he's invested into his brownstone.

[Whosville]

Not a huge fan. Not that they are not nice pictures, they are. But, $900,000 for a row house with people on either side of you is a little silly when you can have lots of other good housing in Chicago for a lesser price or you could get a downtown condo. Plus, think of the steps - those 4 story condos look really cool, but 4 flights of stairs all the time? Just not my style.

[STLgasm]

These are great!!!

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Whosville

Not a huge fan. Not that they are not nice pictures, they are. But, $900,000 for a row house with people on either side of you is a little silly when you can have lots of other good housing in Chicago for a lesser price or you could get a downtown condo. Plus, think of the steps - those 4 story condos look really cool, but 4 flights of stairs all the time? Just not my style.

that's one of the things that i LOVE about chicago, the diversity of housing types in this city is just amazing. from the highest skyscraper residences in the world, down to the humblest workman's cottage and everything in between, chicago has it all. we've got something to suit everyone's needs and desires.

also, keep in mind that not all row houses in this city will set you back 900,000 bones. that's the northside price, if you're more adventurous you could find rowhomes at a far more affordable price on the other side of town.

great pics, herodotus!

[Unionstation13]

wow.. gorgouse townhouses! When I was in Chicago, we were driving through the near southside or whatever, and just an amazing stock of romanisque townhouses! Just wow.

[Third of a kind]

you know $900,000 is alot of money but remember...you get what you pay for! and if you really want it you'll find some way to reach that goal.


nice pics hero!

[The anti-cheesehead]

Originally Posted by Whosville

Not a huge fan. Not that they are not nice pictures, they are. But, $900,000 for a row house with people on either side of you is a little silly when you can have lots of other good housing in Chicago for a lesser price or you could get a downtown condo. Plus, think of the steps - those 4 story condos look really cool, but 4 flights of stairs all the time? Just not my style.

I'd have to agree with that. $900K and you can hear your neighbors through the walls?

I think $900K for a rowhouse is a case where you don't get what you pay for. It seems to me that people are paying for the novelty of living in a rowhouse in a nice neighborhood. A newer condo would most likely have much better sound insulation. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Nice pics though.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by The anti-cheesehead

I'd have to agree with that. $900K and you can hear your neighbors through the walls?

A newer condo would most likely have much better sound insulation.

that's not true, most traditional rowhouses in chicago were built with full solid masonry party walls due to some of the most stringent fire codes in the nation (we kinda had a little fire here that got outta control back in 1871). so in most of these rowhouses you wouldn't even hear your neighbors if they were lighting off M-80s in their kitchen.

[DCT]

Steely is right on the mark. I live in DC. It's a city full of old rowhouses identical to the ones you see here. I have a friend in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. We did a little experiment where we blasted his stereo and went next door to see how loud it was. We actually coudn't hear it unless we went outside.

By the way, an advantage of not having those outside walls is that you save on heating and air conditioning costs!

You'd be amazed how well constructed many of these buildings are. In a real rowhouse you can tear out all the internal walls because none of them are load bearing. This is because the floors are held entirely by the outside walls. Additionally, rowhouses don't share a common wall. Your wall and your neighbor's are actually 2 separate attached walls. At least this is what most of the old building codes dictated. This way, if a rowhouse is torn down, it doesn't impact the neighboring houses in a structural sense.

Again, amazing pictures hero. I loved your series of New York and Baltimore rowhouse photos as well. I didn't realize Chicago had so many.

Chicago actually has some really unique and diverse residential architecture. Those old brick workers cottages you have (usually 2-4 stories, flat front, pitched rooves) are an urban building type I haven't seen anywhere else. I've seen them in abundance in places like the Wicker Park and Ukrainian village neighborhoods. They look more germanic and eastern European than victorian. I'd like to see a photo series of those.

I do have a question for you Chicagoans. As a DC resident visiting, an interesting thing about Chicago is that there are many buildings that are identical to our rowhouses in every way, but they are often slighty detached, often by as little as a few inches. If you could litereally push them together, they would look no different than what we see here in these rowhouse photos. So, why are most of the buildings in these old neighborhoods detached? Did it have something to do with that little fire back in 1871? Or, was this related to some arcane zoning or land-ownership ordinance?

[DCT]

Ooops, I double posted! I ain't yet figured out how to work this here contraption.

[prelude91]

Originally Posted by herodotus

Found most of these on an old hard drive. Chicago is not really a rowhouse city, but it does have a nice collection of distinctive rows. Enjoy!

Hmmm...anybody know if these ugly ass row houses are at the corner of Sheffield and Grace?

[CGII]

Originally Posted by prelude91

Hmmm...anybody know if these ugly ass row houses are at the corner of Sheffield and Grace?

Milwaukee has a set of new rowhouses like that except arranged like 'bay, entrance, bay, entrance' instead of 'bay, entrance, entrance, bay,' like seen above, and with better colours. Actually fooled me at first glance, I'll have to find a pic.

EDIT:Here is one:


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Frank Lloyd Wright's only true rowhomes. ^

[felipebarros2003]

Great architecture as always!
I appreciate the architecture of Northeastern and upper Midwestern cities.