Saturday, November 19, 2011
Lake View neighborhood [Terra Cotta Row District]
In early 1900s, many Chicago residential buildings had ornate terra cotta ornamentation on building facades. One of the prominent names in making terra cotta trimmings was Northwestern Terra Cotta Co. Prominent Chicago architects like Louis Sullivan and Frank llyod Wright had extensive contracts with the company. It has the distinction of providing decorative moldings from many Chicago Landmarks like Civic Opera House, Chicago Theater, Wrigley Building, and Randolph Tower. In a charming Lake View neighborhood, there are four residential buildings forming "Terra Cotta Row District", with ornamentation by Northwestern Terra Cotta Company - designated a Chicago Landmark in 2005...
Terra Cotta Row District..
Includes four houses..
1048, 1054, 1057 and 1059 W. Oakdale Ave... and ...
Terra-cotta wall at 1040-1042, 1048 and 1059 W. Oakdale Ave.
Year Built: 1887 - 1901
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: September 14, 2005..
The Chicago Landmarks website describes..
This small district of four residential buildings and an ornamental wall is noteworthy for its association with the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company and its shared use of ornate terra-cotta ornamentation. The buildings and unusual terra-cotta walls were built by Northwestern Terra Cotta Company executives and exemplify changing taste in architectural styles, from Queen Anne to Viennese Modern. Northwestern Terra Cotta was one of three major terra-cotta manufacturing companies located in Chicago in the heyday of architectural terra-cotta manufacture during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The district also exemplifies the company's importance to the Lake View neighborhood, from which were drawn many of the company's employees..
From the encyclopedia of Chicago..
Northwestern Terra Cotta Co.
Founded in Chicago in 1878 by a group of investors including John R. True, this company became a major producer of terra cotta trimmings used by the construction industry. By the early 1890s, when Northwestern Terra Cotta employed approximately 500 men, annual sales approached $600,000. By 1910, its large plant at Clybourn and Wrightwood Avenues had about 1,000 workers. The popularity of placing terra cotta moldings on building facades peaked in the 1920s, and Northwestern Terra Cotta led the way, in Chicago and around the country. Around this time, the company opened plants in St. Louis and Denver. Beginning with Louis Sullivan earlier in the century, prominent Chicago architects like Frank Lloyd Wright had extensive contracts with the company. Included among the many landmark Chicago buildings for which Northwestern supplied extensive decorative moldings were the Civic Opera House, the Chicago Theater, the Wrigley Building, and the Randolph Tower. Northwestern's operations in Chicago declined alongside the construction industry during Great Depression and never returned to their 1920s levels. In 1965, Northwestern Terra Cotta Co.'s only remaining plant, in Denver, closed.
Some of the terra cotta ornamentation of these houses..
Interestingly, two of these four houses [that make for the Chicago landmark Terra Cotta Row District], have similar boundrywalls.. These are 1059 W Oakdale Ave. and 1048 W Oakdale Avenue..