6330

This brick bungalow was built in 1909-1910. Its design incorporates some of the elements of the Prairie School, such as the wide overhanging eaves, which make the home seem more low to the ground than the buildings on either side of it. All four sides of the home are covered in face brick. From the sidewalk, the front porch dominates the façade. The current version is an adaptation of the original, which had open eaves and wooden brackets. These were replaced when the brick construction that held up the roof buckled and cracked. The once wood and brick porch is now concrete and metal. Few bungalows have this kind of front porch, so it may have been built because of the original owners specific request. Additional design elements visible on the façade are the modified bay window, which is constructed in a single opening of the brick exterior wall, and the shed dormer on the second floor. When you visit the second floor you will see how this dormer expands the interior space.

The front door of the home is the original oak. It opens into a small vestibule and then into the reception hall. The door to the reception hall is like a French door with mullions and beveled glass windows. This door, along with all the interior doors of this home, was covered in heavy white paint which was chipped off by the current owner. She was pleased by her initial efforts and so continued the project of stripping the doors to all the rooms. When the current owners purchased the home in 1975, all the wood was covered in white paint. The reception hall has a cozy bay window bench. The oak flooring has been covered in ceramic tile to make the room more functional for the family of ten who once filled this home with activity. From the reception hall there is one door leading to the master bedroom, which is not currently used.

The living room is centered around the fireplace with oak mantel. It is in a modern simple design. The face of the fireplace is brick, though it is not original. When the current owners purchased the home, it was covered in a black faux marble. The living room walls were covered with wallpaper in several layers that had been painted over. It took a lot of effort to remove all the layers and restore the walls of this room. On either side of the fireplace are square stained glass windows in a unique Prairie School design of rectangles and circles with very little color.

Just past the living room is a hallway that leads to the master bedroom, a bathroom and a small sewing room. In each of these rooms, the stripping of the wood on the doors has revealed an oak veneer on the outside and a birch or pine wood veneer on the room inside. Even the door knobs are different on the two sides of the doors.

At the back of the home, the kitchen is on the left and the formal dining room is on the right. Once in the dining room, you will see another stained glass in the prairie design. The dining room opens onto what may have been a rear sun-room that was enclosed soon after the home was built. The doors to the sun-room are like the one in the front hall, with individual beveled glass panes. The sun-room may have been expanded past the original foundation of the home because the lack of support under the northwest corner has left a kind of slant in one of the windows.

We will return to the hallway and go upstairs to the second floor. The staircase is tucked away in the hall and can be closed off from the first floor. The oak stairs and the oak railing on the second floor are original. The staircase opens into a small hallway. In the hallway, you will see the two casement windows in the dormer. Just opposite these are windows in the interior wall that open into the south bedroom. That room has matching dormer windows on the exterior so that there is open air flow. To the front is another bedroom with the windows of the front shed dormer. To the rear are the openings to two bedrooms and a new bathroom. Return to the front hall to exit.