1706

This classic bungalow on Granville is a replacement of a wooden single family home from the Weber construction project of 1903-4. Martin Schneider purchased the home in 1903 and sold it to Oscar Peterson in1921. Peterson took out the building permit on October 26, 1921 and estimated the cost of construction at $10,000. The architect, A. E. Norman who designed the home lived just down the block and who had worked with Peterson in previous projects. The Peterson’s one daughter married Harold Schott, a first generation American whose parents owned a well known fish store in Andersonville. The Schott family lived in the home for many years.

The current owner has done some investigating after finding a duplicate house in Wilmette at 9th and Linden Avenue. He was able to video the interior and now knows what was altered. From the street the home is unchanged. It’s design uses a depressed (flattened) arch over the front five windows. This area is really a sun porch as it stands out from the façade with windows on three sides. The roof line at the first floor level is a front gable with wide overhanging eaves and open brackets. At each end of the row of windows is a tapered column often seen in Arts and Crafts homes. Limestone accents with a floral design are used in several places. The building is a chocolate colored brick with grooves. At the second floor level the facade is a clipped gable and wide overhanging eaves with four brackets. Just under the flattened part of the roof is another row of ribbon windows.

The entrance is to the right side with a porch that faces the side garden and the column for the porch is accented with limestone details including the floral square. The front door is original and it opens into a reception hall. The living room to the left is large and includes the sun porch. There are French doors which were salvaged from the Northwestern University President’s residence in Evanston. The fireplace clad in marble is a replacement of the original fireplace which was brick and had a more massive stepped up design along the sides. On either side of the fireplace are windows that are replacements for the original leaded glass windows. This was done with the modernization of the fireplace.

From the hall you may go into the dining room. From the original architectural drawings French doors separated the front hall from the dining room. Prior to 1980 these doors were removed but since have been replaced with salvage from the Rebuilding Exchange. The room is large and has a bay window opening to the side of the home. Both the entrance hall and the dining room ceilings are coved. There is a picture rail along the top of the room. This room leads to the back hallway which gives access to the more private areas of the home: the bathroom, the kitchen and a room that was once a bedroom as well as the stairs to the basement and second floor.

The full bathroom has been restored to its former elegance. The subway tiles, tub, hexagonal tile floor, medicine cabinet and toilet are original. The sink is a vintage fixture installed to replace a vanity and modernization done by other owners.

A small bedroom adjacent to the kitchen that had originally opened onto an enclosed porch had been redesigned as a family room by removing the wall to the back porch and it is now a large open space. It connects to the kitchen from the former porch and at the end near the kitchen is an eating area.

The kitchen is a work in progress, being restored with maple cabinetry salvaged from a 1920s Glencoe home. In the corner is a baby blue Chamber’s stove vintage 1955. It is the predecessor of the Viking stoves we know today. The kitchen also has a walk in pantry.

From the hall you will go upstairs via the tucked away staircase with a beautiful handrail. In the hall the two panel doors are original, birch stained to a walnut color. In the second floor hallway you will see above the two bedroom doors a wood panel in a trapezoid shaped molding piece. This is also found on the first floor above the kitchen window.

The bedroom to the back is covered in the original wallpaper. This is certainly unusual as wall coverings in the 1920s were fragile. Windows in this bedroom open to the back of the house. The front bedroom has windows to the side of the house. It has been enlarged under the eaves with an area for a desk. The desk and matching cabinets in this room were found at Architectural Artifacts.

The full bath on this floor includes the original toilet, medicine cabinet and tub. Also from architectural Artifacts is a Crane waterfall pedestal sink. Besides the fixtures it includes a storage area behind the door.

The owner has done a lot of research on this home in order to replace and restore it. If you have been on the Edgewater Home Tour in West Andersonville and seen the Gregory House you may have a recollection of the similarities. That home and this one were designed by A.E. Norman. Both are custom Bungalows in a large format.

During the early 1960s the basement was paneled in pecky cypress and the floor covered with custom linoleum inlay. Take a look for a true retro experience.