WFCW Block Club

Bruce Goff - Architectural visionary

2011-01-13T03:49:00.000-08:00

After pointing out the Bachman House at 1244 W. Carmen Ave. (as if it needs pointing out) to friends, I will ask them when they think it was built. A momentary, thoughtful pause and out comes, "The 1960s." Of course, that was my first thought, too. Friends are impressed, even stunned a bit, to learn that it was built in 1947.

Armed with that one fact, it is thunderously evident that even among his creative and artistic peers, Bruce Goff, the house's architect, is unique. He fits awkwardly in the smooth chronologies presented in architectural dictionaries and histories. Thumbing through a couple on my shelf, I see that Goff is book-ended on either side by F. L. Wright, LeCorbusier, Paul Rudolph, and sculptor Henry I. Greber (illustrated by a romantic statue of a mounted Native American battling a crocodile). The first three are saints in the architectural canon. The fourth I've never read of elsewhere.

On one hand Goff is a "less is more" modernist; on the other he's lumped in with the "primitive" style. He was probably both in spite of the difficulty of assigning him a place along the continuum of architectural history.

One reason for the muddle is that Goff was fond of using unconventional materials in unconventional ways. At least twice he used coal for building walls. A friend and colleague related a story he heard Goff tell about one such house: An ornery neighbor stormed down the street and accosted the architect while the building was under construction. She sputtered with indignity that a house built of coal put the whole neighborhood at risk of conflagration. Goff calmly responded with what turned into a rhetorical question, "And what is your house built out of?" Her house, like many along the street, was built out of wood. Apparently, she left quietly.

That anecdote may have been about the Ford House in Aurora. It caused a stir, and was recorded by the Chicago Tribune on July 6, 1950. In response to "derisive comments" the Fords put out a sign that read, "We don't like your house either."

Curiously--or maybe not so much, considering how people tend to date the house--the Bachman House didn't garner the Trib's attention until 1960. The house was, as the headline put it, "A Shining Beacon in a Sedate Area." It literally shined because of Goff's choice of corrugated metal for the roof. It's likely that his choice was informed by his experience in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War where he saw Quonset hut hangers that used the same material for roofing. The lower half of the house features brick with "weeping mortar" that extrudes well out of the joint and gives the lower walls a rugged texture. The third novel element is the triangular fenestration. The windows suggest the house was built for the set of a science fiction movie. Like or not, it is indisputable that the Bachman House is one of WFCW's major landmarks (and a city landmark), lending the neighborhood a strong shot of architectural pizzazz and historical significance.

One theme of the Goff's design is forward thinking. He's often noted as being years ahead of architectural trends. And I don't know if he considered himself an environmentalist, but his use of recycled material anticipated the environmental movement of the 1970s and predates today's green building concept of embodied energy. I guess Goff is still ahead of the curve.

Of course, there's more to the Bruce Goff (1904 - 1982) story. He had connections to Alfonso Iannelli, a Chicago artist of an undeservedly lesser-known reputation, and Frank Lloyd Wright. He designed another Chicago residence, the Turzak House (7039 N. Olcott Ave), and is buried nearby in Graceland Cemetery. His grave site is marked with a large piece of blue glass, a nod to the unconventional material he often used.

The People of Winona Foster Carmen Winnemac

2010-12-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

After I joined the WFCW Block Club, I became curious about my community, and wanted to know more about the neighborhood. I did a little census-surfing and decided to share some of my findings. The data in this post is from the 2005-2009 Community Survey estimate within the WFCW block club boundaries (roughly Tract 311). The U.S. Census publicizes an assortment of demographic information about neighborhoods throughout the U.S. In addition to the 10-year census surveys (one of which has just recently been completed), they also provide these five year estimates. I hope the information will be informative to newcomers as well as the stalwarts of the community (you know who you are!). I’ve only summarized a few findings; if you want to know more, I encourage you to get the facts at www.census.gov.

First the city averages. The total population within the Chicago city limits is just under three million (2,896,106), with 48.5% male and 51.5% female. Forty-two percent of Chicago residents are white, African Americans make up 37% of the population, and 4.3% of Chicagoans are Asians, with other races making up the balance. Latinos (of any race) make up 26% of the population.

Zooming into our WFCW block club boundaries, the population is 4,153, with 56% male and 44% female residents. About 62% are white, 3% are African American, and almost 20% are Asian, with other races making up the balance. Latinos (of any race) comprise 19% of the population. Other than the racial makeup of our community, the demographics differ in several ways from the average of Chicago communities. First of all, the WFCW age distribution shows that the bulk of the population is in the age range from 25 to 44 year olds (55%), versus Chicago at 29% (see the graph below). The large proportion of these young adults means that the WFCW neighborhood has a dearth of both kids (younger than 20) and seniors (over 55) relative to the Chicago average.

Chicago is indeed a city of neighborhoods, with some neighborhoods less diverse along racial or socioeconomic lines than others. Although WFCW differs along racial lines from the average, it has a higher percentage of immigrants compared to the city as a whole, with 31% of the residents born outside the United States (Chicago - 18%). Of those immigrants, 33% in WFCW are U.S. citizens, while Chicago numbers 45%. This difference is probably because many of the WFCW immigrants arrived relatively recently; 41% of WFCW residents born outside the U.S. immigrated after 2000 (Chicago – 25%).

Thirty-eight percent of WFCW residents use public transportation - a much higher number than the city average (13%) This is certainly no surprise given the proximity of train and bus lines. The housing stock for the neighborhood is much older than the Chicago average, with 72% of the housing built before 1939 versus 24% for the entire city. Much of this housing is rental with only 22% owner-occupied (Chicago – 67%). For this reason, residents tend to be more short-term, with 47% having moved into the neighborhood after 2005 (versus 27% for Chicago).

There are other distinctive features. A striking difference between WFCW and Chicago is in the “never married” category (56% versus 36%, respectively). Educational attainment is generally higher for WFCW with 49% Bachelor’s degree or higher, versus the 33% for Chicago. There are a higher percentage of management and professional workers in the WFCW versus the region (47% to 37% respectively), although median household income is slightly lower for WFCW ($53k versus $59k).

When I moved here a few years ago I was curious about the community. The Argyle Street neighborhood is promoted as the North Side Chinatown, Andersonville is the home of the Swedish American Museum, and some of the best Vietnamese dining in the city is right here. No matter how a community is marketed, it is, at its core, a reflection of the residents. Neighborhood stats are for those of us who want to understand how we fit into our community and how our community fits into the bigger picture regionally. I’ve found out a little bit more by looking at the numbers, and I hope to learn a whole lot more as I walk the blocks and get to know my neighbors.

Carmen Manor

2010-08-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

Did you ever wonder about the history of the building on Carmen near Foster? The WFCW block club area (bounded by Foster, Broadway, Clark, and Winnemac) includes a diverse building stock. The building known today as Carmen Manor is one of its landmarks. Indeed, it's a unique building that stands apart from its neighbors.

What was the building used for? It seems likely that Carmen Manor began as a telephone operator's station. An early map labels it Illinois Bell Telephone Co. Other clues to its function are in the 1906 photograph. The large number of windows indicate that people, not just machines, would have been working inside. The tall chimney suggests that the building was heated and maybe even had an electric generator that would have provided power to the machinery. Finally the building's architectural ornament (limestone belt- and string-courses, decorative window sills, cornice, the plaque on the parapet, and the almost-gaudy front door) implies that Illinois Bell wanted to fit in amiably with the neighborhood. It's true that
architects of the day probably would have gussied up a garden shed or a junkyard gate, given the opportunity. The telephone company had further motivation to present a dignified face on their industrial building due to its location in a burgeoning residential area.

Why build a telephone station here anyway? The location of Carmen Manor is convenient to utility access via the alley behind Clark Street, a thriving commercial location even in the early 1900s. More generally, Chicago was growing and telephone service was in high demand. Development of the street car and L systems fueled population growth to the area. Empty lots in the block area essentially disappear by 1930. At the same time telephones were rapidly
spreading. In 1900 Illinois Bell served 34,000 telephones. By 1930 the number grew to one million. Today a there is still a telephone utility building near the neighborhood. It's at the northwest corner of Clark and Carmen.

What's the deal with the building's newer top story? Expansion. One building strategy is to design your building to accommodate future expansion. Illinois Bell might have anticipated future telephone service that would require a building too large to construct in the short term. Another local building, the Broadway Bank, at Lawrence Ave and Broadway was built this way. Even today, you can see buildings in the Loop constructing more stories upward.

There are aspects and clues to the story of Carmen Manor and its relation to the neighborhood. I'll follow up with more at a later time. Sources for local history that I like (and used here) are the Encyclopedia of Chicago (encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org ) and Sanborn Fire Insurance maps (available through the Chicago Public Library).

If you would like to share any maps or historical documents relating to Carmen Manor or the neighborhood, please contact the webmaster at WFCWchicago@yahoo.com.