What area has the best looking Bungalows?? (Berwyn, Oak Park: sale, house)

[noid_1985]

I love Bungalows...Im glad to see this thread flourishing I thought I created another "nothing" thread

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I have enjoyed the Chicago style bungalow but the Milwaukee bungalow is down right ugly and I refuse to live in one.







Unfortunately these ugly monsters are all over the city!!!

The only issues with those houses are the paint jobs and lack of maintenance. You'd be amazed how great they'd look with some good landscaping, new roofing materials, and paint. Also, Milwaukee has some brick bungalows as well that are quite similar to the Chicago variety.

[via chicago]

Found a cool photo of Berwyn right when these houses had just been completed. If only the subdivisions of today had this sort of quality and charm...kind of makes you chuckle at what is advertised as "luxury today. The ironic thing is bungalows were always intended to be a common-man/workers house, and were priced accordingly. Today, you'd pay out the ass to get that kind of brickwork and built in elements in a new construction house


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/137/3...086a0e06_o.jpg

Thankfully this whole area depicted is virtually unchanged..only difference is the trees are taller....and theres a bit less parking

[mas23]

i like the narrow wooden frame bungalows like the ones on the south east side. Most of them are multi unit unlike the ones on the sw side

[Avengerfire]

Tours from the CAF. If someone else mentioned this already I apologize.

"Bungalow Belt By Bus (North Route)

The North Route features Ravenswood Manor, the Villa, Portage Park, Galewood and the Schorsch Irving Park Garden Historic District."

CAF Tours (http://www.architecture.org/tour_view.aspx?TourID=14 - broken link)

"Bungalow Belt By Bus (South Route)

The South Route features McKinley Park, Gage Park, Chicago Lawn, Chatham, the South Park Manor Historic District, and Green Bungalows."

http://www.architecture.org/tour_view.aspx?TourID=15 (broken link)

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by noid_1985

I love Bungalows...Im glad to see this thread flourishing I thought I created another "nothing" thread

Great houses, and very adaptable to modern living. With all three floors finished, you're looking at about 3,000 square feet. Given their still relatively low price in most neighborhoods where they're located, I'm suprised they're not more popular. That may change in the coming years.

The corner house in Via Chicago's old photo just sold for $200k. Yes, you heard that right. $200k. Some bonehead bought it at the peak of the housing boom, completely gutted the interior, ran out of cash, and went into foreclosure -- hence the low price. The people who bought it are, fortunately, doing a ton of work to it and are in the process of bringing it back to its former glory.

Even if they put 100k into it, it's still going to be a great deal given the neighborhood and size and quality of the house. That's about 2 blocks from the Metra as well, and a 15 minute train ride to the Loop!

[rockinrolla]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Great houses, and very adaptable to modern living.

They are! I've seen some crazy cool sh*t done with them, like tearing out the ceiling in the living room to create a two-story (ok ok, one and a half) ceiling, open to a loft space study in the attic. Or the same thing in the back, with a bedroom wall knocked down to create a kitchen/family room combo. Quite nice.

Speaking of attics, I've seen some fantabulous master suites put up there...with a cat-walk above the backyard going to a deck perched on the garage.

[coldwine]

I think this thread is a paradox in terms.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by coldwine

I think this thread is a paradox in terms.

Stick to law.

[BRU67]

Yea, if you knock down walls and that, the sky's the limit. As built, they're a bit compartmentalized. Personally, I like that -- different themes in each room -- so we left our walls intact. A common modification is to knock out the wall in the kitchen or dining room to expose the staircase going up to the attic.

You can do a lot with the upstairs too, and hopefully avoid the "pop top" temptation where the end result looks like someone dropped a trailer on top of the house There's a few unfortunate examples of that around!