1183 CEDAR AVENUE

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE

1183 Cedar Avenue was built in 1937 in the Riverside Park Addition to Elgin at a cost of $7,500 for Donald and Lucille Leverenz. Riverside Park was platted in 1890, bounded on the south by Congdon Avenue, on the east by Dundee Avenue, on the north by W. A. Pratt’s farmland and on the west by Cedar Avenue. 

Donald was born in Elgin to Samuel J. and Elfrieda M. Leverenz. The family lived at 439 Morgan Street for many years. After Donald and Lucile married, they lived at 266 Oak Street before building 1183 Cedar Avenue. They had a daughter, Julianne, born in 1942. Donald worked at Elgin National Watch Factory for forty-one years, starting in the shipping department in 1924 after graduating from Elgin High School. Two years later, he enrolled in Elgin Watchmakers College, graduating after two years. He then worked in the service department and the timing room before being promoted to Chief Watchmaker.

After retiring, Donald and Lucille retired to Boca Raton, Florida, where they are buried.

In 1946, the Leverenz sold the house to Bessie and Fred J. Wahlberg. Fred was born in Sweden, and immigrated in 1917. He did automobile repair at Phillips Auto Parts. Bessie Aileen Peterson Wahlberg was born in Sycamore, Illinois. Her father Johan August Peterson was born in Sweden; her mother Augusta Peterson was born in Illinois. She had a brother, Elmer B. Peterson who was six years older. The Wahlbergs belonged to the Swedish American Church.

In 1955, the house was sold to Dean Edward Parke, his wife, Frances, and his mother Frances M. Pickert Parke, a widow. Six years later, John and Margaret Ireland purchased the home. John was the owner of Ireland Tool Sales Company in West Chicago, and Margaret was a musician.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

What could have been just another charming cottage was transformed into a unique and utterly charming residence by the addition of a miniature Norman style tower forming the vestibule of the house, and a large exterior chimney on the front elevation. The stylistic term Minimal Traditional could be applied to this home, which was built during the time period after the Great Depression and before World War II. An economically challenged population turned from 1920s Revival Styles to smaller, simple houses made visually interesting by the addition of features from earlier styles. Notable is the use of skintled brick. This method of brick-laying evolved in Chicago in the mid-1920s when architects realized that common brick could be used as a design element. Random bricks are laid in such a way that they project or recess slightly from the wall, giving a more organic appearance. Forty-three homes in the Northeast Elgin Historical Survey of 1996 feature skintled brick.

One of the features that appears in French Eclectic Style architecture (1915-1945) was the conical Norman tower, which was derived from 16th and 17th French architecture as an element joining the house and barn on farms. This small house differs from French Eclectic Revival homes, which were usually two stories with a steeply pitched hipped roof, and the tower located in the junction between two wings at ninety degrees to one another.  Here, French Eclectic features are the tower, the prominent chimney and the stone quoins around the door.

The massing and floor plan are typical of the popular Cape Cod homes built from the late 1920s until 1940. The building is a 1.5 story side-gabled structure with a hipped dormer on the front elevation and a wide shed dormer on the rear side of the house. On the first floor are living room, dining room, kitchen, and a den or bedroom. The central staircase leads to a hall, with the bathroom straight ahead and a bedroom to either side. The entry on the north elevation is set into an alcove, providing shelter from the weather.

Sources: 2019 Heritage Plaque Application; Audio: TextAloud