Modern in the Middle:
Chicago Houses, 1929-1975
Co-authored by IIT professor Michelangelo Sabatino and historian and preservationist Susan Benjamin, this book explores the substantial yet overlooked role that Chicago and its suburbs played in the development of the modern single-family home in the twentieth century.
David Meitus Steel and Glass House, Chicago, 1981 (Office of Krueck & Olsen Architects) Photo courtesy Timothy Hursley
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s legacy as architect and educator can be seen by way of the houses designed by IIT College of Architecture graduates and discussed in Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses, 1929-1975. An excerpt of the text from page 295-296 follows:
“While there was steadfast adherence to the Miesian approach to material and structure among the graduates of IIT, it was hardly as blind a copying exercise as some might have assumed. Two graduates who would go on to form Mies’s successor firm (Fujikawa, Conterato, Lohan & Associates) designed houses based on a loose interpretation of Miesian architecture for themselves: the Emily Wandasiewicz and Bruno Conterato House in Geneva (1968) and the split-level Grace and Joseph Fujikawa House in Winnetka (1971), both realized in reinforced concrete with brick infill walls and flat roofs stood in contrast to neighboring wood frame and brick clad houses. Fujikawa revealed to Betty Blum: “Yes. It took me a while, but I did it about fifteen years ago; built a house, finally. What a traumatic experience!
“A number of other significant houses by IIT-trained architects reveal how the Miesian principles were transformed over time: recall for example IIT graduates Ron Krueck and Keith Olsen (both Bachelor of Architecture, 1970 and formed Office of Krueck & Olsen Architects) designed the Steel and Glass House for David Meitus (1981), located on a former urban-renewal site just south of Lincoln Park; this spatially complex two-story house that looks to the Ray Kaiser and Charles Eames House and Studio (Pacific Palisades, CA) and juxtaposed sensuous interiors with off-the-shelf components. During that same period David Hovey, who graduated from IIT (Bachelor of Architecture, 1969, and Master of Science in Architecture, 1971) went on to found the award-winning Design-Build firm Optima and designed both Eileen Sheehan and David Hovey House in Winnetka (1982; demolished) and the Barbara and Douglas Hoekstra House in Homewood (1984). These houses exploited the economy of prefabricated steel construction (painted white) while offsetting a machine-age appearance with the addition of playful painterly color accents and signature castellated beams."
Eileen Sheehan and David Hovey House I, Winnetka, 1982 (David Hovey/Optima). Photo courtesy of Bill Hedrich.