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868 Architectural Style 1

What is a Ranch Home?

 

868 Meadow is a mid-20th Century Ranch Style Home with elements of the Prairie Style designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the California Ranch Style designed by Clifford Mays.  The Bills family of Chicago’s Northshore designed 868 Meadow and the subdivision, Northbrook Estates; as well as being the real estate agents who sold these homes in the late 1950’s

868 Meadow Road Northbrook, IL

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How to Recognize a

Prairie Ranch Style Home

A  - Low Roof Line with Wide Eaves

B - Rows of Rectangular Windows

C - Different Types of Siding

D - Repeating Design Elements

E - Natural Materials

Prairie Style

 

In suburban Chicago in 1893, Frank Lloyd Wright designed the first Prairie Style house, and it's still a common style throughout the Midwest. Prairie houses come in two styles—boxy and symmetrical like 868 Meadow or low-slung and asymmetrical. Roofs are low-pitched, with wide eaves both found in the style of 868 Meadow.  Brick and clapboard are the most common building materials. Other details: rows of casement windows which 868 Meadow has in the living room and both bedrooms.

 

The Prairie Style was inspired by the broad, flat landscape of America's Midwest which had slight curves in hills and valleys which the style of the house mimics.  The Prairie Style was the first uniquely American architectural style of what has been called “the American Century.” 

California Ranch Style

 

In 1930’s Los Angeles, Clifford May designed a home based on the Prairie Style but with shorter eaves to let more light in and various shapes beyond the rectangular box shapes of the Prairie Style.  Often called the California ranch style, the style is characterized by its one-story, pitched-roof construction wood or brick exterior walls rows of windows  and picture windows which bring the outdoors inside.

 

Clifford May was a self-taught architect in San Diego who is considered the father of Ranch houses, as many architectural historians trace the birth of the style to a house he designed and built in 1931. May told The New York Times in the 1980s: “'I rebelled against the excessive houses being built then. The ranch house was everything a California house should be—it had cross-ventilation, the floor was level with the ground--it was about sunshine and informal outdoor living.” 

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How to Recognize a

California Ranch Style Home

A  - Overhanging Eaves

B - Outdoor Backyard Space

C - Low Roof Lines

D - Rows of Windows

E - Natural Landscaping

F - Front Door with Glass

How to Recognize a

Classic Ranch Style Home

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A

B

C

D

E

F

A  - Rows of Windows

B - Low Roof Lines

C - Outdoor Backyard Space

D - Overhanging Eaves

E - Different Types of Natural Siding Materials

F - Natural Landscaping

Classic Ranch Style

 

868 Meadow Road is part of the subdivision known as Northbrook Estates and was built by the Bills family who merged the Prairie-Style with the California Ranch Style--choosing some of the best elements of each.  Wide Eaves blocked too much of the sun so the eaves were made more narrow.  Rows of windows in the Prairie-Style and California style were stationary and did not open, but in 868 the windows open bringing in fresh air and reducing heating and cooling costs. The Classic Ranch Style also included modernized  construction elements like using locally sourced materials, upgraded electrical systems and a heating and cooling system for residential temperature control which included cross ventilation and ample sunlight for cooling and heating naturally as well as electronically.  These upgrades have come to be known as the Classic Ranch Style.

868’s Exterior Architectural Values

 

The variations of texture and color found in the different usage of stone and brick treatments on the front façade of each home also became a trademark of the Classic Ranch Style with current 21st Century builders imitating this idea and calling it “using different textures”.  The home is made of First-Class Red Bricks made from clay that was quarried in Northbrook.   The bricks are placed in a Running Brick Bond Design with a varied color scheme between the very red bricks and the lighter red bricks.  First Class Red Bricks are thoroughly burnt which adds to their longevity and strength and they are made by table molding in the kiln.

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The open concept front stoop is made of handmade bricks from Milwaukee clay placed in a Flemish Brick Bond Design which uses several different sized bricks in a continuous pattern.  The different textures of the Red Bricks used on the house are complementary to the more quartzite quality in the Milwaukee Clay Bricks used on the front stoop adding an aesthetic dimension to the use of brick in both coloration, texture and patterns.

The beautiful Natural Stone Cladding on the East-South facade of the home has hand hewn sandstone blocks which catch the early morning light in a wonderful array of colors from light blonde to deep red. Sandstone is a hard petrified stone and is highly durable.  The sandstone blocks for 868 are placed in a historic Nile Bond Design which involves using large pieces of cut stone – like these sandstone blocks – fixed on walls with weather-resistant mortar. The Nile Bond Design utilizes a pyramid building invention of using 3 smaller stones cut in the same rectangular shape which creates visual excitement and strength. Laid in a horizontal design, as is done for 868, accentuates the size difference between the large stones and smaller ones. 

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A  - 3 Similar-shaped stones together

B - 3 Small Stones in a Vertical Design

C - 3 Medium Sized Stones in a Vertical Design

How to Recognize a

Nile Bond Design

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You may still find some homes in the Northbrook Estates which have both the original bricks on the home and front stoop but since there were few that used the rare combination of bricks and techniques used at 868 Meadow Road the artisan craftsmanship is noticeable.  Most bricklayers would know how to lay the Running Brick Bond Design but the placement and choice of colors is outstanding with 868 Meadow Road.  The Flemish Brick Bond Design is quite rare since it takes more skill and uses a thicker brick than is commonly available.  The use of the sparkling Milwaukee Clay Bricks is also of interest since many of the original front stoops were made with limestone or cement or replaced with cement and are not in a very good state.  But the front stoop of 868 is in great shape and will continue on long into the future because of the quality of brick and the design used for laying the brick. So too with the sandstone wall which can be seen on some of the other homes in Northbrook Estates; however, the Nile Bond Design used at 868 is not evident on all the homes of this subdivision because of the time and choice of stone needed to produce this quality.

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The Sandstone Facade of 868 Meadow Road Northbrook, IL

Notes for Architectural Style Page

Some information was obtained from the following sources:

The Public Papers by Louis Sullivan Edited by Robert Twombly 1988
https://www.sah.org/about-sah/charnley-persky-house/visit-the-house
https://www.blueprintchicago.org/2010/03/16/charnley-persky-house/

https://patents.google.com/patent/USD114204S/en
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2124809A/en
http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%20Pages/AmerSystBltHomes.htm

https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/tools/architectural-styles/residential

https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a25621600/ranch-style-houses-meaning/

https://757brick.com/blog/history-of-brick-masonry/

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Tel: 1-773-386-1154

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