About a third of Chicago’s single-family housing stock consists of bungalows like these, built by the tens of thousands in the early 20th century.
Photographer: Justin Olechiw/Chicago Bungalow Association
Chicago’s Bungalows Are Where the City Comes Together
Transplanted from afar, these modest-but-stylish brick homes embodied the middle-class dreams of a blue-collar boomtown.
(This article is part of Bloomberg CityLab’s ongoing series exploring the iconic home designs that shaped global cities. Read more from the series and sign up to get the next story sent directly to your inbox.)
In Chicago, there are plenty of reasons for South Side residents to keep Northsiders at arm’s length. This includes the North Side’s nonsensical lack of numbered streets, opposed baseball fandoms, and the outsized power of the city’s wealthier half — an imbalance that has created one of the most striking geographic divides between rich and poor, white and Black, in American urban life.