Trip 18: Terra Cotta Row District

Date: April 27, 2010
Trip: 18

Landmarks Visited: 1

Landmarks To-Date: 24

Landmarks Remaining: 329

Art Chicago was this weekend in town and since I spent a lot of time there, I'm a little behind on my blogging. On Tuesday morning I drove to the Terra Cotta Row District on my way to work. Calling it a district is a little of a stretch because as far as I could tell, it only involves about four houses.

Still it's pretty unique in Chicago. The houses have a significant amount of terra cotta decoration. The light yellow brick house in the photos is the most luxurious in my opinion, but the photos don't do it justice because it's blocked by trees.

The most outstanding feature of the district is the terra cotta fence in front of three of the houses. On one side of the street it is a natural earth color, and on the other it's white. The fence is purely decorative since I think I could step over it without too much trouble. It also looks like it used to extend around an additional house on the corner. It's a shame that part of it was removed.

It's very unique for Chicago since most houses here have wrought iron fences and gates, or sometimes brick walls. It's interesting also that the houses are each unique, but are surrounded by the same fence. I don't know if the same developer built them all, or if the wall was put in after the houses were built.