Exploring the Possibilities of a Style

By Harold T. Wolff, Ridge Historical Society

For the architects of the 1920s, the vernacular versions of the Italian Renaissance style presented many attractive options. The broad hipped roofs conveyed the spaciousness of Prairie School designs, while the masonry construction, usually with tile roofs, conveyed a sense of durability.

Moreover, the option of combining yellow brick with green tile, which is the most common color scheme for Italian Renaissance houses on the Ridge, allowed a more venturesome color palette that could be used with Colonial Revival or Tudor dwellings. Nevertheless, many examples fail to exhibit the broad range of the decorative possibilities available in the style.

Such is not the case with the residence at 10459 S. Hoyne Ave., Chicago, built in 1928 and 1929 for Michael J. Badzmierowski, a physician. The architect was William E. Sammons (1884-1967), who designed a number of houses on the Ridge, even though by training he was a structural engineer.

The Badzmierowski house occupies a corner lot and faces 105th Street. The house has wings as well as a charming separate Italian Renaissance garage, complete with dormer and tile roof, and sits nearly as far back as it can on the lot.

The house at first gives the appearance of being symmetrical, but in fact is anything but. On the first floor, the west window cluster is topped with a blind arch filled with a limestone panel carved with floral decoration.. This is balanced on the east by a window cluster which bays out, the bay being topped with a brickwork balcony for the window above. All of the first floor windows have low railings of ironwork executed with a heart design.

The first floor windows are above a belt course of limestone which runs around the house. The second story east and west windows flank a smaller central window. The curving balcony wall or brick below the east second story window shows a pattern of brick crosswork, with a small limestone ornamental panel at the center. Above the second floor windows is a string course of headers -- bricks set with their short sides out. The headers in the string course immediately above the corners of windows are replaced by limestone.

The front porch is supported by squared columns at the rear and by round classical columns at the front. The arch of the underside of the porch roof follows the arch of the fanlight above the front door. The porch itself has a green tile roof, and there is an ironwork railing between the pairs of columns on each side.

Hallmarks of a Master

The west wing is an extension of the large room it adjoins. Its corner buttresses are battered -- that is slanted -- a feature also seen in Craftsman style brick bungalows. Above the central roof knob of the west wing there is a rectangle outlined in brick in the wall of the main wing between the two upstairs windows, so as to avoid a blank expanse.

The east wing is two stories with the first floor window sporting in its blind arch a carved limestone panel with floral ornament which matches that in the west front window.

The roof of the house is hipped, and decorated with green tile. At its center on the front is an eyebrow window with a fanlight design which matches the design of the fanlight over the front door, and is very effective when seen at night when the house is illuminated.

The chimney is on the back wall near the northwest corner of the house. The limestone belt course runs around the chimney. The chimney passes through the widely overhanging eaves. The gutters on the roofs are connected by downspouts which bend in to ornate receiving boxes on the walls.

When I prepare these columns, I usually do a little sketch on which I pencil in any feature I want to mention. I was nearly exhausted by the time I had indicated all of the delightful little details which Sammons had worked into the design of 10459 S. Hoyne. Yet, with all of the details, this design never becomes fussy or overly ornate -- the hallmark of a master.

For more information on architecture in Beverly/Morgan Park, call or visit the

Ridge Historical Society, 10621 S. Seeley Ave., Chicago, 773/881-1675. Hours are Thurs. and Sun., 2 to 5 p.m., and by appointment.