Hanson on Hoyne
[Louis Hanson House (1879) /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Louis Hanson was doing pretty well financially in 1879 when he built this large single family
home on Hoyne Avenue in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. He wasn't what most people would call wealthy but he earned a good income as the owner of the Louis Hanson Company, furniture manufacturers. His home with its decorative Italianate details, which were all the rage at the time, was just the kind of dwelling a man of his stature required.
[North Hoyne Avenue, Wicker Park, Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
Louis didn't make residential sofas, chairs, dining tables or dressers, he manufactured
chairs, cabinets and fittings for America's barber shops. Things were going so well in 1913 that Mr. and Mrs. Hanson purchased an even larger home in the bucolic suburb of Oak Park and the house at 1417 N. Hoyne Avenue was converted into an apartment building. As the neighborhood changed in social and economic status so did the reputation of the old Hanson mansion. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1952 that a murder had occurred in the basement apartment at 1417 when a recent Polish immigrant, Alexander Chowaniec beat his wife Jozefa to death with a furnace shaker handle.
[1417 N. Hoyne Avenue (2009) /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
The neighborhood has gone through another transformation in the past decade and is now
once again home to a more affluent group of residents. After years of ups and downs, Hanson's home on Hoyne was undergoing a complete rehab and conversion back into a single family home last summer, and it's Italianate brackets look as fresh and stylish as the day Louis and family moved in 131 years ago.
See a Hoyne Avenue neighbor at: Garden Artillery.
Posted by designslinger at 11/11/2010 1:23 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Wicker Park Chicago mansions Italianate style
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Wicker Park Chicago mansions Italianate style
Great House. Was the side veranda original?
As far as I know. I grew up in the neighborhood and there was as side porch there in the 1970s that looked just like this one, though a little tattered. Moved back to Chicago last summer and found the house refreshed and looking almost new. Not sure if that's the original or a rebuilt version with some original pieces. But it sure looks great!