Race House
The Race House is an Italianate style house located at 3945 North Tripp Avenue in the Irving Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The house was built in 1874 by an unknown architect for Stephen A. Race. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on September 22, 1988. History This home is significant in the history of Chicago and the neighborhood of Irving Park. It is the only remaining home of the original founders of Irving Park – the Race family. The Stephen A. Race house is a rare Chicago example of a red brick Italianate structure with its architectural integrity for the most part still intact. Originally sited on Irving Park Boulevard, a road that was once an Indian trail in early Illinois, the home's style is especially representative of the type of grand residential dwellings that once lined Irving Park Boulevard in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, when Irving Park was a suburban/country retreat. When originally built, the home cost $12,000 – a significant amount of money in 1873. The Charles T. Race House, which no longer exists, was slightly grander in scale and cost $15,000. Both homes were of the Italianate style, one of the most popular architectural styles between 1850 and 1880. While the architect's name is unknown to us today, the similarities of the Race homes indicate the brothers used the same architect. Description The Stephen A. Race House is a classic Victorian Italianate – built from 1873 to 1874 for Stephen A. Race, one of the founders of Irving Park, along with his brother, Charles T. Race, principal founder and developer of Irving Park. Four stories high, the Stephen A. Race House is composed of red brick contrasted with white limestone and painted wood trim; its style is derived from the villas of Tuscany in Northern Italy, which are characterized by a symmetrical box shape capped by a flat roof. Large eave brackets dominate the cornice line of Italianate houses. On the Race House, these are over-scaled, elaborately scrolled and arranged in pairs – typical of this era and style. Particularly arresting is the treatment of the windows on the second level. Tall and thin, with two-over-two lights, they are emphatically framed with semi-circular arches stamped by a prominent limestone keystone. Alterations The exterior of the first floor of this home has been altered, most probably when it was moved early in the 20th century (a historic plaque outside the home states 1924, but other sources mention 1905). You'll note that breaking the straightforward configuration of the house is a large bay window – a late Victorian addition. This bay window replaced two tall windows on the first floor that aligned and fell directly below the two second floor windows on the left. Up on the porch you can see the placement of the original windows if you look at the Indiana limestone blocks that line the perimeter of the home on the first level. The exterior front doors were also most likely modified