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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

chigeek.bsky.social @chigeek.bsky.social · 2d

Listen to some John Prine today, who was born on this day in 1946 in Maywood, IL. Here are the places he called home.

chigeek.bsky.social @chigeek.bsky.social · Oct 10

Remembering musician John Prine on what would’ve been his 76th birthday. Here’s his childhood home at 1110 S. 1st Ave in Maywood. At the age of 22 he worked as a mailman while taking classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music. He lived at 902 N. 19th Ave in Melrose Park.

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 1d

Most of the cottages are still there but its surprising how they've changed over the years from what was probably originally a street of cookie-cutter houses

Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 1d

These S.E. Gross cottages are on our McKinley Park walking tour. The illustration does not show how the houses were built shoulder-to-shoulder on 24' wide lots. Most of the houses have been modified over the years but a few still show the unique brick construction on top of a frame first level.

Zak Yudhishthu @zyudhishthu.bsky.social · 1d

An 1889 ad for newly-built workers’ cottages in McKinley Park: “for the price, the handsomest, best-built brick cottages in the City.”

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 3d

This workers cottage commemorated as part of Johnson's "Inequity for Sale" project was built around 1894

Block Club Chicago @blockclubchi.bsky.social · 3d

Englewood’s own Tonika Lewis Johnson is a MacArthur "genius." blockclubchi.co/3Wshd7N

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 3d

Hooray for the Bellinger Cottage, a survivor of the Great Chicago Fire 154 years ago. Legend says that the owner doused the embers landing on the roof with a barrel of cider from the basement, but this is probably just a fun legend

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 5d

Come to our homeowner workshop at the Den Theater tonight and pick up our newest poster picturing workers cottages in Wicker Park & Bucktown www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual...

Poster illustrating favorite workers cottages in Wicker Park & Bucktown, by Wurlington Press

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 6d

See you tonight at the Den Theater! Still space to join us and meet other cottage owners and repair specialists! www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual...

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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies @harvard-jchs.bsky.social · 6d

The national median single-family home price grew to 5 times the median household income in 2024, nearly matching previous record highs, writes @pjwhit.bsky.social in a new blog post. As a result, homeownership remains out of reach for many prospective buyers.

www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/home-pr...

Home Prices Surge to Five Times Median Income, Nearing Historic Highs

Last year single-family home prices continued to climb steadily back to record-high multiples of household income. In our most recent State of the Nat

www.jchs.harvard.edu

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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 10d

I'm quite happy to see this stone-clad house in Roseland returned to livability after a long vacancy, but I think all of the lovely old built-ins may have been removed during the reno :(

www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/U...

A photo of a one and a half story house from the late 1800s, clad in gray stone and sort of Richardsonian Romanesque in style but small in stature, with weeds growing up around it and paper falling off of the insides of the windows from years of moisture and decay.

The same house in a recent real estate photo with the yard and facade cleaned up, new paint on the wooden front porch, and parts of a renovated interior visible through the windows.

A photo from an old real estate listing, before the renovation, shows dark wood window and door frames and a tall built-in shelving system along one wall finished in the same dark wood.

In another photo from the old listing, another, smaller built-in set of shelves is visible in a wood-paneled room.

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 11d

Today's cottage brought to you by the letter "L"

Every Lot Chicago @everylotchicago.bsky.social · 11d

1417 North Lorel Avenue

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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

WTTW - Chicago PBS @wttw.bsky.social · 12d

A $15 million homeowner relief fund program aims to assist Cook County homeowners who have experienced a substantial increase in property taxes in recent years, officials announced during a Monday news conference.

https://to.wttw.com/4nsi5W3

Cook County Offering $1,000 to Homeowners With Soaring Property Taxes. Here’s How to Apply

A $15 million homeowner relief fund program aims to assist Cook County homeowners who have experienced a substantial increase in property taxes in recent years, officials announced during a Monday new...

to.wttw.com

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 12d

Sunflowers for a summer in fall day in Avondale

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 14d

CNN just named Avondale as one of the top 5 coolest neighborhoods in the world. We think its partly because of its workers cottages! Here's our poster of a few of them, available thru our website workerscottage.org/support.html

Wicker Park & Bucktown Workers Cottages poster by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 15d

A very endangered piece of Chicago history, industrial history, and labor history is for sale. This property, vacant for a decade, contains the last remaining confirmed Pullman brickyard cottage. These unplumbed shacks were hidden from fawning PR narratives of the "utopian" Pullman factory town.

11920 S Calumet Ave, Chicago, IL 60628 - 5 beds/2 baths

(MRED as Distributed by MLS Grid) For Sale: 5 beds, 2 baths ∙ 2300 sq. ft. ∙ 11920 S Calumet Ave, Chicago, IL 60628 ∙ $94,000 ∙ MLS# 12356401 ∙ Incredible investment opportunity, 2 houses for the pric...

www.redfin.com

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 19d

Enjoy the beginning of fall with a neighborhood walking tour! This Saturday 9/27 we'll be looking at the story of workers cottages in Logan Square. Reserve a ticket today: www.eventbrite.com/e/cottages-o...

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 22d

Row of cute gambrel-roof barn cottages built by developer John Mills & Son in 1913, with Theis J. Reynertson as architect

Every Lot Chicago @everylotchicago.bsky.social · 23d

923 North Keeler Avenue

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 23d

Still time to join us for Sunday's walking tour looking at workers cottages in McKinley Park. Reserve your ticket at workerscottage.org/events.html!

Row of workers cottages on Leavitt St in McKinley Park

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 25d

Cement block cottages are not very common! Here's another in Little Village:

Cottage made from molded concrete blocks on Spaulding Ave in Little Village

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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

Chasimir Pulaski @aguynamedchas.bsky.social · 28d

Every lot has definitely entered the Zone of Workingmen’s Homes™️

Every Lot Chicago @everylotchicago.bsky.social · 28d

1144 North Pulaski Road

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 25d

This may be the house featured in this 1912 Chicago Examiner ad by Mills & Son which built nearly 400 cottages in the blocks west of Pulaski between Chicago & Division around 1910-1914

Advertisement for 120 cottages built by Mills & Son developers, from November 1912 Chicago Examiner

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 25d

The storefront addition to this 1910 cottage was built in 1935 as a little mid-block grocery store by the Arentzen family

Every Lot Chicago @everylotchicago.bsky.social · 25d

1022 North Pulaski Road

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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 25d

1636 (formerly 246) W. Augusta, Chicago. Built in 1891, this worker's cottage is not long for this world, I fear. It's for sale and the real estate listing says "THE neighborhood to build in." It's green-rated on the Historic Resources Survey, which offers no protection from demolition.

One-and-a-half story red brick worker's cottage. It has a simple gable roof and incised stone window hoods over all the windows and over the entrance. There is a "For Sale" sign in front of the house.

Clipping from the Tribune, August 30, 1891. "J. Altwasser, one-story cottage, at No. 246 Augusta street, to cost $1,000."

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 25d

A house with a history, not a blank space for a new shoebox

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 26d

The West Side Cycling Club repurposed a workers cottage as their headquarters in 1895 on Humboldt Blvd at Cortland, a convenient start for 5-mile races around Palmer Square. While other clubs had wealthy members and extravagant clubhouses, WSCC cyclists worked as printers, bartenders and carpenters

Illustration of West Side Cycling Club Headquarters from March 29, 1896 Chicago Tribune

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Reposted by Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 26d

I am saddened to report that the Bridgeport Castle has been neutered

An older photo of a vernacular brick one and a half story workers cottage with a bunch of faux stone towers and turrets added to its facade and roof, plus an elaborate brass-finished fence and gate in front.

The same house photographed recently with some ornamentation remaining on its roofline and above a couple doors and windows, but all the tower and turrets gone.

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