At the turn of the century, when architect Henry G. Fiddelke was commissioned to build a “double house”— or house divided vertically by a party wall — for milliner Flora Gill, one of Oak Park’s first successful business women, the intent was probably for the dwelling to generate some kind of income for the local hat maker, or at least provide separate living quarters for family members. Then and now, it would seem Fiddelke has accomplished his goal.
“This kind of double house design is not unusual at all for Oak Park, [but] it is a little unusual for that period, because usually when you want to do a three-flat generally you would stack it one on top of the other,” says John Schiess of John Conrad Schiess Architects in Oak Park. “The side by side, which in today’s real estate nomenclature is called a duplex, of course, is a relatively new housing type. It has only been around since the 1950s in regular use, and came when you had row houses, multiple side-by-sides. This is just two.”
In architectural tours of both sides of the property, Schiess says that it was evident to him that the resources really went to the main residence, where the owners probably lived, while renting the other side out to tenants, or had a relative living to the north.
“But, by today, and yesterday’s standards it still is quite nice.” Although, he adds, it doesn’t really fit any architectural style.
“It has some Craftsman to it with the two large gables. It has some left-over Queen Anne-type in the lines of the roof, with the chimney detailing. But, the architect kind of borrows from those styles.”
However, nowadays 250-252 Home Avenue is a contributing structure in the Ridgeland-Oak Park Historic District; therefore it is protected by the preservation ordinance in Oak Park.
So far this year this is the second Fiddelke-designed home to hit the local housing market, with the C.E. Hemingway House at 600 N. Kenilworth Ave., being the first.
For those who may not know him, Fiddelke is the architect who apprenticed in Chicago with the firm of Silsbee, Adler and Sullivan, teamed up with Frank Ellis in Oak Park in 1894, and two years later opened his own offices at 203 Marion Street, according to the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest archives. Other gems designed by him include the Burton Hales Mansion at 509 N. Oak Park Ave. (at Chicago) and the Jennie A. June row houses at 313-319 S. Maple.
One of the Flora Gill home’s standout features, says Schiess, is an ingenious heat ventilating system in the attic. It is a conservational measure that is way ahead of its time.
“Currently we are exploring passive home heating as a way to cut down on energy costs, but that wasn’t necessarily the case back when this home was built,” he explains. “Fiddelke clearly used thermo dynamics in the design to create a passive ventilation system that goes through the floors up through the attic then vents out. That was quite clever.”
Getting to know Gill
Its first owner, Flora Gill, was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1848 to a sea captain who met her southern mother while in port in New Orleans. After he lost his ship, he became a lighthouse keeper, and Gill and her four sisters grew up on an island. Upon her father’s death, Gill became the family’s breadwinner. On the prompting of a cousin, she moved to Chicago, and then re-located to Oak Park.
For the next 50 years or so, Gill lived in Oak Park, adopting a daughter, and becoming a pioneering single working mom who ran a successful millinery shop on the southwest corner of Lake and Marion streets for three decades.
Gill died in 1934, and is now buried beside her daughter, Janet Coutts, in Forest Home and German Waldheim Cemeteries in Forest Park, according to Frank Lipo, executive director of the historical society.
In 1947, building records show that the 250 side of the home was converted into two apartments. However, the original house has remained intact, and has maintained its architectural integrity, which is revealed in its open floor plan. It features tall ceilings, generous room sizes, leaded glass windows in the formal foyer, and an oversized attic.
Thirty-five years ago Jim McNally, purchased the property to raise his family, as well as provide an independent living space for his aging mother-in-law, and then tenants, in keeping with the architect’s original intent.
“This is a very unique property,” says Roz Byrne of ReMax in the Village. “It is historically significant, was built by a famous architect, has a wonderful location in a historic district, was originally built as a double home, and gives buyers a chance to live in a giant five-bedroom home and rent out the two apartments. It just needs the right person who sees the value in that.
“This is the kind of house that people have driven by for years and said ‘Wow, I’ve always wondered about that,’ because it has a real interesting curb appeal,” adds Byrne.