Park Ridge's "Spanish Town"
Located in the southern part of Park Ridge is a hidden development known as “Spanish Town,” the vision of developer William Durchslag of the Durchslag Real Estate Development Corporation and local architect, Benedict J. Bruns (1881-1967), who lived in Park Ridge but is best known for his designs in Chicago, specifically 47 homes in the Rogers Park Manor Historic District.1 Bruns was also responsible for bungalows in nearby Forest Glen and Norwood Park as well as Park Ridge.
The architect actually lived in a home of his own design, a Dutch Colonial Revival at 6550 N. Rockwell in Chicago, from 1919 until 1927 when Bruns and his wife Elfrieda along with daughter Dorothy and son Constantine moved to Park Ridge. They lived at 726 Hastings Street, which looked over the Park Ridge Country Club.2 Working with developers and businesses throughout his career, it’s no surprise that Bruns was the architect of House No. 2012, a Dutch Colonial model from Chicago’s Harris Brothers, which manufactured kit homes.3
Originally from Michigan, Benedict and two of his brothers, Otto and Herman, followed their father, architect Herman H. Bruns, by working in the building trades with Benedict moving to Chicago to start his nearly 50-year architectural career some point in the 1910s. Although not much is known about the majority of Herman’s commissions, he designed a number of temples and churches that still survive in Milwaukee, including Beth Israel Synagogue.4 Unfortunately Benedict and Elfrieda’s lives met a tragic end four months after they retired to Twin Lakes, Wisconsin when they were both killed in a two-car collision in Kenosha County in January of 1967.5
Although Benedict Bruns designed all the homes of “Spanish Town,” the aesthetic came from developer William Durchslag, who had been inspired by a trip to Cuba where he experienced Spanish Colonial Revival architecture for the first time. The architectural style was popular during 1920s, so Durchslag could have just been following the design trends of the time period. But he claimed seeing “the unique flavors of Cuba’s neoclassical cathedrals and monumental buildings” firsthand is what ultimately led to the project.6
The original plans called for 63 houses and a two-story commercial building with 17 apartments along with offices and stores, which would have been built near Devon Avenue and Higgins Road. Today only a dozen Spanish Colonial Revival stucco and clay tile roofed residences exist on Talcott Place and Crescent Avenue in what was known as Kinsey's Talcott Road Subdivision of Park Ridge, all built between 1927-29.7
The twelve houses were all constructed of masonry cement block and brick, then finished with textured stucco inside and out. Some of the homes even have tiles on the front steps, like at 1337 South Crescent, seen in the below photo.
Interiors featured hardwood and marble floors, sunken living rooms, arched doorways, vaulted ceilings, and sometimes a balcony overlooking the stairway. As mentioned in a Chicago Tribune article, Durchslag hoped “other nations will be represented” like England in his new development but that never materialized beyond the Mediterranean influenced homes of “Spanish Town.”8
The cost of these homes were between $17,000-$20,000, so with inflation that would be around $260,000-$305,000. Some are more elaborate than others, as seen in the residences located at 1305 and 1328 South Crescent Avenue, seen in the above photos.
This charming collection of homes is unique, not only because this type of architecture is rare in the Midwest region of the United States, but Park Ridge itself has destroyed a lot of its history over the last few decades with older homes being demolished for newer mega-sized residences (this also includes Bruns’ own home as Hastings Street is now lined with McMansions).
With all the tear downs, it’s nice to see this piece of local history survive in a suburb not known for preservation, although there should be concern for its future as only one of the homes (424 Talcott Place) has been designated a local historic landmark, which occurred in 2011. Almost a hundred years after this small enclave was first envisioned by Durchslag and Bruns, let’s hope more homes are landmarked or a historic district is created so “Spanish Town” can survive for another century.
https://www.parkridge.us/assets/1/Events/HistoricLandmarkDedicationLD1102.pdf
familysearch.org
http://www.sears-homes.com/2016/10/and-then-there-were-two.html
https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cityHPC/DesignatedReports/vticnf/BethIsrael1.pdf
Chicago Tribune, January 23, 1967.
https://www.parkridge.us/assets/1/Events/HistoricLandmarkDedicationLD1102.pdf
“Spanish Charm in Chicago’s Suburbs: Survey of a 1920’s Development in Park Ridge, IL, SAIC Digital Collections.
Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1927.