The Three Homes of Charles R. Erwin
As an old house stalker, I always love learning about the history of these buildings and sharing them on social media (which has proved to be quite popular over on my IG account dedicated to this little obsession of mine). That’s why I found it interesting that a wealthy man named Charles R. Erwin commissioned not one, but three architecturally significant residences by local architects. So who was architectural patron Charles Roswell Erwin?
Originally from the city of Ottawa where the Illinois and Fox Rivers converge, Erwin came to Chicago while still a young boy and started working as a messenger at the Commercial National Bank. He eventually became a pioneer in the advertising world, becoming one of the first men to be given a million dollar advertising budget, and was at one time the president of Lord & Thomas, originally founded in 1873 and today is the third-oldest U.S. advertising agency. Erwin was also active in the development of the citrus fruit district of Florida (where he would later die in Winter Haven), owning several large grapefruit and orange groves. This isn’t too surprising as Albert Lasker, a partner at Lord & Thomas, changed breakfast forever with his ad campaign “Drink an Orange.” In 1914 Erwin would go on to start Erwin, Wasey & Company, one of the first U.S. advertising agencies to develop a network of international offices, beginning with a branch office in London.
In 1893 34-year-old Charles Erwin commissioned what would be the first of his three homes in the Chicagoland area. Located in the railroad suburb of Oak Park the Queen Anne was designed by local architect William J. Van Keuren, a prolific developer and builder in the village from the 1880s until his death in 1915. Charles would live here with his wife Rachel Melissa “Nettie” Ingalls and their ten children: Barbara, Esther, Charlotte, Rachel, Charles, Roswell, Mary, Olive, Althea, and Eloise. Married to Charles in 1884, Nettie was the daughter of local attorney George A. Ingalls and a native of Oak Park so that probably explains how the couple ended up building their first family home here.
Although the Queen Anne seems like a perfectly lovely home and certainly big enough for a family of twelve, Charles was now a wealthy man moving up in the advertising world. He was also living in a town where a new architectural style had taken shape by a local architect named Frank Lloyd Wright. Living in a now outdated design, Erwin probably wanted something modern like his next door neighbor Edwin Cheney’s Wright-designed home that had been completed in 1903. It’s mind-blowing to think these two structures were built just a decade apart. Whereas the Cheney residence is more intimate and less monumental with its Roman brick wall concealing it from the street, Erwin would do the exact opposite by constructing an awe-inspiring stucco mansion on five lots a few blocks away.
In 1905 Erwin commissioned architect George W. Maher to design this second home in the newly developed prairie style. Known as Lotus Lodge, it follows in the tradition of Maher’s other grand residence in Oak Park, the John Farson House aka Pleasant Home, in that both were large estates with beautiful wrought-iron gates (a previous owner of the Erwin home removed it decades ago) that showcase Maher’s rhythm-motif design philosophy in which an element from nature is repeated in various decorative elements throughout the structure. Maher used a lion’s head at Pleasant Home, while the lotus flower was chosen for Erwin’s new house. Although Erwin’s once-grand estate has changed over the years, the home is still pretty amazing architecturally with its segmental arched entrance and the inset porch openings on the southern side. A number of original art glass windows, sconces, and ceiling light fixtures survive inside.
When architect John Van Bergen worked with Erwin on the planning stages of what would become his third home in the North Shore suburb of Kenilworth between 1921-22, Van Bergen remembered: "When it came to…the Erwin home, in Kenilworth…& a few others, I was dealing with wealthy clients who knew the best & wanted larger & finer of everything - they got what they wanted & didn't care about the repair & demolition costs."
And what a house! Situated on a larger corner lot, Erwin’s third residence is visually striking with Van Bergen’s excellent sense of proportion and use of stratified stone. The innovative design shows that prairie style did not die before World War I. The architect, who grew up in Oak Park surrounded by the construction sites of the Prairie School and later was hired by Wright, did some of his best work during the 1920s. Jens Jensen, who had been a mentor to Van Bergen, was the landscape architect on the project. The Erwins also commissioned Van Bergen to design a more modest home next door for their daughter Barbara, which was built in 1922.
Charles Erwin never got a chance to reside in this last home as he died just as construction was completed in December of 1926. Nettie, who served as the President of the Kenilworth Garden Club, lived there for a number of years before moving a few blocks away where she died 15 years after her husband. In 1958 the new owner of the Charles Erwin House in Kenilworth, Joseph G. Nellis, was led to believe he had bought a Frank Lloyd Wright design as everyone in the area referred to it as a Wright. After securing Van Bergen’s contact information from local architect Alfred S. Alschuler Jr., Nellis wrote a letter to Van Bergen: “Having been in other houses that Wright had built, we were not the least bit surprised to learn that he had not built this house, for it certainly is designed better than any of his houses that we have been in…the very unusual and delightful design…exceeds my fondest dreams." Van Bergen replied, "It is seldom that an architect receives such high praise from one who has purchased an old building of his and I most sincerely appreciate your thoughtfulness."
Thanks to Marty Hackl, Douglas Gilbert, and the Highland Park Historical Society for the research and information.