Alta Vista Terrace District
Encyclopedia
The Alta Vista Terrace District is a historic district
in Chicago, Illinois. The district was built in 1904 in imitation of the rowhouse style of London
.
The development was the work of Samuel Gross, who was responsible for several other real estate developments in Chicago. He was inspired to build Alta Vista Terrace after a trip to Europe, in which he looked at the rowhouses of London. The street is one block long and contains 40 small, single-family rowhouses, each on a lot about 24 feet wide and 40 feet deep. There were 20 different exterior styles based on various adaptations of architectural styles. Some of the features included Doric
and Ionic
wood pilasters, Gothic arches, Palladian
windows, stained and leaded-glass fanlight
s, bay
and bow
windows, and various decorative woodwork.
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
in Chicago, Illinois. The district was built in 1904 in imitation of the rowhouse style of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The development was the work of Samuel Gross, who was responsible for several other real estate developments in Chicago. He was inspired to build Alta Vista Terrace after a trip to Europe, in which he looked at the rowhouses of London. The street is one block long and contains 40 small, single-family rowhouses, each on a lot about 24 feet wide and 40 feet deep. There were 20 different exterior styles based on various adaptations of architectural styles. Some of the features included Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
and Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
wood pilasters, Gothic arches, Palladian
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
windows, stained and leaded-glass fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
s, bay
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
and bow
Bow window
A bow window is a curved bay window. Bow windows are designed to create space by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building, and to provide a wider view of the garden or street outside and typically combine four or more casement windows, which join together to form an arch.Bow windows first...
windows, and various decorative woodwork.