Surf-Pine Grove District

“Next door, the 435 W. Surf building, designed by William S. Klewer, is clad with yellow brick and ornamented with restrained Classical-style stone decoration. The earliest of the District's small-scale corner apartment buildings is the 3-story apartment building on the southeast corner of W. Surf St. and N. Cambridge Ave., built in 1905 by developer William A. Doerr and designed by his brothers, Jacob F. and John P. Doerr.”

“It replaced a large house, set on an expansive lot, dating from East Lake View's earliest period of development, and the Surf's construction exemplifies the increasingly urban character of the neighborhood by World War I. The building was one of the last designs by architect Horatio R. Wilson, and was designed in pale yellow brick and white terra cotta with delicate Classical-style ornament.”

“All but one of the District's 31 buildings were built before the building hiatus caused by the Great Depression and World War II. (Only one building, the “four-plus-one” apartment building at 530-34 W. Surf St., built circa 1968, has been preliminarily defined by Landmarks staff as non-contributing to the District.) The district demonstrates excellent integrity in both its overall streetscapes and individual buildings.”

“The Surf-Pine Grove District's buildings (district map on page 2, building catalog on page 42), with their handsome architectural designs, excellent use of traditional building materials, and fine craftsmanship, form a cohesive residential streetscape that exemplifies the best of this period of Chicago neighborhood development.”

“(Noteworthy for its rusticated stone exterior and innovative interior atrium, the Brewster is already an individual Chicago Landmark, designated in 1982, and for that reason is not included in the District.) Within the Surf-Pine Grove District itself, there are three pre-World War I tall buildings.”

“Even more significantly, the buildings found in the District form a coherent streetscape that exemplifies the significant architecture historically associated with East Lake View. The oldest building in the Surf-Pine Grove District is the single-family house at 441 W. Surf St., built in 1890 for brewer Gustav Hoffman by architect Edmund R. Krause.”

“The Pine Grove row houses, built as single-family houses but with a tighter, more efficient use of space, exemplify the beginnings of the neighborhood's transformation into a more densely populated urban community.”

“All are clad in brick and use, to greater or lesser degrees, Classical detailing in their designs. The earliest is located at 415 W. Surf St., built by William M. Remey to designs prepared by Samuel N. Crowen.”

“Other buildings in the Surf-Pine Grove District were designed by architects early in their careers. Paul Frederick Olsen, the designer of the apartment building on the southwest corner of W. Surf St. and N. Cambridge Ave. in 1915, went on to become an important architect of large-scale Chicago apartment buildings in the 1920s, including several in the Jeffrey-Cyril Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in the South Shore community area.”