2515 W. Carmen Avenue has intrigued me from the moment I saw it. It's a peculiar little box of a house, a simple rectangle covered in stucco to make a sort of Pueblo Revival style.
Nothing too strange yet... but the house sits next to a huge yard. Most of it is raw dirt under a canopy of trees. It's fenced off for what would be privacy if the fence weren't collapsing at the street.
And then there's the alley building. At first it might seem like an old garage with an apartment above... but there's only one garage. And on the side that faces the yard, there's some sort of strange barbecue pit.
What did this place used to be? When was it built? Who lived there? What was it used for?
A sign on the fence notes that the place is for sale by Sperry Van Ness realtors, though it appears to have changed hands a couple of times in recent years.
5 comments:
The Cook County Assessor shows this property classed as a store; the Chicago Tribune lists a Weyrick Roofing at this address in 1956.
Sanborn maps confirm it was built between 1905 and 1913. In 1922 Ravenswood Motor Company was there. The back building was shown as Contractor and Car storage and the front building as a domicile.
Three minutes of research would tell you the property belongs to the Magic Inc. folks (it's being sold with the building that holds the store).
Talking with those folks would tell you it used to be storage for their store. Before that it was rumored to be a Capone Speakeasy. Before that a Chicago police stable.
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2006/A-Fine-Mess/
Wow, someone's sassy this evening.
The Magic Inc bldg is not the same one that the blogger has photographed.
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