The house on the northeast corner of 76th Street and East End in South Shore (7557 S. East End) is remarkable in a number of ways. I stumbled upon it while biking down 76th, and nearly swerved into traffic in surprise. It’s a white stucco house with Victorian and Gothic details, which is highly unusual for the neighborhood (except insofar as Gothic can be combined with Art Deco). Its immediate surroundings are all small apartment buildings and bungalows in the classic Chicago style of the 1920s, making this house – and the oversized lot it sits on – a particularly surprising thing to find.
A quick bit of research reveals that it dates back to 1873, likely making it one of the oldest standing buildings in the neighborhood. Knowing this, much else about the house makes sense. The oversized lot reflects the fact that it was built before the area was gridded with streets. The tower, intricate woodwork, and steeply-pitched roofs are characteristics of the Gothic Revival style popular at the time.
Unfortunately, even a significant internet research effort has yielded no additional information about this house. I’ve learned that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad entered Chicago through a nearby track beginning in 1874; that East End Avenue in this area was known as Seipp Avenue prior to the standardization of the grid; and that, unfortunately, the Sanborn maps went only as far south as 71st Street prior to 1923.
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