These Spanish Colonial Revival houses on Winthrop Avenue could have a lot going for them. The architectural style is fairly unique in the Midwest and adds interest to this street of homes from the 1920’s. These unfortunate houses now have vinyl siding and their historic windows have been ripped out and replaced with windows ignorant of the original stylistic intent. In one instance, the historic windows remain propped against the house, as if to taunt preservationists! Generic doors and added walls disrupt historic entrances. A sort of exterior wainscoting “decorates” one house with faux stone. Thankfully, these changes are relatively easily remedied. A last bit of hope, the remaining historic details on these houses still add a unique flavor to their neighborhood.
Must definitely stay with this article; have seen examples of this in other neighborhoods; will work to remember WHERE….
I note that in the house pictured in the middle above (the house with the faux stone accents), the original red clay tile roofs over the open front porch and the enclosed sun room have been painted beige to match the vinyl siding.
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If I remember correctly, there are actually four of these Spanish Colonial Revival homes clustered together on Winthrop Avenue. The fourth one (not pictured here) doesn’t look quite as tacky as the three pictured do, but it too has been altered by the addition of a limestone facade. My guess is that all four of these homes originally had stucco exteriors when they were built in the 1920s.
These once-cute little haciendas were built in 1924 by the Dollman-Hauser Construction Co. They were indeed all stucco. Hopefully they could go back to the stucco – it’s easy to patch and once you paint it, you can’t tell where the patch is!