2540 W. Coyle Avenue

2540 W. Coyle Avenue, the Pokorny/Lauren House.

Circa: 1925

Original Owner: Zipprich?

Fourth and Present Owners: Frank Pokorny and Nancy Jane Lauren

This house was on the 2003 Annual Fall House Tour.

When this bungalow was built in 1925, the neighborhood was in its infancy, with many greenhouses and empty lots (called "prairies") surrounding the newly built homes. Stories of these days were told by Dorothy Zipprich, who grew up in this house in the 1920s and 1930s, and whose family lived here until 1987. Her memories include seeing the milkman delivering bottles by horse and wagon, coal being delivered in barrels through the basement window, and chasing after the iceman for cold slivers on a summer day.

Current owners Frank Pokorny and Nancy Jane Lauren are the fourth family to live in this house and many vintage details remain from those early days. In the living room note the original art glass windows, eighteen separate pieces in all. The Prairie School-inspired window design was common in the city with small, mirrored squares made of real gold leaf.

In the first floor master bathroom, the original floor and wall tiles remain, and be sure to look at the six-head shower as well. Fans of vintage appliances will definitely want to see the two cook-stoves in the house, a 1950s-era range in the kitchen and the home's original stove manufactured in 1923 in the basement. Amazingly, this one still works.

More details of the personal history of this home can be read in the Fall 2002 issue of American Bungalow magazine (issue 35) written by Nancy Jane.

Also on display in the basement is a portion of the Chicago Architecture Foundation's 2001 exhibit, "The Chicago Bungalow".