7064 N. Greenview Avenue

From HistoryWiki

7064 N. Greenview Avenue, the Perkins/Gundersen Apartment.

This apartment was featured in the 1992 Annual Fall House Tour.

Circa: 1925-1928

Original Owner: unknown

Present (1992) Owner: Bill Perkins and Andrea Gundersen

This distinctive Apartment Building stands apart from its neighbors. The facade is of red brick and decorative concrete stone. The red upper part starts from the first floor and goes up to the roof line topped by decorative stone and turrets. The ground floor, which is the lobby, is constructed entirely of concrete stone in such an attractive manner that, when coupled with the French windows and French wooden oak door, the effect is striking.

To the right of the main entrance is a second street entrance with an arched doorway and a beautiful iron gate that leads to a side yard. The outer windows, just above the lobby, are very unusual in that the inner trim starts as a narrow strip and widens as it reaches the top of window. All the windows in this area have concrete stone decoration. The other two tiers of windows are smaller in size and basically French-style. There is a stone ornamentation in the center, just above the second floor.

Inside the lobby depicts the era in which the building was erected (the '20s). There is also a beautiful concrete table here. As you ascend the stairs to the first floor, there is a huge wooden door with an antique peephole that seems like a miniature cage door.

Passing through this door to the main foyer, you see the expansive space not visible from outside. The walls on either side are all stucco. The main parlor and dining room have a free flow of space. The parlor is to the right of of the foyer. It has fantastic concrete exposed beams which form a pattern as they get closer to the walls. The windows are all double French. The magnificent Greek fireplace with its decorative concrete corbels and mantle is original and still operable. On both sides of the fireplace are concave bookcases.

Moving north toward the dining room is a beautiful double French door with decorative iron. This area continues the stucco effect. The light fixtures in this and most other rooms are not original to the apartment. Antique furniture plays an important part in the general attractiveness of the entire space.

The modern kitchen can be reached from the dining room. In here, new (1992) decorative wall and floor tiles replaced the old. Bricks were added to the faces of the north and south kitchen walls. Just off the kitchen is a small deck that completes the original porch. It is a relaxing place for summertime pleasure.

The long stucco hallway, with its original lighting, runs west from the main foyer and takes you to the kitchen and all other rooms. A small archway in the left wall of the foyer accommodates a small heater. The four bedrooms of this apartment vary in size. The smallest, with its original adjoining bathroom, is on the left side of the hallway and is paneled in knotty pine that has been painted over.

The large master bedroom has an original bathroom and large walk-in closet. This closet was altered when the original door was boarded up and a section of wall removed to make a larger entrance. The other two bedrooms can be reached by an additional arched hallway that meets the first one. These rooms, especially the bathrooms, retain their basic charm. The floors throughout the apartment are all oak. The trims are basically simple but effective. All the doors for the rooms still have the original locks.

The second and third floor apartments of this building also show the outstanding originality of this building.