Chicago is the city of the three story walk-up apartment building. Or at least the Chicago I know. Sure, it is also home to the high-rise apartment building, but that is a world that I’m not quite accustomed to since, well, high-rises are generally at a different price point than walk-ups. The Chicago magazine recently did an article about the styles of residential architectural in Chicago by AJ LaTrace, illustrated by Phil Thomas of Cape Horn Illustration.

I’m partial to bungalows, so I think that’s my favorite type of Chicago home. Apparently the bungalow is also symbolizes “a man with a more authentic connection to Chicago than the cosmopolitan High-Rise Man”. The article offers historical insights about each style, like the fact that there are about 80,000 bungalows in the city, the greystone is “Chicago’s response to the Brooklyn browstone”, worker’s cottages were quickly rebuilt after the great fire, and Mies van der Rohe’s influence on the modernist high-rise. And the illustrations are magnificent. If you like what you see, check out Phil Thomas’s website, where you can buy a print for yourself!