Burling Row House District

Address: 2225-2245 N. Burling Street Year Built: 1875 Architect: Various Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: November 15, 2000

The ten brick row houses that make up this district form one of the best surviving row house groupings built in the post-Chicago Fire years of the 1870s. They were among the first built following passage of a city ordinance that required "fireproof" masonry construction in the city's neighborhoods. They are significant examples of the Italianate style, which dominated Chicago architecture between the Civil War and the late-1870s. Because they were designed as a unit, the row houses have an exceptional architectural unity with common setbacks, scale, and height. They are further distinguished for their fine window ornament and a very rare, intact wooden cornice that all ten houses share. The row houses were designed by one of Chicago's earliest and most important architects, whose other prominent buildings include St. James Episcopal Cathedral, the Nickerson Mansion, and the Church of the Epiphany (see Jackson Boulevard District). The street was named for Burling in the 1850s.