Wheeler-Kohn House

Address: 2018 S. Calumet Ave. Year Built: 1870 remodeled c.1885 Architect: Otis L. Wheelock Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: February 5, 1998

This is one of the last survivors of the stately mansions built on the city's Near South Side prior to the Fire of 1871. Calumet Avenue and nearby Prairie Avenue were considered two of the city's most fashionable streets. This house was designed for banker Calvin Wheeler in the Second Empire style by one of the city's earliest architects, who also designed the Delaware Building, Groesbeck House, and Haskell-Barker buildings. In the mid-1880s, in order to compete with newer mansions being constructed nearby, the house was updated by its second owner, clothier Joseph Kohn. A two-story window bay was added to the front of the building, along with an elaborately detailed front-porch canopy.