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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

@chiworkerscottage.bsky.social
214 followers 33 following 188 posts

The Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative celebrates this housing style, seeking to preserve the unique features of these houses, protect them from demolition, and continue their use and reuse for the next century – workerscottage.org

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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Still a few spaces open if you'd like to join us for Saturday's walking tour looking at the many workers cottages in McKinley Park: workerscottage.org/tour.html
Neighborhood walking tour looking at McKinley Park workers cottages on Saturday Oct 3 at 2pm, by the Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Workers cottages were built in many older industrial cities on the Great Lakes, like this bright cottage in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood
Brightly painted red woodframe workers cottage with portico over the steps and large awnings
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A lush porch jungle at this cottage in South Deering
Woodframe workers cottage with blue siding and wooden porch decorated with hanging flower baskets
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A story we talk about on our Logan Square workers cottage walking tour, when banker Paul Stensland forged cottage mortgages and ran off with more than a million $ in 1906
digitaledition.chicagotribune.com
Manhunt in Morocco
Sun, 09/20/26
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Cooler fall weather is perfect for a walking tour. Come join us on Sept 27 to learn more about the stories of workers cottages in Logan Square, or on Oct 3 in McKinley Park workerscottage.org/tour.html
Neighborhood Walking Tour - Logan Square Workers Cottages - Sat Sept 27 2pm
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Did you receive our most recent newsletter issue? You can read and subscribe through our website at workerscottage.org/news.html
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A happy Labor Day celebrating the workers cottage homes built by and for laborers, like this Bowmanville cottage owned by house painter Peter Carlson in the 1890s
Front view of a woodframe workers cottage with colorful painted porch spindles
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The fence spikes are color-coordinated with the house
Chicago workers cottage painted green and dark purple, with iron fence painted similar colors
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Jonah Newman @jonahshai.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Update: We won! 🎉 Congrats to Carlos and Emeline and everyone at @injusticewatch.org and @raceandequityproject.org who worked on this outstanding investigation into Cook County's unfair — and unconstitutional — property tax foreclosure system for this well-deserved recognition!
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
More on the strange story of the historic Wacker cottage
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Built in 1905 by developer Robert Robertson, the first of a group of matching cottages built one by one on this block
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A small cottage in Little Village that was never raised after the street level was built up
View over the fence at a workers cottage in a yard below street level
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Rare cottage in the midst of a ranch house neighborhood near Midway
Brick workers cottage with tall staircase in the Clearing neighborhood among ranch and Georgian houses
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
A fancy Flemish gable in Lawndale
Brick workers cottage with a decorative Flemish gable and Palladian window
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Wish we could see what this grandly-gabled cottage looked like before the paint and porch were added
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The cottage pictured is still available
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The contrast between the colorful flowers and dark painted bricks caught my eye as I was riding by
Colorful flowers on the porch of a brick house with crumbling paint
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Cottages with wood clapboard are not so common nowadays: most are covered up by vinyl or aluminum siding
Humboldt Park cottage stripped of the vinyl siding which covered it until about five years ago
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This unassuming cottage in Belmont-Cragin was once home to the Museum of Ancient Spiritual Artifacts, run by TV psychic Mark Kurban in the early 2000s
Woodframe workers cottage with curved staircase and decorative flower pots in front yard
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dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Pilsen, Chicago
One story brick cottage painted bright yellow-orange and decorated with multi-color painted butterflies. In the window are two signs reading "ICE Out" and "Fuera ICE."
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
A brightly painted modern porch added to this 1902 cottage
Logan Square workers cottage with porch railings made of thin horizontal slats
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Despite the heatwave, there is apparently still snow on the ground in Milwaukee
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dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I accidentally and luckily came across four pieces of art in Englewood this morning.
"A Knight's Tale" by Bianca Pastel. Colorful mural on a brick wall of a Black girl wearing green boots, blue pants, a pink, purple, and orange tutu, and a yellow shirt. On her head is knight's armor with an open visor, revealing her very determined face with a bandaid on one cheek."Old heads," by Kenya Moffett-Garner.  A flower planter in the form of a large sculptured head of a Black person, painted brown and sitting on a concrete cube-shaped pedestal."Inequity For Sale" by Tonika Lewis Johnson. A round yellow sign with a black border and post is printed with the words "Inequity for Sale." Part of the text on the sign reads "THIS HOME was sold on a Land Sale Contract (LSC), a legally binding contract disguised as a traditional mortgage that enforced excessive monthly payments to the speculator without an actual transfer of ownership to the homebuyer, leaving Black families at risk for [eviction, massive debt, other predatory loans...].  More information is available at https://inequityforsale.com/"Innovation Blue," by Amanda Williams & Tonika Lewis Johnson. 
Williams recreated George Washington Carver’s 1927 patent to produce Innovation Blue, a prussian blue paint symbolizing ingenuity and joy. Johnson’s UnBlocked Englewood focuses on the 6500 block of S Aberdeen, exploring how reinvestment can repair the legacy of racist housing policies. In a full-circle moment, Innovation Blue covered a resident’s home façade, celebrating the legacy and possibilities born from UnBlocked Englewood." (From the Chicago Architecture Biennial)
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Our Logan Square workers cottage walking tour yesterday was very lucky to meet Judi, who saw us standing outside her cottage and welcomed the entire group inside to take a look!
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The only one in a row of 1903 cottages with still surviving ornament at the top. Come hear stories about these cottages on our Logan Square walking tour on Saturday afternoon: reserve a spot through our website workerscottage.org
Closeup of brick workers cottage with ornamental Classical relief above window
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John Morris @john-morris.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Love these
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gabriel x. michael 🎃👻🕸️ @g-x-m.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Photographed in 2017
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Secret row of cottages behind storefronts on Pulaski
Tops of gable-roofed cottages peeking up behind a row of brick storefront additions
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Come join us for a walking tour looking at the history of workers cottages in Logan Square! Reserve a ticket at: www.eventbrite.com/e/cottages-o...
Neighborhood walking tour of Logan Square workers cottages - Saturday June 27 - 2pm
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Hope your house survived the storm yesterday. This Logan Square cottage was fine, the car maybe not
Fallen tree branch on top of a car parked in front of a workers cottage which survived the Wed afternoon storm
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Such a tiny window upstairs!
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Here's another at 2228 W Foster. I believe the connection is that they were built by developer Sam Brown Jr., whose company built hundreds of cottages all over the city. I don't know how many of this design were built, or why they seem to appear randomly in his developments
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gabriel x. michael 🎃👻🕸️ @g-x-m.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
320 South Mozart Street was the former site of an 1870s Italianate frame worker’s cottage, Orange-rated for historic significance in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey. Archival photo from Illinois Historic Structures Survey 1971-1975; excerpt of 1896 Sanborn Map with building highlighted.
1870s Italianate frame worker’s cottage1896 Sanborn Map with building highlighted
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Keep off the grass, in Belmont-Cragin
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
If you missed receiving our recent newsletter, you can subscribe at: workerscottage.org/news.html
Spring 2026 news from the Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative
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gabriel x. michael 🎃👻🕸️ @g-x-m.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This brick Italianate worker's cottage at 2905 West Monroe Street turns 150 years old this year. It’s lost some details like the bracketed cornice, window hoods and transom, but thankfully still survives. Built in 1876, my 2015 photo and one from the Illinois Historic Structures Survey, 1971-1975.
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
The row of 5 wooden cottages in the background on the left were built around 1911 and are all still standing
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Stop by our table at the Chicago Preservation Expo to tell us what you love about workers cottages! www.chicago.gov/city/en/site...
Chicago Preservation Expo on May 18 at the Chicago Cultural Center
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
It’s easy to visualize how this wooden cottage in Roscoe Village was raised up and a new brick floor was added underneath
Frame cottage perched above a brick first floor
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dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Workers' cottages on W. Maypole in Chicago, from the 1880s.
Two one-story workers' cottages of red brick. The brick on the house at the right has been painted red and the stone lintels have been painted white. the house has an open front porch with a flat roof and a bracketed gable roof on the main structure. The house on the left is decorated with pressed brick designs. It has a canopy above the entrance and a dormer on the right side of the gable roof.
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Triplet cottages facing Kilbourn Park
Angled view of the front steps of three woodframe workers cottages in a row
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gabriel x. michael 🎃👻🕸️ @g-x-m.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
I love my little 1876 worker’s cottage so much — and so great to see it on Every Lot 😊💗
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dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Worker's cottage, 3056 (formerly 671) Flournoy, Chicago. It was built in 1888 by H. B. Fargo, a real estate developer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_B...
1.5-story brick worker's cottage with a gable roof. The brick has been painted dark red and the stone foundation has been painted white. The house has a wooden cornice along the roof line decorated with dentils and brackets and painted white. The front porch roof is supported by unpainted wood posts and the balustrades are also unpainted.
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gabriel x. michael 🎃👻🕸️ @g-x-m.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Built 1869
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Cottage with a train in the back yard, built around 1906 in Ravenswood
Gambrel-roof woodframe cottage with a Brown Line L Train running along the alley behind
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Pink flower view from the windows of this Bucktown cottage
Brick workers cottage hidden behind a pink flowering crabapple tree
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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Did someone else on here stumble upon this same <CHAD> house in Cicero or are there many of these. I know I have seen it before. What does it mean?
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chinorthsider.bsky.social @chinorthsider.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
If you need evidence that Chicago Workers’ Cottages were often built from salvaged or excess brick from area job sites, count the number of brick types in this amazingly intact one west of DePaul. Special appearance by Harley, the Magnolia Street Cat.
Color photo of a one and a half floor brick workers’ cottage with green eaves and window frames. A small uncovered front porch rises to its off-center door and shelters a house for a cat. Color photo of Southeastern corner of the cottage showing four different colored common brick portions of the walls and a portion each of cream and red face brick at the lower portion of the front wall. Color photo of the same cottage with focus on a richly patinaed and weathered cast iron porch post, a pot of silk flowers and a black cat scrutinizing the photographer.
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 21/04/2026
#OtD 21 Apr 1855 a Chicago Beer Riot began after police arrested over 200 German beer drinkers following the increase of license fees and the banning of alcohol sales on Sundays. Germans were targeted by the Mayor for forming their own neighbourhoods
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Farewell to this Logan Square brick cottage built around 1891
Crane taking a lunch break from demolition of walls of circa 1891 brick workers cottage
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