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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 · 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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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 · 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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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 · 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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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 · 03/06/2026
Another variation is the triangle protrusion only on the 1st floor. This one is at 1938 W Wellington, built by Sam Brown Jr in 1901
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Little house, little traffic jam on Halsted Street
Yard show display of childrens cars and tricycles in grass in front of woodframe cottage in West Pullman
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Cottage with a view… of the Dan Ryan. For the first half of its life it looked out at a street of wood and brick 2-flats
1880s workers cottage and brick 2-flat perched above the Dan Ryan Expressway trench
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The Parthenon of Pilsen
Brick Chicago workers cottage with classical columns and classical proportions of the Parthenon in Athens
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Hope to see you tomorrow at the McKinley Park library! www.eventbrite.com/e/1982550123...
If This Cottage Could Talk: workshop for learning how to research Chicago house history on April 4, 2pm at McKinley Park library community room
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
An extreme example of how houses can be changed over time: originally this was part of a row of 9 similar brick cottages built in 1899 by developer William Bowman in McKinley Park. Some cottages later got a new facade, a bungalow-like porch and dormer, or were raised and moved toward the street
Streetview photo of row of modified workers cottages on Pershing Rd in McKinley ParkFire insurance map of original row of nine brick workers cottages built in 1899 on 39th St (Pershing Rd)
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Two cottages built in 1885 but later moved to the alley to make room for two-flat buildings in front on Potomac Ave
Looking down an alley at a brick cottage behind a garage in Wicker Park
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Logan Square cottage built in 1902 for $3000 (more expensive than most cottages). The first dormer on the side seems to be for a staircase, but what's inside the second dormer?
Brick workers cottage with two dormers on the side
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Is demolition imminent for this Victorian cottage paused on the city's demo-delay last July? An estate sale this weekend seems to be selling even the windows www.estatesales.net/IL/Chicago/6...
Victorian shingled cottage at 2018 N Seminary first listed for demolition in July 2025Closeup of shingled siding of Victorian cottage at 2018 N Seminary threatened with demolition in July 2025Brick window arch of Victorian cottage at 2018 N Seminary first listed for demolition in July 2025
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Will today's snow be the last of the season? Probably at least next winter before we get a storm like the one at this Bucktown cottage on Christmas 1951 shared by Tanya C.
Night-time snapshot of a brick workers cottage and parked automobile in the middle of a snow-storm on Christmas 1951
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
A unique conjoined cottage, but now one of the triplets has gone rogue
Triple cottage on S Wabash, as seen in 2021
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Friday night sodium streetlights spotlighting today’s #FlintstonesFriday Permastone facade cottage
Dusk view of a Pilsen workers cottage with a rustic black & white permastone facade
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
A.J. Stone was committed to the West Side: "I have lived here twenty-seven years, and find congeniality and sociability to be the features of the West Side of the city."
Developer A.J. Stone letter to the editor printed in the April 14, 1895 Chicago Tribune titled "Sly Dig at Deserters" who moved to the fashionable South Side after the Columbian Exhibition
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
A bit of lingering snow and Christmas lights while we are waiting for spring
Dusk view of a workers cottage lit up by colored lights at the back of a sunken yard with an icy snowbank
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Have you ever wondered who lived in your house in the past? Come to our free workshop to learn how to research the history of Chicago houses, with a focus on workers cottages. RSVP at workerscottage.org/events.html
If This Cottage Could Talk: What stories can your house tell you? house history workshop on April 4, 2026, 2pm at McKinley Park Library community room
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Hidden behind Whirlyball and under a billboard is the last survivor of a group of 10 cottages built in 1882 by developer James M. Allen
Dusk view of a brick workers cottage underneath an enormous billboard
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Shorty hiding behind a fence in Pilsen
1-story brick workers cottage below street level surrounded by taller houses and apartments in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Our latest newsletter is now on our website. Subscribe so you don't miss the next issue at workerscottage.org/news.html
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Built in the early 1880s, this cottage on Elston once was surrounded by cottage neighbors but now stands alone
Cottage house beneath a streetlight surrounded by empty lots on a winter night
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Fresh snow with the holiday decorations
Lighted Christmas decorations in the front yard of a snow-covered workers cottage
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Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative @chiworkerscottage.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Happy Thanksgiving to all workers cottage fans! If you did not receive last week's fall newsletter, you can subscribe on our website workerscottage.org/news.html
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