Whether it was rebuilding the city following the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, reversing the Chicago River and the deadly pollution of drinking water by 1900, or finding solutions to many current-day issues, Chicago has, time and again, found a way to adapt and move forward.
The rise of the two-flat is a perfect example.
Simply put, “a two-flat is a two-story residential building with one unit on the bottom and one on top,” said Adam Rubin, Senior Director of Content, Exhibits & Interpretation at the Chicago Architecture Center.
Or, as Carla Bruni, Preservation and Resiliency Specialist at the Chicago Bungalow Association, described in her recent blog, “a two-flat is basically just a stacked Chicago bungalow in terms of layout and design (minus the hipped or gabled roof).”
However, as Rubin and Bruni recently shared with @properties, how the Chicago two-flat was constructed and how these structures built (and continue to build) a road to homeownership and financial security for many Chicagoans requires a more detailed explanation.