Update: I revisited the house at Cook and Whittier above in the Spring of 2021.

I was checking up on one of my favorite houses in the city, the stately manse at the southwest corner of Cook and Whittier, and I proceeded west down Cook Avenue, where there are some more exceptional examples of early Twentieth Century architecture.

If you look at the houses above, you can tell they were built together, but they were carefully differentiated to look like they were constructed separately. I believe they are both occupied.

And as I’ve pointed out before, houses were often built in tracts, with the same floor plan, but each front was composed differently to keep the same rhythm of the street wall, but yet provide variety.

These massive, stout houses are still standing strong, even though they are abandoned. I still think they could be saved; I have seen far more gone houses brought back to life elsewhere.