Because construction continued in Beverly/Morgan Park right through the Depression, it is possible to document the evolution of modern housing here more fully than in almost any other place in the Chicago metropolitan area. A case in point is the very early Contemporary-style house at 10408 S. Talman Ave., erected in 1941 for V. A. Breault.
The architect of this house was John V. McPherson (1908-1969), a Chicago-born Bowen High School graduate who sharpened his drafting skills with various architectural firms including Coolidge & Hodgdon; Bennett, Parsons & Frost; Burnham Brothers & Hammond; and the Montgomery Ward construction department during the period 1927-1937.
McPherson was in practice for himself from 1938 to 1942, worked for Alschuler & Friedman in 1942 and 1943, and subsequently was a partner in various firms, including McPherson, Swing & Associates and McPherson, Warner & Brejcha. Based in Homewood, McPherson designed many homes and public buildings in the south suburbs and was a pioneer in the use of housing modules and prefabrication.
The Breault house cannot be classified as either a gabled Contemporary or a flat-roofed Contemporary because it has both roof types. The roof over the house itself is gabled, but it should be noted that this may have been an afterthought (or perhaps a later addition), since the brickwork of the house does not extend visibly up under the gables. The roof over the garage wing is flat, and extends some three feet beyond the garage wall on the south side so as to offer shelter to persons approaching the house's main entrance.
Flat-roofed contemporary houses are considered to be derived from the International Style, and the relationship is especially pronounced in the Breault house because it also has ribbon windows which turn corners on two floors. These sets of ribbon windows on the upper and lower floors are separated from each other by a wall section of dark brown brick, the only point at which the color varies from the light-yellow brick used on the rest of the house.
Another feature of the Breault house derived from the International Style is the glass-block windows, also appearing on the two floors, one such window above the other. It should be noted that the glass-block window on the first floor curves in to lead the eye to the main entrance, a detail inherited from the Art Moderne tradition.
The interior of the house has been extensively remodeled, but the owner noted that when it was acquired there was no interior trim at all, not even moldings or around the windows. The door at the main entrance, however, displays an interesting pattern of lines incised in the wood in Art Moderne style. Over-all, the interior has a light and airy feel to it, due to the light-catching placement of the windows, both front and back.
The Breault house allows us to follow the steps by which the Contemporary house style gradually evolved from its predecessors, the Art Moderne and International Styles. It is interesting to compare it with the Rudolph Boehm-designed residence across the street, previously discussed in this column, which appears to derive from Prairie School predecessors.
In the Boehm-designed house we find a hipped roof, from which the windows of the upper story are set back. But the Boehm design also has windows that wrap the corners, and a prow window as well. Truly, to walk through West Beverly is to explore the evolution of modern residential architecture.