“In the 1930s, when a Marshall Field’s executive tapped an innovative Chicago architect to design apartments for a site on North State Parkway, he very likely didn’t suspect that what resulted would be one of the city’s finest examples of Art Moderne architecture. But he did reserve the biggest unit for himself.
“At the Frank Fisher Studio Houses, as they were known when they opened in 1938, architect Andrew Rebori used curving white plaster walls, modern designs in stained glass and carved wood and a building material that was futuristic for its time — glass block — in artful ways that still stand out today.
“‘It’s really magical,’ says Greg Gochanour, who with his wife, Lynne Gochanour, bought the unit Frank Fisher originally kept for himself. Set at the rear of the lot, with views over the courtyard that the other units line, Fisher’s former home has a curvaceous staircase, hand-carved wood ceiling beams and walls of glass block, one of them two stories high.
“The Gochanours, who are both attorneys, bought a package of Fisher’s unit and a smaller one above it, and connected them with a new staircase that matches the sensuous curve of the original.
“Now looking for ‘another architecture adventure,’ as Greg Gochanour puts it, the couple will put the three-bedroom unit on the market in the next few weeks. Priced at a little over $1.28 million, it’s represented by Brad Lippitz of Compass.” (Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, 2/16/23)
“One of the city’s finest pre-World War II modern designs, this is an exceptional-and rare-example of the Art Moderne style of architecture, which was influenced by European modernism. The unique layout of the 12 units and their common courtyard–which, together, occupy an extremely narrow site running perpendicular to the street–has contributed to their desirability as residential apartments. Further distinguishing the building is its handcrafted ornamentation by prominent artist Edgar Miller. The building was commissioned by Frank Fisher, Jr., an executive of Marshall Field & Co.” (Chicago Landmarks)