338 Sunset Ave
La Grange, IL 60525, USA

George E. Purple House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

The George E. Purple House at 338 Sunset Avenue in LaGrange is significant for National Register listing under Criterion C for architecture as a good local example of Italian Renaissance architecture. Chicago-based architect William G. Carnegie designed the home in 1928.

Italian Renaissance Style
The Italian Renaissance style was popular in the United States from 1890 to 1935.^ The style is defined by a low-pitched hipped roof that is usually covered by ceramic tiles, first story windows that are usually larger and more elaborate than those on the second story, first story windows, doors and porches that are commonly arched and accented by classical columns or pilasters, and a roof that has large overhangs supported by decorative brackets.^ The main fa9ade of Italian Renaissance buildings are usually symmetrical. In A Field Guide to American Houses, authors Virginia and Lee McAlester identify four different subtypes of Italian Renaissance architecture: simple hipped roof, hipped roof with projecting wings, asymmetrical and flat roof The Purple House falls under the asymmetrical plan. A very small portion of Italian Renaissance homes are asymmetrical; usually the asymmetry involves door and window placement.'' Homes with L-shaped plans, such as the Purple House, are even less common

The Purple House is an excellent example of the Italian Renaissance style. It has multiple hipped roofs, clad in green clay tiles, with large overhanging eaves. The first-story windows are larger and more prominent than the second-story windows, and are arched with an ornamented relief The fa9ade gives a sense of being symmetrical because the asymmetrical portion, the sunroom, is set back from the plane of the fa9ade. The comer bricks quoins are repeated between the windows in an evenly-spaced pattern to give the look of a symmetrical fa9ade. The front door is not centrally placed, which is characteristic of Italian Renaissance buildings. The Italian Renaissance style is carried into the interior of the Purple House. All of the first-floor doorways are either arched or the molding is indented in an arched pattern over the door.

The Village of LaGrange has a variety of architectural styles built in its one-hundred-and-seventy-year history. Residential architecture varies from Victorian Era and Tudor Revival styles to Foursquare and Bungalow building types. Famous Chicago architects William Le Baron Jenney and John N. Tilton designed homes in LaGrange in the late nineteenth century. There are only a few other Italian Renaissance style houses in the community. The only ones that were identified were included in the Illinois Historic Structures Survey, which was conducted in the 1970s, and are located at 102 S. Blackstone, 209 S. Blackstone, 410 S. Stone Avenue, 344 S. 6* Street, 221 S. Waiola and 200 S. Waiola. The homes at 221 S. Waiola and 410 S. Stone Avenue are small, two-story stucco structures. They are both asymmetrical and have decorative round arched windows on the first story and plain double-hung windows on the second story. The roofing material is some sort of shingle. The houses at 200 S. Waiola, 209 S. Blackstone and 344 S. 6* Street are more of the size and massing of the Purple House. They are all two-story stucco structures of the symmetrical subtype of the style, with windows on the first story flanking an arched central entrance. Other than the elaborate entrances and slate or tile roofs, these examples have very little ornamentation. The house at 102 S. Blackstone is built of the same materials as the Purple House. It features a clay tile roof, blond brick construction and cast concrete detailing around the windows and doors. The massing is different; this house is an example of the hipped roof with projecting wing subtype.


None of these examples is as ornate as the Purple House. The George E. Purple House is most likely the best extant example of the Italian Renaissance style in LaGrange. The Purple House has all of the characteristic Italian Renaissance features: a low-pitched hipped tile roof, decorative brackets, large overhanging eaves, and large and elaborate first story windows with smaller, less ornate second story windows. What makes the Purple House stand out from the others is the amount of ornamentation, as seen in the bas relief ums above the first floor front fa9ade windows, the elaborate brick work resembling quoins on the comers, the cast concrete door and windows surrounds, and the copper canopy on the north elevation.

An Italian Renaissance building more closely resembling the style of the Purple House was the LaGrange Public Library. The library was built in 1904 with a donation from Andrew Camegie, no relation to the purple House architect, but unfortunately it was tom down in 1969. Historic pictures hang in the current LaGrange Public Library. The Camegie Public Library was a perfect example of a symmetrical Italian Renaissance building. It had a low-pitched hip roof with large overhangs and a central arched entrance with sidelights and a semicircular fanlight. The large first story windows and front door are articulated with stone voussoirs. The second story had small double hung windows with no ornamentation. The basement was raised with small unornamented windows. The building was composed of brick and had brick quoining at the comers. The Camegie Public Library was a prominent building in LaGrange while the Purples resided there.

History of LaGrange
The Village of LaGrange, Illinois, is approximately 18 miles west, southwest of Chicago, just on the western border of Cook County. LaGrange was first settled in 1837 and the village was incorporated in 1879. The village of LaGrange was founded by Robert Leitch, a Chicago meat packer, who purchased 440-acres from the United States Government with the plan to start a small community. Leitch fell into some financial trouble and was forced to sell his land to Franklin Cossitt, who moved to the area after his wholesale grocery store was destroyed in the 1871 Chicago fire. Cossitt eventually laid out the plan for the village of LaGrange. Cossitt named the village after LaGrange, Tennessee, where he had previously lived. Levi Leiter, of the Field & Leiter Store, the forerunner to Marshall Field's, purchased a tract of land from Cossitt and shared in the development of LaGrange.

When LaGrange was platted in 1879, the boundaries of the village were from 5th Street to Waiola north of Cossitt and from 5* Street to Kensington south of Cossitt to 47th Street. At the time there were 500 people residing there. In 1898 the suburban commuter train began to provide service from LaGrange to Chicago, which undoubtedly affected the growth of the village. By 1900 the population had increased to approximately 4,000. LaGrange continued to grow and by 1930, just two years after the Purple House was built, there were 10,102 residents living in the village.