{"nrhp_refnum":"00001338","name":"Roche, Martin-John Tait House","other_names":["Tait--Elston House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3614 S. Martin Luther King Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.82946883400007,"lon":-87.61769823799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Romanesque Revival single-family house at 3614 South Martin Luther King Drive (formerly Grand Boulevard) in Chicago, built in 1888 and designed by Martin Roche of Holabird & Roche for his sister and her husband, John Tait.","why_significant":"The house was designed by Martin Roche, a leading partner in the Chicago architecture firm Holabird & Roche, as a home for his brother-in-law's family and himself. Its flat red sandstone front differs sharply from the neighboring Queen Anne rowhouses. It also shows an early residential use of steel structure, tied to Roche's experiments in commercial buildings, and retains much original interior detail.","narrative":"Built in 1888 on Chicago's South Side, this three-story house at 3614 South Martin Luther King Drive was designed by architect Martin Roche for his sister Bridget and her husband John Tait. Roche lived in a third-floor suite until 1917. Its flat, red sandstone front in the Romanesque Revival manner contrasts with the ornate Queen Anne limestone rowhouses beside it. Roche used steel pipe columns and beams to carry the wide front span, an early residential use of steel linked to his work on commercial buildings with the firm Holabird & Roche. Inside, tiled fireplaces, carved woodwork, pocket doors, stenciling and an original tiled bathroom survive. The house became a three-flat in the 1940s, hiding some features, but a recent rehabilitation restored the staircase and other original elements and returned it to single-family use. The exterior has not been altered.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Martin Roche (Holabird & Roche); John Tait, cut stone contractor; William Mavor, carpentry","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Converted to a three-flat in the 1940s, then reconverted to a single-family residence and rehabilitated; the exterior is unaltered and the building remains a single dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.443873-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/8921/28892110/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/00001338.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001338/70d626cbb8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001338/70d626cbb8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Roche-John_Tait_House_Chicago_IL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Jameson</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Roche-John_Tait_House_Chicago_IL.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892110","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Roche%E2%80%93John_Tait_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30589614"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/roche-martin-john-tait-house-00001338/"}