{"nrhp_refnum":"77000475","name":"Gauler, John, Houses","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5917--5921 N. Magnolia Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.990536974000065,"lon":-87.66139185499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-06-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A pair of mirror-image Prairie style houses at 5917 and 5921 North Magnolia Avenue in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, designed by Walter Burley Griffin and built in 1909 for John Gauler as speculative ventures.","why_significant":"The houses are significant as a unified composition in which Griffin, trained as a landscape architect, grouped city houses to make effective use of valuable land. They are also notable for their strong Prairie design, with geometric masses and linear articulation, and for their early date, only two years after Griffin entered private practice.","narrative":"Two mirror-image houses at 5917 and 5921 North Magnolia Avenue in Chicago form a detached duplex scheme designed by Walter Burley Griffin in 1909. John Gauler built them as speculative ventures and never lived in them, selling both as soon as they were finished. Each house is rectangular, with a projecting front porch, a double-pitched hip roof with wide overhangs, stucco walls trimmed in dark-stained wood, and casement windows. The main entrances face each other along a shared sidewalk. Inside, living and dining rooms open around a central chimney and stair unit, with oiled oak trim and horizontal moldings that echo the window bands outside. Griffin, who had been Frank Lloyd Wright's chief assistant until 1906, was trained as a landscape architect and sought careful siting. The houses were listed for this unified grouping of city dwellings, for their strong Prairie character, and for their early date in his independent practice. Alterations have been modest.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Walter B. Griffin (Walter Burley Griffin), architect; John Gauler, builder/developer","architectural_style":"Prairie style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as only slightly changed, with added bookcases, some glass brick replacing windows, and an altered entrance at 5921; listed as privately owned and occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:36.005932-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/64/8920/28892064/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/77000475.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000475/04badec04f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000475/04badec04f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicago,_Illinois_Gauler_Twin_Houses_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">IvoShandor</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:Chicago,_Illinois_Gauler_Twin_Houses_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892064","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauler_Twin_Houses","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5527658"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/gauler-john-houses-77000475/"}