{"nrhp_refnum":"83003564","name":"Ridgeland-Oak Park Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Austin Blvd., Harlem, Ridgeland, and Chicago Aves., Lake and Madison Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oak Park","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.88743951600006,"lon":-87.79049044540707,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-12-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large residential historic district in Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois, covering 539 acres and 1,653 buildings, roughly bounded by Austin Boulevard, Harlem and Chicago Avenues, and Lake and Madison Streets. Buildings date from the 1870s to the 1920s.","why_significant":"The district illustrates the shift in American domestic architecture from nineteenth-century eclecticism to twentieth-century modernism, including Prairie School work and a growing use of stucco. It also shows the contrast between quiet single-family streets and brick apartment-lined streets, and it retains good overall integrity.","narrative":"Oak Park's Ridgeland district covers 539 acres west of Chicago, on a flat glacial plain nine miles from Lake Michigan. Its 1,653 buildings, mostly houses, were built between the 1870s and 1920s after artesian wells, railroads and Chicago's growth made the area a major residential suburb. Wood-frame Gothic Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne houses from the nineteenth century give way to simpler, boxier early twentieth-century designs, a change the district shows clearly. The Farson House by Maher, the largest and costliest residence, helped set that direction. Architect Eben E. Roberts promoted stucco, and developers built rows of similar stucco houses and bungalows that gave streets a new unity. Wide parkway lawns and a grid of streets shape the setting, and brick apartment buildings of two to four stories line the busier streets around quiet single-family areas. Churches and commercial buildings range from Romanesque to Prairie School. A 2002 amendment later corrected the counts to 1,558 contributing and 147 noncontributing buildings.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architects named include Eben E. Roberts and Maher (Farson House); builders include A. D. Orvis, W. E. Palmer and R. G. Hancock","architectural_style":"Wide range from Gothic Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne to Prairie School, stucco and bungalow types; Romanesque to Prairie School in religious and commercial buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as well preserved, with the district in excellent to good condition and in use as private residences, commercial, educational, religious and government space.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.710926-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/8923/28892326/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/83003564.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003564/178f370693-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003564/178f370693-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oak_Park_Il_Smith_House1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892326","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgeland%E2%80%93Oak_Park_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7332757"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/ridgeland-oak-park-historic-district-83003564/"}