{"nrhp_refnum":"84000942","name":"Building at 417-419 Lee Street","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"417-419 Lee St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Evanston","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":42.03601528000007,"lon":-87.67757023199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-03-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story red brick four-flat apartment building at 417-419 Lee Street, Evanston, Cook County, Illinois, built in 1902 and designed by Edgar O. Blake.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a very early Evanston apartment building that already had homelike features such as gracious entry halls, abundant light and cross ventilation. It is unusual for giving every apartment a screened summer porch, a forerunner of the later sun porch. Its horizontal scale and delicate classical detailing suit the residential neighborhood, and its designer was an early Evanston architect.","narrative":"Built in 1902 on the north side of Lee Street in Evanston, this two-story red brick four-flat was designed by Edgar O. Blake. Two-story pilasters divide the symmetrical facade into five bays, with the end bays serving as screened porches. A limestone band and a broad wooden entablature under the brick parapet stress its horizontal lines. The most noticeable classical feature is the Georgian doorway, set behind a shallow portico with double columns and topped by an elliptical fanlight, with a palladian window above lighting the entrance hall. Each apartment has three bedrooms, one bath, a fireplace framed by bookshelves and a porch, and transoms over the doors allow cross ventilation. The building matters as an early Evanston apartment house that offered homelike features later found in other buildings, including a screened summer porch for every unit. Blake designed homes for developers in Evanston as early as the 1870s and wrote a chapter on the city's architecture for a 1906 history.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Edgar O. Blake","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.539204-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/8908/28890855/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/84000942.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000942/a83c62250e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000942/a83c62250e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Thshriver","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_at_417-419_Lee_6.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Thshriver</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:Building_at_417-419_Lee_6.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28890855","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_at_417%E2%80%93419_Lee_Street","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q96374086"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/building-at-417-419-lee-street-84000942/"}