Again honors for the largest building program of the year go to the Federated Construction bureau, under the direction of S. M. Stebbings. Within the past six months it has built or begun work on thirteen homes, some large, some small, all designed by Reyner Eastman of Rockford. Several of these houses are in the process of building, quite a number have been purchased and occupied for months and a few have had their foundations started but a week or so ago.

The total amount expended in building since last October in Freeport and in the outskirts of the city, where a number of the homes are on the way to completion, is more than $213,125. Of this amount, this group of houses, most of which have been built on West Evelyn Street and South Locust Avenue, contributed $106,000. These fine new dwellings have been an inspiration for the repair of these two streets, so badly in need of improvement. Grading has begun and macadamizing and black-top will follow before the summer is over.

Herman M. Henk purchased the duplex, of English design, at 415 W. Evelyn Street and moved in about Christmas. It is of stucco and timber exterior and has five rooms and bath downstairs and four rooms and bath in the upper apartment. This represents a cost of $9,000. Next door is a Cape Cod bungalow of frame construction with five rooms owned by Attorney James R. Cavanaugh. This cost in the neighborhood of $7,300 and has been occupied since the holidays. H. F. Vandenberg has purchased the five-room frame bungalow at 520 West Evelyn, which is not yet finished but when completed will cost about $7,000.

A large bungalow, of Cape Cod design with five rooms on the lower floor and the possibility of two more being finished at the owner’s leisure on the second floor, is not quite ready for occupancy at 521West Evelyn Street, and has been purchased by Jacob P. Grundall, the cost price being $8,000. Completed this month is a 6-room story-and-a-half bungalow at 538 West Evelyn Street, costing $8,500. This includes a large living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom on the main floor and two bedrooms and bath upstairs. On the corner of Evelyn and South Locust street is a two-story duplex with five rooms on the lower floor and four and a bath in the upper apartment. Oscar Ohlendorf has purchased this house for $10,500. Each apartment has its own oil-burning heating plant and like all these new houses, is insulated. It is just being completed.

E. V. Richards purchased the two-story house at 1221 South Locust Avenue, erected by the Federated Construction bureau for $8,000. It has fix rooms and bath and a garage attached as well as the other modern improvements. Robert B. Edwards is owner of the five-room frame bungalow now under construction on West Evelyn street which has a provision for two extra rooms on the second floor. The estimated cost of this dwelling is $8,000.

The bureau is building a model house of Cape Cod design on South Locust Avenue which is on its way to completion and when finished will be completely furnished by Wieman & Snyder and opened for inspection. This house, costing, $11,300, will have a slate roof, oil burner, special insulation, recreation room with fireplace in the basement, large living room, kitchen, flexotile floors, three large bedrooms, baths, and attic and double garage with overhead doors.

A week ago, a six-room house of colonial design was started on East Roosevelt for W. G. Stein. It is to be modern in every way and will cost $8,000. A new-type heating system will be installed at a try-out in the five-room bungalow at 305 South Globe Avenue started this month for Willard S. Fox at a cost of $8,300. Here again the second floor is not finished but may be made into two-bedrooms later on. (Transcriber’s Note: Globe Avenue was renamed Park Boulevard in the mid-1950s.)

Fred J. Sheper is interested in the five-room Cape Cod bungalow on West Evelyn street which was started two weeks ago. The estimated cost is $5,000 and it has a garage, recreation room in the basement, and other modern equipment. Harold Shippy has already moved into his new home on West Homer street, erected by the Federated Construction bureau at a cost of $5,200. It has five rooms and bath and is of the attractive cottage type. Dr. Carl M. Becker, West Galena Avenue, is building an English colonial house on South Burchard avenue, designed by Marshall T. Munz. The house, which is of frame construction, has a large living room, with fireplace, dining room and kitchen, with three bedrooms and bath on the second floor. A game room in the basement will be one of the special attractions. The Beckers hope to get into their new home by August.

The T. M. Wicks moved into their strictly American bungalow the first of March. It is on South West Avenue and has five rooms and bath and two attic bedrooms. It too was designed by Mr. Munz and has all the up-to-date improvements. The estimated cost was $5,500. Charles Cole, North Trunck avenue, will not be in his new dwelling on North West avenue for a month or more. It is bungalow type, frame construction and cost around $5,000. Among the permits for small houses taken out since last fall are those of Allen Larson, on South Ottawa avenue costing around $4,000, and the house for St. Francis Hospital nurses, which is reality was a remodeling job, but the cost of which ran to more than $4,000.

There is an ever-growing tendency to build out of the city limits. Several attractive homes have gone up since last fall and one has just been started. Albert J. Hill, East Stephenson Street, has built a fire-proof house of tile and cement in Lancaster township, two miles east of the city; “Hill Crest” is the name of this comfortable residence which stands on a hill, overlooking a valley to the south, protected from the north winds by a grove of trees. The downstairs plan includes a large living room with stone fireplace, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and bath and large sun porch. The upstairs has two large rooms. The Hills expect to be settled in their new home by the first of May. The cost of building this residence, which is air-conditioned, and has the latest model of oil burner, is given as $8,000. Marshall T. Munz is the architect.

Mr. Hill’s son Roger Hill and family have been settled in their new home, “Sleepy Hollow” for some time. Their house is just east of the Albert Hill home. It is a white frame cottage with large living room, dinette, kitchen and den, bedrooms and bath and the estimated cost is $5,000. It too has all the modern improvements.

In a beautiful two-and-a-half acre plot, three miles from the city, on the Harlem-Lena road Carl Weifenbach, North Fern avenue, is building a Cape Cod colonial home. You will know it by the fine posts of native stone at the four corners and the gateway. You approach the house by a circular drive which has an arch of branches of burr oak trees overhead, of which there are forty-seven on the grounds. The foundation is finished and the house is 41 x 35 feet in dimensions. The living room is 15 x 24 feet with an open fireplace in native stone, a large dining room, modern kitchen, 11 x 14 feet; two bedrooms and bath completes the lower floor, and the second story with the gabled roof and dormer windows has possibilities of two more rooms. With its large recreation room in the basement, oil-heated and insulated, the house when finished by the middle of July will be a lovely dwelling. Charles Thruman and Dave Harkness & Son are the contractors and Marshall T. Munz is the architect. The place would not be a home complete without a stable for the owner’s riding horses, and that too will be built.

John B. O. Jenks, who purchased the William O. Wright residence property on West Stephenson Street is expending several thousand dollars to remodel this fine old home into four apartments in one of which he and his wife will live. Dr. William B. Peck is making changes amounting to over $3,000 in the ornamental brick house purchased from Mrs. Quentin Smith, West Lincoln Boulevard. He is raising it from a story-and-a-half to a full two-story dwelling. It will not be ready for occupancy until sometime in August.

Dr. D. E. Sunderland, South Globe Avenue, is expending $4,500 in making over the old home known as Mrs. Alda Saxby’s property, on the corner of West Stephenson Street and South Cherry avenue into four apartments of three rooms and a bath each. He is building an addition and remodeling the interior.

Other remodeling jobs that run into considerable money are being made or have been finished by Dr. L. F. Rockey, West Exchange Street, Fred Albrecht, North Galena Avenue, R. E. Matter, Paul Vittorio, West American Street, Vito Fontana, South Oak Avenue, W. C. Clark, South Maple Avenue, Herla Clark, East Stephenson Street, Glenn Sisler, South Blackhawk Avenue, Aug. Grattelo estate, West Broadway, Harrington and McKinstra, who are expending $3,000 for their residence on East Jefferson Street., and Paul F. Seitz, West Stephenson Street, who is building a modern kitchen and enlarging his dining room and a bedroom overlooking the garden, which when completed will cost over $1,000.

The downtown improvements have not kept abreast of the building in the residence districts, the expenditure being but $83,700, exclusive of the splendid addition to the Y.M. C. A. made by Charles L. Best. The Illinois Northern Utilities Building, which was mentioned in the fall building story, is the greatest improvement to the downtown section. It was completed in the middle of March and is outstanding in every way. The remodeling of the Smith Building, formerly known as the Tarbox block, owned by the J. Fred Smith trust, has done much for the looks of this prominent corner. Three new fronts and a new lobby, costing around $5,500 have made this into a modern looking business block. The store building at 7 North Chicago Avenue, and also owned by the J. Fred Smith Trust, was also remodeled as was the flat above the store. This was done at a cost of over $2,000.

As long ago as October, Arthur Haas has made some general improvements to the Emmert Drug Store, which cost in the neighborhood of $4,000. Robert L. Moore, East Empire Street, expended $3,500 in remodeling the building formerly occupied by him as a drug store. A new front made a big improvement.

Three Texaco stations have undergone improvements in the past few months. To the one at the corner of Washington and South Chicago avenue, owned by Judge E. R. Shaw, was built a 26 x 28 foot addition costing $3,000; the one at the corner of West Main and South Beaver avenue had another $3,000 expended on it, and a similar amount was expended on the one at North Galena Avenue and West Douglas street. The Cities Service Station, corner of West Douglas and North Galena Avenue, owned by C. L. Folgate, South McKinley avenue, added a washing and lubricating room at the cost of $3,000. The Standard Oil Station, South West Avenue and West American Street, has a $1,000 addition built by the owners, Hutmacker and Zurbriggen, and the Freeport Petroleum Company expended over $600 on the gas station at South Adams and East Iroquois street.

S. S. Kresge company has installed a fire-proof dumb waiter in its store costing $2,100. More than $3,175 has been expended by individuals for garages during the past six months.