Greystones are a style of residential building most commonly found in Chicago, Illinois, United States. As the name suggests, the buildings are typically grey in color and were most often built with Bedford Limestone quarried from South Central Indiana. [1] In Chicago, there are roughly 30,000 greystones, usually built as a semi- or fully detached townhouse. [2]
The term "greystone" is also used to refer to buildings in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (known in French as pierre grise). It refers to the grey limestone facades of many buildings, both residential and institutional, constructed between 1730 and 1920. [3]
The building style first began to appear in the 1890s, initially in neighborhoods like Woodlawn and then North Lawndale, and Lake View, [2] and continued through 1930s with two major approaches in design. The first style, between 1890 and 1905, was Romanesque in nature with arches and cornices. [4] This initial style and the choice of grey limestone occurred as the city rebuilt and grew in economic power after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, though the buildings were designed for a wide range of socioeconomic classes. [2] The second style was predominately built in a Neoclassical design incorporating smoother limestone blocks featuring columns and bay windows. [4]
Greystones were built in a wide variety of sizes to accommodate different residential needs with most being two to three floors in size, many commonly containing two to three flats but some up to six. [5] Regardless of their size, they were always built with the limestone facade facing the street to take advantage of the limited size of standard Chicago lots 25 by 125 feet (7.6 m × 38.1 m). There are an estimated 30,000 greystones still remaining in the city and many citizens, architects and preservationists are working to revive those that remain through the Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative. [6] Many greystones are preserved as the multi-family structures which they were designed and built as. [2]
Today, greystones often retain original Romanesque or Neoclassical details such as "roughly carved blocks of greystone and intricately carved column capitals," though many were built in other styles. [2]
There are many different styles of greystones, with the City of Chicago defining most attributes for the style for landmark status. [7]
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Romanesque is characterized by semicircular arches, while the Gothic is marked by the pointed arches. The Romanesque emerged nearly simultaneously in multiple countries ; its examples can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman architecture. Similarly to Gothic, the name of the style was transferred onto the contemporary Romanesque art.
Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material.
The Webb Horton House is a 40-room mansion in Middletown, New York, United States, designed by local architect Frank Lindsey. Built from 1902 to 1906 as a private residence, since the late 1940s it has been part of the campus of SUNY Orange. This building is now known as Morrison Hall, after the last private owner, and houses the college's main administrative offices. A nearby service complex has also been kept and is used for classrooms and other college functions.
Albany City Hall is the seat of government of the city of Albany, New York, United States. It houses the office of the mayor, the Common Council chamber, the city and traffic courts, as well as other city services. The present building was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in the Romanesque style and opened in 1883 at 24 Eagle Street, between Corning Place and Pine Street. It is a rectangular three-and-a-half-story building with a 202-foot-tall (62 m) tower at its southwest corner. The tower contains one of the few municipal carillons in the country, dedicated in 1927, with 49 bells.
The Barbour County Courthouse in Philippi, Barbour County, West Virginia, USA is a monumental public building constructed between 1903 and 1905 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It dominates the town center and is the county's chief symbol of government. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Alamo Plaza Historic District is an historic district of downtown San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It includes the Alamo, which is a separately listed Registered Historic Place and a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
The Wilbraham is an apartment building at 282–284 Fifth Avenue and 1 West 30th Street in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The nine-story structure was designed by David and John Jardine in the Romanesque Revival style, with elements of the Renaissance Revival style, and occupies the northwestern corner of 30th Street and Fifth Avenue. It was built between 1888 and 1890 as a bachelor apartment hotel. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated the Wilbraham as an official city landmark, and the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Loring Residence and Clinic was the first facility built to provide medical services to Valparaiso, Indiana. The residence has continued to provide for public service through its current use by the Valparaiso Woman's Club. Dr. Loring used his home as his medical office until his death in 1914. It was Loring's initial efforts that brought medical care to the county and provided for the first hospital. Although private, it became the county's first public hospital when Loring sold the building in 1906 to build his home and clinic.
The U.S. Post Office in Medina, New York, is located at West Avenue and West Center Street. It is a brick building erected in the early 1930s, serving the ZIP Code 14103, covering the village of Medina and neighboring portions of the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby.
The house at 356 Albany Avenue in Kingston, New York, United States is a frame house built near the end of the 19th century. It is in the Queen Anne architectural style.
The U.S. Courthouse & Federal Office Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a post office, Federal office, and courthouse building located at Milwaukee in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It is a courthouse for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
The East 80th Street Houses are a group of four attached rowhouses on that street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They are built of brick with various stone trims in different versions of the Colonial Revival architectural style.
The Emory Place Historic District is a historic district in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, located just north of the city's downtown area. The district consists of several commercial, residential, religious, and public buildings that developed around a late nineteenth century train and trolley station. The district includes the Knoxville High School building, St. John's Lutheran Church, First Christian Church, and some of the few surviving rowhouses in Knoxville. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, with a boundary increase in 2023.
The Walter Merchant House, on Washington Avenue in Albany, New York, United States, is a brick-and-stone townhouse in the Italianate architectural style, with some Renaissance Revival elements. Built in the mid-19th century, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The former Young Men's Christian Association Building in Albany, New York, United States, is located on Pearl Street. It was built in the 1880s in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, with an existing neighboring structure annexed to it and a rear addition built in the 1920s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Two years later, when the Downtown Albany Historic District was designated and listed on the Register, YMCA building was further included as a contributing property.
The Century Building is a Queen Anne style building at 33 East 17th Street between Park Avenue South and Broadway in Union Square, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by William Schickel and built in 1880–1881 by Arnold Constable & Company. The Century Building consists of five floors topped by a 1+1⁄2-story attic.
The Bank Street Historic District is a group of four attached brick commercial buildings in different architectural styles on that street in Waterbury, Connecticut, United States. They were built over a 20-year period around the end of the 19th century, when Waterbury was a prosperous, growing industrial center. In 1983 they were recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
115–119 Eighth Avenue, also known as the Adams House, is a historic house at Eighth Avenue and Carroll Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York City. It was built in 1888 as a double house, and was commissioned by Thomas Adams Jr., who invented the Adams Chiclets automatic vending machine. It was designed by noted architect C. P. H. Gilbert in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, and is considered to be one of the best examples of that style extant in New York City, "worthy of H. H. Richardson." The house is built of sandstone, terra cotta and brick on a brownstone base, and was the first house in the neighborhood with an elevator. It has now been converted into apartments.
The University of Michigan Central Campus Historic District is a historic district consisting of a group of major buildings on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
889 Broadway, also known as the Gorham Manufacturing Company Building, is a Queen Anne style building located at Broadway and East 19th Street in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in New York City, within the Ladies' Mile Historic District. Built in 1883–1884, it was designed by Edward Hale Kendall.