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This was one of the first commissions for a large residence by Van Bergen. It stands on a property that was once much larger but has since been subdivided. The house is now boxed in on all sides. In the 1970s there was a fire in the dining room wing of the house. This section has been restored.
On the main floor there are: Living Room with Veranda, Dining Room and Kitchen, a Butler's Pantry, and a Maids Room with Bathroom. (the Pantry has been removed and the space added to the Kitchen. There is a very large roman brick (gray) fireplace in the Living Room. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, a sewing room with balcony, two baths and a very large Sleeping Veranda, 21-1/2 by 13 feet.
Inside, the woodwork and casing are all painted in light colors in contrast with the walls - this is original and is the way Van Bergen intended it to be. Van Bergen never liked dark wood (he said when Wright used dark wood, it reminded him of the Victorian homes that were so common at the time). Often in his designs, Van Bergen specified the wood to be varnished in its natural color with orange (amber) shellac, or it might be rubbed with a paint wash to embed lighter colors into the grain, then wiped off and varnished, or it might be painted.
This house is almost identical to the Pryzborski house in North Chicago and the Anderson house in DeKalb (although that is brick and stone instead of stucco and cypress). There is a similarity between this house and the Cluever Residence in Maywood, Illinois although the Cluever is larger and more complex and retains expansive grounds with much of the original landscaping intact.
The design is probably from late 1913. Construction was completed in late 1914.
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