Keck & Keck

Here in Wilmette there are many traditional houses, many builder ranch houses, and the occasional modern or contemporary house. There are a number of modern houses that is so consistent I started wondering if they were designed by the same firm. While flipping through the local paper, I saw a real estate listing for a Keck house listed essentially as a teardown.  A quick googling of Keck and there is so much interesting history to read about and houses to see. Keck & Keck was a two brother firm. They designed two houses at the Chicago World's Fair. The Crystal House (1934) is considered by some to be a precedent to Mies' famous building systems. The story of the houses built for the Fair ending up in sand dunes in Indiana is quite remarkable. Field trip, anyone?

I have been trying to wait to post about this until I had received Keck & Keck from the library, but I just couldn't. Yesterday we took a trip down to the snowy beach and while the kids were playing on the playground, I noticed this house across the street.

I say notice, but really, I had seen this house many times. I had admired its form and wondered about its colors. Now, having read up a bit on these architects, I am pretty sure this is a Keck house because of the louvers that flank the windows. Keck & Keck were early, perhaps the earliest, designers who used passive solar systems to cool homes. One of the Kecks designed a famous modernist building just two blocks north of our house, called the Miralago, which burned down. These stories about the Miralago are wonderful.

 

I believe that two of Gutnayer's houses are built across the street from Keck houses, one in Wilmette and one up in Winnetka.  I will post the houses and their relationships if I can confirm this.