Oscar M. Steffens House
Date: 1909
Address: 7631 Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL
City: Chicago, Illinois
Category: Residential
Restoration Status: Demolished 1963
The Oscar Steffens house occupied an elevated position on land overlooking Lake Michigan. Leaded glass windows with tinted chevron patterns afforded views and referenced the colors of the nearby lake. The two-story living room featured a balcony in a similar configuration as that found at the Isabel Roberts house. The living room terminated in a bay with windows that stopped short of the house’s roofline to accommodate recessed transom lights below the roof’s soffits. The entrance was partially concealed at the side of the living room, and the primary living spaces of the house met to form a cross shape centered on a prominent fireplace. The ground floor service quarters, located at the rear of the house, were recessed below ground level to accommodate four bedrooms on the upper story. A prominent water table rooted the structure to its site.