The Greater Chicago Magazine, June 1929www.FranzosenbuschHeritageProject.org Home
The Greater Chicago Magazine, June 1929
Page 12
Ultra-Modern Lighting System
Beautifies Westchester
St. John Electric Company Installs Finest System in
Suburban Chicago
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In a community like Westchester, with five million dollars being spent for new public improvements, everything is naturally of the most up-to-date character. Particularly is this true of the great electric lighting system now being installed in this wonder suburb of Chicago's west side. Lighting Assures Safety In this day of tremendous motor traffic, the problem of adequate street and highway illumination has assumed great importance. Safety demands the maximum in good lighting for our public thoroughfares and in this respect the illumination of the spic-and-span village of Westchester will easily take rank as a leader. Two different kinds of lighting fixtures are to adorn the streets of the community, adding to its beautiful appearance, and giving an almost day-like brilliance to the night scene. In the residential district illumination is afforded by handsome twelve-foot concrete lighting standards, two hundred and eighty-four in number, which are surmounted by aluminum fixtures of the decorative lantern type shown in the accompanying illustration. Each of these fixtures is of the 2,500 lumen or Mazda lamp variety -- 250 candle power. 600 Candle Power Lamps The business district is lighted from one hundred and seventy-four standards, fifteen feet in height, which have the medium Washington type unit, with a capacity of 6,000 lumen Mazda lamps, or 600 candle-power. The contract for installing a lighting system in Westchester was a large order and yet the present unit of installation is only one-third of what will eventually comprise the complete system in this model community; in time there are to be fourteen hundred standards on the streets. Everything in Westchester is being done on a big scale and the electric lighting is no exception to the rule. The paving, for example is being put in at once all over the community in preparation for the future residents.
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The physical task of installing the great lighting system unit was no small matter. To achieve the necessary regulation of the lighting current, one hundred and ninety transformers of various sizes had to be put in. All of these were placed underground and all are waterproof and of specially constructed materials. The construction work of the new illuminating system is of the highest grade throughout; nothing unsightly above ground, no wires, no overhead poles, only the attractive standards are visible and they add much to the beauty of the Westchester streets. The cable used in the work, and there are forty miles of it underground in Westchester, is of the steel taped variety, the best grade obtainable. About thirty miles of excavations were required to lay this cable. Over two miles of street crossings in the village, the cable is carefully encased in galvanized piping. System Ready by Labor Day All lighting current for the Westchester system will be furnished by the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois and every light in the system will be burning by Labor Day. All the equipment used in the work was supplied by the Graybar Company and the General Electric Company. The Westchester installation is the work of the St. John Electric Company of Chicago which has executed large contracts of a similar nature for many of the leading new suburban communities of the metropolitan district. With the towns and villages which employ this notable Chicago concern, results alone count and the fast-growing reputation of the St. John Electric Company is proof that the quality of its work is productive of extremely satisfactory results. High Grade Materials It is a .particular point with this firm that all the materials which they use are exactly as called for in the specifications, -- all of the very highest grade. Consoer, Older and Quinlan were the consulting engineers on the Westchester lighting project which bids fair to rank upon its completion as one on the finest and most comprehensive systems in any suburb of Greater Chicago. |
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Page 13
Home Owning Made Easy in Westchester
Beautiful Modern Residences are Built, Furnished and Financed
by Metropolitan District Realty Trust
| AT LAST Chicago's prospective
home owners have come into their own in acquiring the services of the
Metropolitan District Realty Trust as home builders. This organization, with
offices located in Suite 514, 79 West Monroe Street, Chicago, has started
its 1929 building activities in Westchester with construction of ten modern
two-apartment buildings, which will be ready for occupancy by September 1.
The Suburban Construction Company is the builder, and C. W. Lampe & Company
are the architects. In designing the buildings every effort was made to develop a harmonious ensemble that would add beauty and dignity to the new residential community now springing up in Westchester. Old forms of architecture were abandoned and each building was planned along individual lines. Large lots were set aside for each structure, while the building line is 15 feet from the sidewalk, allowing ample space for a lawn and play room for children. The apartment buildings are being constructed in the first addition to Westchester, a short distance south of Roosevelt Road and just to the east of Mannheim Road. Excellent transportation facilities are afforded, the Roosevelt Road station of the Rapid Transit ("L") Lines being a short distance to the North. Paving, sewer and water have already been installed in this new addition, and both electricity and gas will be available by the time the buildings are completed. The apartments embrace the English, Spanish and American types of architecture, with variance in roof design and brick facing enhancing |
 their individual attractiveness. Building authorities and others are strong in their praise of the architectural features of all residences built by this company. The interiors of the ten new buildings erected in Westchester leave nothing to be desired by the discriminating housewife, both in beauty and utility. Each apartment contains five rooms and a glazed sleeping porch, laid out so as to give easy access from one part of the home to another and combining into a harmonious living unit. Arched doorways, a gas-burning fireplace, book nooks, a breakfast nook, large airy bedrooms and linoleum-covered kitchen floor are a few of the many features that enhance beauty and comfort. Installation of Red Seal wiring insures plenty of outlets for electrical appliances, while wall lights give the proper facilities for complete illumina- |
tion throughout the rooms.
Hardwood floors in all the living rooms will enable the housewife to use
rugs and runners with good effect. Construction work is very substantial. The large concrete basement is reinforced with steel construction, and the walls are of sufficient thickness to guarantee long life to the building. Approved insulation further insures comfort for the occupants during hot and cold weather. There is ample space in the basement for a recreation and playroom for children. All of the latest appurtenances to the complete modern home will be found in these apartments. These include electric refrigeration, hot water heat, gas ranges and automatic gas water heaters. The Metropolitan District Realty Trust, while placing considerable emphasis on its present activities in Westchester, is also pushing out into other suburban areas where residents of Chicago are seeking the healthful benefits of fresh air and sunshine in establishing homes of their own. Already it has constructed more than one hundred bungalows and apartment buildings in Niles Center and at other points in the beautiful Skokie Valley to the north. In making these new Westchester apartment buildings available to the homeseeker or the investor the Metropolitan District Realty Trust offers an attractive fifteen-year finance plan which has proved economically sound in every detail. For those who are looking to the future and seeking to grow with the great Chicago metropolitan area, this finance plan opens the way to purchase of a home under most favorable conditions.
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Architect's Sketches of Two of the Ten Two-apartment Buildings Being Constructed by the Metropolitan District Realty Trust in Westchester.
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Last Modified: 03/13/2003
