The Margaret Silsbee Wade Residence

Joseph Silsbee left Syracuse in 1884 and moved to Chicago.  This did not signal the end of work for him in that city.  Close family relationships, through Anna Sedgwick, his wife, allowed him a number of commissions.  It also became a reason for several of his daughters to relocate back to the city in the early twentieth century.  

Local papers reported that Silsbee designed a home for his daughter Margaret and her husband Frank Wade on several occassions.  One was in 1907, at the earliest stages of the subdivision's development and another came in 1909.  A permit for this home was taken out after Silsbee's death, in 1913. Construction commenced on the home in July of that year and Taylor & Bonta were listed as the architects.  According to letters to historian Thomas McCormick, Margaret Silsbee Wade states that her father was responsible for the design of this home. It is likely that Silsbee prepared plans and elevations before his death and Alfred Taylor, the architect that superintended other Silsbee works of the period, took over the project after Silsbee's death.    

The home has a symmetrical appearance with flat plain stucco surfaces and is capped with a wide hipped roof. Windows on the front of the home do not always adhere to the regularity of the rest of the facade. This overall appearnace, sharing a look that was popular in suburban Chicago at the time, suggests Silsbee's involvement.  A wide open piazza stretches across the front of the home and broad sleeping and breakfast porches extend off the back.  The home was designed with an attached garage, in the basement.