JOB NO. 450
DRAWN: RPD
10 APRIL 1951
CHECKED: 4 MAY 1951
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618 N. MICHIGAN AVE
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
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SHEET 1 OF 7+
Job No. 450  ·  Keck & Keck Architects  ·  Chicago, IL

240 Country Club Road A House for Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Gordon, 1952

Chicago Heights Illinois 60411
Completed 1952
Architects Keck & Keck
Job #450
Scroll
1933
A Century of Progress

The House of Tomorrow
& the Architects
Who Built Yours

In the winter of 1933, on the frozen Chicago lakefront, George Fred Keck finished the all-glass House of Tomorrow for the Century of Progress World's Fair — America's first glass house. Workers stripping their coats inside the unheated structure in December showed him something that changed everything: the sun could heat a building. Nineteen years later, he and his brother William brought every lesson learned directly to your corner lot on Country Club Road.

1926
George Fred Keck opens practice
618 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. The office that would design hundreds of solar homes.
1931
William Keck joins the firm
Keck & Keck is formed.
1933
House of Tomorrow — Century of Progress
America's first glass house. The passive solar discovery that defines everything that follows.
1951 – 1952
Job No. 450 — This House
240 Country Club Road, Chicago Heights. Three schemes drawn. One built. Barely changed since.
1977
Keck & Keck return
The original architects remodel their own masterwork. A quarter century on.
1980
Illinois Medal in Architecture
University of Illinois awards both brothers its first-ever lifetime achievement medal.
The Architects

George Fred Keck
& William Keck

George Fred Keck

1895 – 1980 · Watertown, Wisconsin

Studied at the University of Illinois. Worked for D.H. Burnham & Company before opening his own practice in 1926. His all-glass House of Tomorrow was the moment he realized the sun itself could heat a building. He spent the rest of his career proving it, working with Adler Planetarium scientists to calculate sun-angle overhangs for each house — decades before sustainability was a concept.

Keck & Keck went on to design hundreds of quietly groundbreaking passive solar houses: low, warm, horizontal homes built of cedar, brick, and redwood that breathed with the seasons and opened to nature through walls of glass.

William Keck

1908 – 1995 · Watertown, Wisconsin

Joined his brother's practice in 1931. Together they built the most innovative and livable practice in the midwest — simultaneously radical and deeply comfortable. The University of Wisconsin–Madison holds the Keck & Keck firm archive; the Art Institute of Chicago's Ryerson & Burnham Archives holds project files. Both hold documentation of Job No. 450.

In 1977, William returned to 240 Country Club Road to remodel the house he and his brother had designed 25 years earlier. An extraordinary act of architectural stewardship.

"Openness inside and openness to nature — a feeling of being surrounded by earth-born surfaces such as brick and wood, and a relaxed attitude designed for casual family living."
— Keck & Keck residential design philosophy
The House & Its History

A Commission Born
of Three Designs

When Arthur and Mrs. Gordon approached Keck & Keck, the architects drew up three entirely different design schemes for the corner lot at Country Club Road and Franklin Avenue, Chicago Heights. The house built — Job No. 450 — was completed in 1952 and has barely been altered in over seven decades.

A split-level passive solar masterwork: cedar-clad, brick-anchored, with walls of fixed Thermopane glass and louvered ventilation panels. The blueprint set includes a separately drawn Clerestory Plan. In 1954, the Chicago Heights Star documented a meeting held in "the home of Mrs. Arthur Gordon, 240 Country Club Road."

Year Designed
1951
Year Completed
1952
Job Number
No. 450
Blueprint Sheets
7 + Revisions
Bedrooms
3 + Rec Room
Bathrooms
3 Full
Keck Remodel
1977
Draftsperson
RPD
Five Owners · Seven Decades
1952
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Gordon — Original clients. Mrs. Gordon hosted documented social gatherings here. Three schemes were drawn; this was chosen.
c. 1960s
Robert P. Snell — Second owner. The home retained all original character.
1977
Keck & Keck return — The original architects remodel their own house.
c. 1980s
Jim Calabrese — Third documented owner.
2007
Joyce Myles — Purchased for $217,000. Stewarded the home for 12 years.
2019
Current Owner — Acquired with full recognition of architectural significance. Research and restoration underway.
Passive Solar Architecture

Designed to Breathe
With the Sun

Solar Orientation

Sited and oriented to maximize winter sun through south-facing glass. Roof overhangs calculated with Adler Planetarium sun-angle data to block the high summer sun exactly.

Thermopane Glass Walls

Fixed double-paned Thermopane windows in every major room. Separate louvered ventilation panels allow controlled cross-ventilation without breaking the glass wall.

Thermal Mass

Brick and concrete slab floors absorb daytime solar heat and release it slowly through the night — zero mechanical assistance required.

Clerestory Plan

A dedicated clerestory plan — drawn separately on Sheet 2 — brings diffuse northern light deep into the interior while the main roof manages direct solar gain.

Exposed Redwood Ceilings

Kitchen: exposed redwood (original spec). Living room: 4×10 exposed redwood beams with ¼″ T&G redwood planking per the 1951 revision sheet.

Split-Level Section

The home steps from bedroom to living to garage — each level responding to the natural grade. Sheet 7 cross-sections reveal a sculptural interior volume invisible from the street.

Original Specifications

Materials & Finishes
As Drawn by Keck & Keck

Every material, finish, and hardware specification is documented across seven drawing sheets in the Keck office hand. What follows is drawn directly from Job No. 450.

Exterior

  • Cedar and brick — low horizontal profile
  • 1×6 V-joint cedar siding (vertical and horizontal)
  • Brick chimney, vitreous flue liner, 4″ concrete cap
  • Sheet metal flashing & counterflashing throughout
  • 3-ply built-up roof with S.M. flashing
  • Gravel drive, 4″ concrete apron at garage
  • Concrete retaining wall, east elevation
  • 7′-0 × 16′-0 × 1⅜″ overhead garage door

Interior — Ceilings

  • Living/Dining: Acoustical tile (original)
  • Kitchen: Exposed redwood (original)
  • All other: Plaster, Keenes cement finish
  • Revision Sheet: 4×10 exposed redwood beams in living room
  • ¼″ T&G redwood planking above beams
  • Beamed ceiling extended to kitchen, stair, Bath #1

Interior — Walls & Floors

  • Main Entry: Mahogany paneling
  • Bedroom areas: Horizontal siding
  • Living/Dining floors: Slate or natural gray concrete
  • Bedroom level: 7/16″ vertical-grain oak flooring
  • Bathrooms: Inlaid linoleum, owner's color
  • Garage: Smooth troweled concrete over fill

Kitchen & Hardware

  • Built-in Thermador range + two Thermador ovens
  • Kennatrack Series 400 sliding door hardware
  • Harvey Adjustable Hanger Unit — bedrooms & kitchen
  • Type A Doors: 2′8″×6′8″×1⅜″ Rezzo Hollow Core, Birch
  • ILS Motorair kitchen exhaust fan
  • Cork flooring in bedrooms (original spec)
Original Drawing Set — Job No. 450

The Blueprint Archive

Five original Keck & Keck drawing sheets survive — drawn April–May 1951, checked by the Keck office. Scroll to develop each sheet. Click to enlarge.

Sheet 1
SCALE ½″ = 1′-0″ · FOUNDATION SECTIONS A-A THRU K-K
SHEET 1 OF 7 · JOB 450 · DRAWN 10 APRIL 1951

Basement & Foundation Plan
Fireplace Details

Foundation sections A-A through K-K, reinforced concrete stair to lower level, Recreation & Guest Room, Utility Room, and the fireplace rendered in full elevation, plan, and section — tile flue, ash dump, fire door, damper, and 4″ concrete cap all specified.

Sheet 3
SCALE ¼″ = 1′-0″ · ALL FOUR ELEVATIONS
SHEET 3 OF 7 · JOB 450 · CHECKED 4 MAY 1951

Elevations & Plot Plan

All four elevations (N/S/E/W) plus the site plan at 1″=10′-0″. Shows the corner lot at Country Club Road and Franklin Avenue — gravel drive entry, property lines, power pole, and the precise positioning of the building on grade. Every material zone, flashing, and siding profile annotated.

Sheet 7
SCALE ¼″ = 1′-0″ · SECTIONS A-A, B-B, C-C
SHEET 7 OF 7 · JOB 450 · DRAWN 10 APRIL 1951

Sections & Interior Elevations

Three building cross-sections plus interior elevations of every room: Master Bedroom north and east walls, Bedrooms #1 and #2, all three Bathrooms, Main Entry, the Living Room north wall built-in cabinet, Kitchen & Dining north and south walls, Basement Hall, and Recreation Room.

Sheet 7A
SCALE ¼″ = 1′-0″ · SUGGESTED REVISIONS
SHEET 7A — SUGGESTED REVISIONS · JOB 450 · DATED 5 JUNE 1951

Suggested Revisions:
Beamed Ceiling · Alternate Kitchens

Three alternate kitchen configurations, two bathroom alternates, revised beamed ceiling plan, and Section D-D (scale ¾″=1′-0″) detailing the exact roof construction: 3-ply built-up roof, 4×10 exposed redwood beams, ¼″ T&G redwood planking, 2×6 fascia, and beam lookout profile.

Sheet 2 — Floor Plan
SCALE ¼″ = 1′-0″ · FIRST FLOOR & CLERESTORY PLAN
SHEET 2 OF 7 · JOB 450 · DRAWN 10 APRIL 1951

Floor Plan &
Clerestory Plan

The complete main floor layout — Living Room, Dining, Kitchen, three Bedrooms, all Bathrooms, and the separately drawn Clerestory Plan that pulls diffuse northern light deep into the interior. Every room dimension, wall thickness, door swing, and window position as Keck drew them in 1951.

The Restoration

The Living Room
North Wall Cabinet

Sheet 7 documents the full interior elevation of the Main Entry & Living Room North Wall. Here, drawn in Keck's office hand, is a built-in cabinet and credenza unit: a floor-to-ceiling millwork piece combining records storage, a dedicated speaker enclosure, a radio and phonograph compartment, drawers, and a Formica work surface.

This unit was removed at some point in the home's seventy-year history. It was not furniture — it was architecture, designed specifically for this wall, beneath these 4×10 redwood beams. The blueprint gives us everything needed to rebuild it exactly as Keck drew it.

Research path for reconstruction: The University of Wisconsin–Madison Digital Collections holds the Keck & Keck firm archive. Similar built-in units appear in other Keck houses of the same period and may provide supplementary millwork photography. Contact UW-Madison Special Collections requesting Job No. 450 documentation.

North Wall Unit — As Drawn · Sheet 7
LocationLiving Room, North Wall
Sheet ReferenceSheet 7 — Interior Elevations
CountertopFormica laminate surface
Compartments L→RDrawers · Records · Records · Speaker · Radio/Phono
Wall BehindHorizontal "Horse" Siding
Ceiling4×10 Exposed Redwood Beams
StatusRemoved — to be rebuilt
Bedroom Built-Ins — Sheet 7
Master Bedroom NorthBack panel, duct closet, adjustable shelves
Master Bedroom EastBirch top · pencil/stationery drawers · shoe racks · future desk
Bedroom #1 North5/8″ birch · open adjustable shelves
Archives & Research

Finding the Missing Sheets

Five of the original seven-plus drawing sheets survive in this house. Additional drawings exist in the firm archive and historical record.

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Madison, WI · Digital & Physical Collections

The UW-Madison Digital Collections hold the Keck & Keck firm archive — photographs and drawings from across their Illinois and Wisconsin projects. Primary source for Job No. 450 photography and any remaining drawing sheets.

UW Digital Collections → Keck & Keck ↗

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, IL · Ryerson & Burnham Archives

The Ryerson & Burnham Archives hold architectural records for Keck & Keck including drawings, photographs, and project files. First contact for any surviving Job No. 450 drawings beyond the five sheets in the home.

Art Institute → Keck & Keck ↗

Chicago History Museum

Chicago, IL · Hedrich Blessing Collection

The Hedrich Blessing Collection documents mid-century Chicago and suburban modernist homes. Keck & Keck houses were frequently photographed by Hedrich Blessing. Professional photographs of 240 Country Club Road may exist here.

Chicago History Museum ↗

Chicago Heights Historic Preservation

Chicago Heights, IL · Local Records

Municipal records, permit records, and newspaper archives — including the 1954 Chicago Heights Star article documenting a gathering at the Gordon home. Cook County property records document the full ownership chain from 1952.

Chicago Heights Preservation ↗
Historic Record

The House in Photographs

Seven decades of occupancy. The cedar, the glass walls, the light this house was designed to hold.

Front Entrance
Rear Elevation
Living Room
Cedar and Brick Detail
Gallery Wall
Vintage Exterior c.1952
Vintage Living Room c.1952
Vintage Kitchen c.1952