Bungalow Might Mean Cash Award in Chicago

a chicago bungalow — Image by Digital Sextant via Flickr

To locals, bungalow sounds like a Chicagoism because the style of house is ubiquitous in neighborhoods across the city. But the word, from India, suggests something exotic. Bungalows are usually solidly built brick homes, designed to be comfortable for a family. During the building boom, lots of bungalows were being demolished and replaced with more modern, but often much less interesting or well-built structures.

This year, Chicago’s bungalow owners can earn much-deserved recognition for work they do to keep their bungalows beautiful. The 6th Annual Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Bungalow Awards, created by the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association (HCBA), with the support of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, will honor the creativity and efforts of owners of Chicago’s unique Historic Bungalows for the work they’ve done in interior and exterior renovations, landscaping and restoration.

Best of all, the rewards are cash prizes. This year the cash awards will be larger, and the HCBA is adding a sixth category, Small Project, to recognize smaller-scale, less costly improvements. The award categories are:

Interior Restoration that preserves the detail and form of the historic structure
Interior Rehabilitation that demonstrates a contemporary use of space while maintaining the integrity and distinctive features of the structure
Exterior Rehabilitation that is consistent with the lines and look of the particular bungalow and those around it
Landscape Design that demonstrates creative design solution
Green Project that demonstrates the use of energy-efficient design and renovation while maintaining classic features
Small Project that preserves historic detail and form while improving one aspect of a room or the exterior at a cost of $5,000 or less

The award this year is higher than ever before, at $1,000 for first-place winners. Winners will be honored as part of HCBA’s 10^th anniversary celebration this fall, with on-site viewing of the nominated Bungalows to be conducted on September 17 and 18.

Nominations can come from home owners, neighbors, friends or a neighborhood association. Nominated projects can be whole homes, single rooms or small projects, and will be judged by a panel of architects, journalists and civic leaders. All nominations are due by Sept. 1, 2010. Nominations can be submitted online at www.chicagobungalow.org/awards.

Nominators must upload three to five photographs of the bungalow. You can also add your photos to Chicagotalks collection of Chicago images by putting them on flickr,com in the Chicagotalks Group.