View source for Century of Progress Architectural District

{{short description|Historic district in Indiana, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name         = Beverly Shores{{ndash}}Century of Progress Architectural District
| nrhp_type    = hd
| nocat        = yes
| image        = Beverly Shores 03.jpg
| caption      = The [[Florida Tropical House]], one of five houses in the district
| location     = 208, 210, 212, 214, and 215 Lake Front Dr., [[Beverly Shores, Indiana]]
| coordinates  = {{coord|41|41|3|N|87|0|6|W|display=inline,title}}
| district_map = {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=250|frame-height=160|zoom=16|frame-coord={{coord|41.6844|-87.00125}}
|type=point|id=Q1430087|title=[[Florida Tropical House]]|marker=building
|type2=point|id2=Q5200349|title2=[[Cypress Log Cabin]]|marker2=building
|type3=point|id3=Q4792939|title3=[[Armco-Ferro House]]|marker3=building
|type4=point|id4=Q14688432|title4=[[House of Tomorrow (Indiana)|House of Tomorrow]]|marker4=building
|type5=point|id5=Q7998869|title5=[[Wieboldt-Rostone House]]|marker5=building
|type6=shape|from6=Century of Progress.map|title6=District boundaries
}}
| map_caption  = Interactive map of the district and its houses
| area         =
| built        = 1933
| architect    = Walter Scholer, et al.
| architecture =
| added        = June 30, 1986
| refnum       = 86001472<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>
}}
The '''Century of Progress Architectural District'''  is a [[Historic districts in the United States|historic district]] in [[Beverly Shores, Indiana]]. The district is on Lake Shore Drive within the [[Indiana Dunes National Park]]. The district comprises five buildings, all from the [[1933 Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition|Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition]] of the [[Century of Progress|1933 Century of Progress World's Fair]] which took place in Chicago. Intended to display the future of housing, the Century of Progress Homes reflect a variety of designs, experimental materials and new technologies. On June 30, 1986, the district was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as the Beverly Shores{{ndash}}Century of Progress Architectural District.
==Architecture==
The Beverly Shores/Century of Progress Architectural District is significant because it encompasses houses from the 1933–34 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition that comprised a portion of the ''Home and Industrial Arts Group''. These structures were innovative and included engineering and construction technologies that are integral parts of modern residential architecture.<ref name="NHDnomi">{{cite web| url = https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/welcome.html| title = Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD) | publisher = Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology | format = Searchable database| accessdate = 2016-06-01}} ''Note:'' This includes {{cite web| url =https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/4c71a/N/Beverly_Shores-Century_of_Progress_Architectural_District_Porter_CO_Nom.pdf | title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Beverly Shores/Century of Progress Architectural District| accessdate = 2016-06-01| author=Fay Hendry and Keith Everett, Thomas Hensley and Jill York O'Bright| format = PDF| date=October 1985}} and Accompanying photographs.</ref>
During the 1893 [[Columbian Exposition]], the classicism of the French [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux Arts]] tradition was popular along with the eclectic revivals of the Victorian architectural periods. This trend dominated American architecture during the first part of the twentieth century. Forty years later, Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition was the national showcase for new directions in American architecture, which once again followed a European precedent, the 1925 Paris Exposition."<ref name=NHDnomi/>
The Century of Progress Exposition was conceived in the prosperous 1920s, but the nation was deep in the Great Depression by the opening date. Modern technology, the general theme of the exposition, gave the nation something new during a bleak economic
period. New materials, nontraditional construction methods, and efficient, new mechanical systems came together."<ref name=NHDnomi/> Electric floodlights, searchlights and neon highlighted the polychromed facades and stylized motifs of the major exhibition buildings. The architecture of the Century of Progress Exposition was progressive, which meant either the Art Deco or International Style.."<ref name=NHDnomi/>
==Move to Beverly Shores, Indiana==
After the closing of the 1933 World's Fair, in late winter 1935 the Century of Progress houses were moved from Chicago to Indiana. Robert Bartlett purchased the homes with the intent of using them to sell more properties in his new residential development called Beverly Shores. Owing to their lakefront location in Chicago and their future lakefront location in Indiana, it was determined the easiest way to transport the homes was by [[barge]]. The houses were rolled off the barge on [[telephone pole]]s onto a heavy timber crib built out into [[Lake Michigan|the lake]]. There were a series of three steps used to raise the houses to the level of Lake Front Drive.<ref name="America 2001, pg 94">Images of America; Beverly Shores, A Suburban Dune Resort, Jim Morrow; Arcadia Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2001, pg 94</ref>
==Contributing properties==
The five [[contributing property|contributing properties]] in the architectural district are:
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%"
! class=unsortable|'''Name'''
! |'''Image'''
! |'''Current address'''
! |'''Description'''
! |'''Architect'''
! |'''Style'''
|-
|[[Armco-Ferro House]]
|[[File:Beverly Shores 01.jpg|100px]]
|212 Lake Front Dr.
| The only house of the five to stand the test of time in meeting the criteria of the World's Fair Committee: 'affordable' and 'mass producible'.  An all-steel home using corrugated steel panels for walls, without a frame.<ref name="Culturalsites" />
|Scholer, Walter, et al.
|
|-
|[[Cypress Log Cabin]]
|[[File:Beverly Shores 18.jpg|100px]]
|215 Lake Front Dr.
|Built to be a mountain home.  The setting at the World's Fair included a landscape with cypress fences, arbors and bridges.<ref name="Culturalsites" />
|Murray D. Hetherington
|
|-
|[[Florida Tropical House]]
|[[File:Beverly Shores 10.jpg|100px]]
|210 Lake Front Dr.
|:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/indu/History/Florida%20Tropical%20House.htm|title=Florida Tropical House|accessdate=2008-05-26|date=|work=[[Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore]]|publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref> Designed for the southern Florida tropics, the house combines the indoors and outdoors into the living space.  Large open terraces and a flamingo pink paint scheme stand out.<ref name="Culturalsites" />
|[[Robert Law Weed]]
|[[Modern architecture|Modernist]]
|-
|[[House of Tomorrow (Indiana)|House of Tomorrow]]
|[[File:571531cv (cropped).jpg|100px]]
|214 Lake Front Dr.
|Designed as the house of the future, this house included its own airplane hangar.  Glass walls offered views from every angle and so taxed the experimental air conditioning system that the cooling system failed.<ref name="Culturalsites" />
|Walter Scholer, [[George Fred Keck]], et al.
|European modernism
|-
|[[Wieboldt-Rostone House]]
|[[File:Beverly Shores 11.jpg|100px]]
|208 Lake Front Dr.
|:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/indu/History/Wieboldt-Rostone%20House.htm|title=Wieboldt-Rostone House|accessdate=2008-05-26|date=|work=[[Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore]]|publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref> Framed in steel and clad with an artificial stone called ''Rostone'' (limestone, shale and alkali).  Its Rostone exterior was billed as never needing repairs, but it only lasted until the 1950s.<ref name=Culturalsites>Cultural Sites of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; National Park Service, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; Porter, Indiana</ref>
|Walter Scholer
|
|-
|}
==Significance==
[[File:Century of Progress Arch Dist (map).JPG|thumb|Historic American Buildings Survey]]The Beverly Shores Century of Progress Architectural District encompasses houses from the 1933–34 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition that comprised a "portion of an exhibit known as the Home and Industrial Arts Group. Many of these structures were innovative and displayed engineering and construction technologies that have become an integral part of modern residential architecture."<ref name=NHRPnomi>Partsch, Dorothy; Century of Progress Architectural District; 86001472; National Park Service – nomination form; Washington, D.C.; June 30, 1986</ref>
In hosting the 1893 [[Columbian Exposition]], Chicago made the classicism of the French [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux Arts]] tradition popular with an American public coming from the [[Victorian architecture|Victorian architectural]] periods. This trend dominated American architecture during the first part of the twentieth century.<ref name=NHRPnomi/>
Forty years later, Chicago's [[Century of Progress Exposition]] was the national showcase for new directions in American architecture, which again followed a European precedent, the 1925 [[International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts|Paris Exposition]].<ref name=NHRPnomi/>
==Current status==
Four of the five houses have been restored; the House of Tomorrow awaits restoration. One day a year, the public is allowed access to the five homes.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/indu/historyculture/centuryofprogress.htm National Park Service, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Century of Progress 1933 World's Fair Homes and More, Annual Architecture Tour Featuring The Century of Progress Homes]</ref>
==See also==
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Indiana]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Century of Progress Architectural District}}
* [http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/225.html  Encyclopedia of Chicago history]
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/indu/History/Century_of_Progress_homes.htm  Indiana Dunes National Park Century of Progress Historic District]
{{NRHP in Indiana Dunes NP}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Indiana}}
[[Category:Houses completed in 1933]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Porter County, Indiana]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Dunes National Park]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana]]
[[Category:Historic districts in Porter County, Indiana]]
[[Category:Modernist heritage districts]]
[[Category:Century of Progress]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Porter County, Indiana]]