the importance of cedar posts used in the relocation of 19th century chicago residential and commercial structures

in the landscape of contemporary chicago, buildings are rarely moved, and transformations are more likely to involve razing old buildings for new development than changing location. a rare example of a move-- just two years ago -- was when the historic c. 1888 harriet f. rees house was loaded onto dollies and transported to a plot of land just 600 feet away. though perhaps difficult to imagine, in the nineteenth century, this kind of move was not at all uncommon, and in fact, plenty of worker's cottages were moved by way of the wooden foundation posts (also referred to as "rollers" or simply "logs") that would often support them, literally being rolled to a new location. several of these cedar wood piles are available in the bldg. 51 building materials archives, and additionally, much of the accompanying sill plate joinery found in the field thus far is recorded in that same archive.

in one of the first case studies, long ago, i discovered these solid cedar wood hewn structural piles serving as the foundation posts for a victorian era worker's cottage (since demolished) on the west side of chicago. the oversized hand-hewn piling was originally used to support the interlocking mortised and tenoned sill plates, containing the vertical studs used for framing the cottage, but it was likely used as a temporary foundation when the cottage was moved to the back of the lot in preparation for constructing a more "modern" turn of the century two flat brick residence.

from the 1830's through the 1850's, chicagoans took advantage of the mobility of balloon frame structures without infrastructure connections, buying homes and then moving them to a desired location. a recollection from a 1902 publication illustrates how advantageous house moving might be-- in avoidance of a disreputable landlord (this being a time when lots and houses were owned separately), a family moved their home after a business deal soured to instead settle on a nearby vacant lot. additionally, in areas of the loop where land values rose drastically, houses were also often moved to the rear portion of a lot to make way for another structure to be built near the front. whatever the impetus, the key to this relocation being possible was the popularity of the balloon frame, the lack of paved streets, and the widespread absence of utilities until the later nineteenth century.

shanties, log cabins, and structures of brick or stone all posed challenges to being moved intact, whereas balloon frame homes were not sunk into the ground, and were additionally lightweight and flexible. the rapid adoption of balloon-frame construction made the job of moving houses relatively easy, and as early as the 1830's this type of moving was established as a legitimate business. even amateurs could learn how to place a heavy wheel assembly under a home, hitch up a team, and move the house, complete with furnishings. at that point in time, the rapidly growing urban area had a housing shortage, and preservation of older buildings was financially attractive. the balloon frame technique incorporated standardized lumber and machine-cut nails, making construction more economical and gradually urging on the process of substituting prefabrication for handwork.

by the mid-1860's, fully prefabricated housing became available, and buyers were able to choose among a number of models. with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, chicago's ready-made housing found new markets far afield, and in places where timber was scarce.

early on, chester and simeon tupper were pioneer house movers in the city, and regularly moved structures on rollers down the middle of the city's unpaved streets. later, raising the street grade in the 1850's brought new technology to the industry. the elevation of the roadway forced building owner's to either raise the structure (up to 16 feet), and have a new first floor and foundation built under it, or allow the first floor to become a garden apartment.

house raisers used new types of jacks and shoring timbers so effectively that multi-story hotels could be lifted without cracking the plaster or disturbing the sleeping guests. the work allowed for new methods to emerge for moving brick and stone buildings on a monumental scale. a traveler to chicago wrote of the routine moving of buildings, "never a day passed during my stay in the city that i did not meet one or more houses shifting their quarters. one day i met nine."

the house-moving industry grew even more rapidly around the great fire in 1871. by this time, a large part of the population (including factory workers) could afford a single-family home, hence the designation "workers cottage". in rebuilding after the catastrophe, construction of any wooden homes was severely limited. the city council enacted a compromise that allowed the relocation of wooden structures in all but a few districts, which was a great boon for the working class residents of the city. in time the growth and reorganization of streets and business areas pushed many to relocate. by the 1880's, house moving was so popular that it routinely caused serious traffic delays (with some "tramp houses" blocking streets for weeks, or homes caught on the tracks and blocking street car service).

in 1883, building code was revised to regulate house moving, requiring several different permits, permissions or fees to be paid. house-moving even at this point remained a public spectacle, a marvel of engineering and human strength. over the years, more and more brick buildings and tall structures were made mobile, and were carried impressive distances. house moving eventually slowed considerably, as the city solidified its transportation system and infrastructure created a permanent impediment -- for instance in the form of the elevated rail system in 1891, or dead end streets. still, some houses were loaded onto barges and floated on the river or lake for part of the journey to bypass these new barriers.