Northgate 21

Route 2, Stop 3

Description by Conor Libit

Name: Northgate 21

Address: 446 East Berry Road, Barrington

3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms

Architect: Edward Dart

Built: 1955

This house might be one of the most quintessentially mid mod ranch style homes. Simple geometry with large front windows, exposed brick walls, low slung gable roof, and often exposed ceilings. This floorplan was repeated numerous times in both Barrington and the northern Chicago suburbs, an advertisement from developer Graeme Stewart at the time said “built to order on your lot in the Chicago area at $18,000”. Regarding the development of these houses Dart is quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times as saying “hiring an architect is expensive, yet having a well designed home should not be out of reach for the average American.” The home features a large family room and dining room just inside the entry and to the left a hallway that leads to the three bedrooms and main floor bathroom. The current homeowners finished the basement which now includes a second bathroom. At some point the carport was converted into a garage and the interior transom windows were covered, the current owners uncovered the windows restoring this unique feature. This is a great example of a “modern” affordable tract home of the time.

This design was created relatively early in Dart’s career while he was transitioning out of commercial development and working for larger architectural firms. Around this time he also developed plans for “House of the Fifties” for Good Housekeeping magazine and another design for Popular Mechanics. Northgate 21 may have been one of a few plans drawn for the commercial venture called New Homes Guide.

Can't Miss:

  • The transom windows that join the rooms together along the length of the home

  • The pegged wood floors black cherry wood door frames, tongue and groove exposed ceiling and wood beams are all original to the house. The Sputnik style light fixture in the living room and a jade green sink in the upstairs bathroom were salvaged from other mid century houses

  • This area was a hotbed of these smaller homes for Dart, drive around the area to see more including this house's twins at 431 and 425 E Drury Lane. Both of these have their original carports 

Ed Dart Bio

By Barbara L. Benson

Since the early twentieth century, noted architects have designed residences, churches and the occasional public building in our area.

This tour focuses on that time when a number of these architects both lived and practiced in Barrington.

EDWARD D. DART was born in 1922 in New Orleans, Louisiana to parents of French descent. After school in New Orleans and at the Woodbury Forest School in Virginia, he entered the University of Virginia. Leaving after two years he enlisted in the Marines, and flew bombers in the Pacific in World War 11.

On January 19, 1946 he married Wilhelmina Plansoen, a Duke University Alumna.

After military service he enrolled in the Yale School of Architecture studying under Richard M Bennett.  Graduating  in 1949,he had also studied under Pietro Belluschi, Marcel Breuer, Richard Neutra, Louis Kahn, Eero Saarinen, Harold Spitznagel, and Paul Shweiker for whom he later worked in Roselle, Illinois, thus bringing him to this area.

In a prolific and distinguished career Dart became a Fellow of the AIA at 44, and garnered 18 AIA Awards. At Yale developed his personal design style of using natural materials, incorporating a building into its site with free flowing spaces.

 Throughout his career, between 1949 and 1968, he designed 52 custom homes, 26 custom churches, and many commercial structures. His last and most challenging assignment was the design of Water Tower Place in Chicago. He died in July 1975 in his home in Barrington Hills.  He, and later his wife Wilma are interred in St. Michael’s Church Columbarium, a church he designed and they attended.