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By Karen Clapp, Class of 1997

Frederick Schock is best known for architectural work that helped to shape Chicago’s Austin community, on the west side of the city. Born in Chicago in 1854, he attended Chicago public schools. After graduating from high school, Schock apprenticed with Henry Gay’s architectural firm, eventually joining Solon Beman’s firm in 1880. That same year he moved to Austin (then a suburb), and in 1886 he designed a home there where he lived until his death in 1934. In 1882 he started his own architectural firm in downtown Chicago. He designed many homes and public buildings in Chicago and surrounding suburbs, including Douglas Park, Kenwood, Garfield Park, Oak Park, Maywood, and Logan Square.

Like his contemporaries George Maher and Frank Lloyd Wright, Schock designed a number of homes for friends and neighbors in his immediate community. The Austin Historic District includes his home and over fifteen other homes attributed to him. Four of his houses in Austin have been designated as landmarks by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.

Schock’s work in Austin was in collaboration with Henry W. Austin, an Oak Park developer who wanted to create an idyllic, pastoral suburb. Schock worked closely with Austin to make this vision a reality, not only through his residential work but by also designing public buildings as well. His early designs (1886-1892) were in the “Shingle Style” popularized on the east coast by Henry Hobson Richardson and Stanford White and in Chicago by Joseph Silsbee. Schock’s shingle style structures included Austin’s railroad depot and the Oaks Club/Austin Library (both now demolished).

In her 1980 Inland Architect article, Alice Sinkevitch makes a compelling case for the influence of Schock’s early work on Frank Lloyd Wright, who moved to Oak Park in 1888. Wright briefly lived across the street from Henry Austin’s home which had been remodeled by Schock. In addition, Wright would have seen Schock’s Austin railroad depot and other designs while on the railroad into downtown Chicago. Although Wright disparaged Schock’s work in his 1930 autobiography, it is interesting to compare the house Schock designed for his mother in 1888 (left) with the home Wright designed for himself just one year later (right).

Neighborhood tours of the Austin Historic District have been offered over the years through the local Austin Schock Neighborhood Association and occasionally through the CAC. This year, 11 sites in the greater Austin community will be open during Open House Chicago. Compare Schock and Wright’s works for yourself!