A Portage Park bungalow that came on the market today was built by a female homebuilder, a rarity in Chicago in 1916 (and even now, for that matter).

The four-bedroom bungalow on Laramie Avenue “is very striking when you walk in,” said Alex Lucas, who bought the house in 2017 from a family who’d owned the home for more than half a century.



Lucas is asking $339,900 for the bungalow, which is represented by Deb Hess of Compass. The main rooms have broad arched doorway openings trimmed in wood and capped with small carvings, and a brick fireplace amid a wall of wood trim and bookcases is a notch above the norm in Chicago’s beloved home type. Lucas said she believes most or all of it is original, while the extensive wood cabinetry and trim in the kitchen and other rooms was added later.

