While driving through South Berwyn, where a typical street is full of midcentury ranches, one house stands out: a one-of-a-kind Streamline Moderne design, inspired by the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair. As the homeowners explain it, the home was built by “just a guy.”
That guy was Robert Silhan, an immigrant from Radnice (in what is now the Czech Republic) who was born in 1879 and settled in Berwyn’s then-developing Bohemian community. This residence at 3728 South Cuyler Avenue, on the market for $338,500, was the last in a series of five buildings Silhan constructed in Berwyn for his family, which he began around 1910 with a Queen Anne-style home.
Silhan’s idea for the Streamline Moderne home, located on a double lot and completed a few years after the fair, stemmed from his numerous visits to the World’s Fair. Among many featured technological advancements was the “Homes of Tomorrow” exhibition, where Silhan would have encountered Masonite interior walls, flat roofs, and projecting bays — all of which he would incorporate into his new home.
The current owners of the property had suspected it might have been a World’s Fair home. They consulted the archives at Marshall University but realized its layout didn’t match any historical records. It was only after purchasing the property and meeting Silhan’s son and other family members that they learned the home was not a prototype or display, but a completely original design inspired by the Century of Progress exhibition.
The home’s rounded corners and racing stripes are defining characteristics of the Art Moderne style, but it’s unique in its use of black and white glazed brick. Partial to recycled materials, Silhan gathered discarded bricks at a salvage sale — stamped by the Tiffany Brick Company and dating back to 1911 — and used them to face all four sides of his new home. He didn’t have enough materials to complete the design, opting to paint regular red bricks and cut them down to size, using these on the back of the home.
To fix up some of the deteriorating brick, the current homeowners were also resourceful: They drove to Momence, Illinois, where they were directed to a wooded area that held surviving brick fragments from the Tiffany Company’s former 40-acre Brick Works. They also bought every Tiffany brick that was available at Stockyards Brick, once located in the former Union Stockyards, which sells reclaimed material from demolished buildings. The couple discovered hundreds of bricks buried behind the home as well, using them to replace some of the home’s masonry brick.
The backyard maintains Silhan’s design, including his original footpath and landscaping — built up in part by discounted items Silhan purchased at the local post office from unclaimed mail, including pine, spruce, and fir trees. He also built a Beaux Arts-style concrete wading pool with accompanying one-story cabana.
The interior of the 1,242-square-foot residence is quite modest, offering just two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a finished basement. The entry hall leads to an open floor plan that includes a south-facing round solarium with built-in bench seating.
After two generations of the Silhan family lived in the home, the current owners restored and maintained the residence, while also adding era-appropriate touches such as moveable linoleum floor coverings. They commissioned an art deco-inspired bar for a semi-circular room in their basement, made of glass blocks with chrome banding around its countertop. The colorful vinyl flooring depicts a martini glass, complete with olive and toothpick.
After 25 years of being stewards of the property, the owners are “selling under the home’s true value” in hopes of finding someone who will preserve its legacy. They hope to serve as a resource for whoever buys it so that the home might endure for another century.