457 Ash

The Colonial Revival stunner at 457 Ash was built in 1912 for James C. Kellogg, heir to the Kellogg Switchboard Co.

James Kellogg was the son of Milo G. Kellogg, inventor and founder of the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company. Milo founded the company in 1897 in Chicago and it quickly became well-known for its superior switchboard technology and later, for its sleek phone designs.

In 1909, Milo Kellogg died, leaving the company in the hands of his sons – James and his older brother Leroy. The company continued to flourish under the younger Kellogg’s control, becoming one of a few companies that provided the bulk of the country’s telephone equipment through World War II.

In 1912, while running the switchboard company, James and his wife, Pauline, hired architects Chatten & Hammond to build their family home at 457 Ash. Melville Chatten and Charles Herrick Hammond were both residents of Winnetka and designed a number of houses on the North Shore as well as some commercial buildings in Chicago.

Their residential work was highly regarded and garnered mention in The Architectural Record in the early 1900s. In Winnetka, they designed 375 Sheridan and 80 Locust, and in Chicago, they designed the Columbus Park Refectory and Boat Landing (which is on the National Register of Historic Places) and the Thomson & Taylor Spice Co. Building.

After Dwight Perkins joined Chatten & Hammond in 1925, the new firm designed several Art Deco skyscrapers including the Northwest Tower (also known as the “Coyote” Building – now Hotel Robey) in 1929 and the Lawson YMCA building in the early 1930s. Hammond later served as Illinois state architect from 1929 to 1952.

Back up in Winnetka, the Kelloggs remained in their beautifully-designed home at 457 Ash for over a decade. They sold the house in 1923 to the Honnold family. In 1934, it was purchased by the MacLeish/Jones family, who lived in the home for the next 75 years.

Thanks to these homeowners, most of the beautiful Colonial Revival features have been preserved over time. The rectangular shape and symmetry are typical of the style, as is the molded cornice with dentils along the roofline and the ornamentation concentrated around the front door.