Want to learn more about the history of the Chicago bungalow? Or learn how to troubleshoot a home repair or tackle a DIY project? What about how to research the history of your home?

In this post, you’ll find a basic list of books to get you started. Links provided below each section.

Restoration reference Guides

• The Chicago Bungalow
• Shellac, Linseed Oil & Paint
• Restoring Your Historic House: The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners (this book includes a Chicago Bungalow as a case study)
• Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use and Avoid
• The Window Sash Bible
• Save America’s Windows
• A Field Guide to American Houses: The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture (this book is considered the Bible of Preservationists and includes a section on Prairie Style with a very small subsection identifying Chicago Bungalows as a vernacular style of bungalow)

Home History Research

• Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood
• Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You

Chicago History

• From Cottage to Bungalow: Houses and the Working Class in Metropolitan Chicago 1869-1929
• Chicago: A Biography
• Historic Photos of the Chicago World’s Fair
• The Devil in the White City
• Redlined: A Memoir of Race, Change, and Fractured Community in 1960s Chicago
• Challenging Chicago: Coping with Everyday Life, 1837-1920
• Chicago Then and Now