Morris N. Fox commissioned architect John V. McPherson to design this 1941 three-flat at 6700 S. Bennett Avenue. Photo by Julia Bachrach.
A couple of years ago, while doing research on architecture in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, I stumbled across a stunning Modern low-rise on the corner of 67th Street and S. Bennett Avenue. I soon discovered that its original owner and its architect were quite fascinating. The three-flat was built in 1941 by Morris N. Fox, a Russian Jewish immigrant who became a successful cough drop manufacturer. The building was produced by a relatively unknown architect, John V. McPherson, who practiced in Chicago and Homewood, Illinois, from the mid-1930s until his death in 1969. Altogether McPherson designed a large collection of practical, livable, and beautiful Modern residences in the Chicago suburbs and Indiana. This month I’d like to share the little-known stories of both of these men.
John McPherson designed this house in Olympia Fields, Illinois, in the early 1950s. Photo courtesy of Scott Mehaffey.
F & F Throat Lozenges, ca. 1940.
Morris Nathan Fox (1887-1989) arrived in America with his mother and sisters in 1906 with very little money. They settled in Omaha, Nebraska, where he found work in a boot factory while studying to be a pharmacist at Creighton University. Morris graduated in 1912, and a few years later, he married a Russian Jewish immigrant and daughter of a junk peddler, Ida Fox. (Perhaps a cousin?) Morris and a partner, Jacob Fregger, ran a small pharmacy in Omaha, making cough drops in the back of their shop that they gave out to customers. Their F & F cough drops became so popular that in 1928, Fox bought a small candy factory in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to manufacture them.
“Sugar Too High, Moves,” Nebraska State Journal, April 9, 1936.
By 1933, Fox had gone into cough drop manufacturing full-time. (Fox would eventually buy Fregger out.) Three years later, Morris decided to move his F & F Laboratories to Chicago. The firm, which made cough syrup as well as the signature cough drops, operated out of a factory on the Southwest Side, near the corner of W. 48th Place and S. St. Louis Avenue.
The Fox family settled in South Shore, a community with a sizable Jewish population. By the time of the 1940 Census, Morris and Ida were renting an apartment on S. Jefferey Boulevard. The couple lived with their two sons, 19 year-old Robert and 24-year-old Bernard, their daughter-in-law, Alma, their young granddaughter, Joan, and a live-in maid. With so many under the same roof, Morris was ready to build a home for his family. He purchased a double lot at the corner of S. Bennett Avenue and E. 67th Street. In 1940 or early 1941, he hired John V. McPherson to design a large low-rise residence that would provide space and privacy for all three generations of his family.
Close-up of front entryway to Morris N. Fox low-rise. Photo by Julia Bachrach.
McPherson produced a Modern building of red brick and Lannon stone, with bold geometric planes, a built-in garage, horizontal windows that brought the outside in, and glass block expanses that provided light and privacy. Only a small number of homes were being built in Chicago at that time. And, of those, few expressed Modernism. But there was one recent precedent— a three-unit cooperative apartment building at 5551 S. University Avenue that may have inspired Fox, McPherson or both. Architects Keck & Keck designed this 1937 structure as their own home. (The third unit belonged to Louis Gottshchalk, a University of Chicago professor.) Located about two-and-a-half blocks from the site of Fox’s new home, the cooperative building didn’t include Lannon stone, but its massing, fenestration, and built-in garages likely provided inspiration.
Left- Front entryway of the Keck, Keck, and Gottschalk cooperative building in Hyde Park, Right-West façade of same building. Photos by Julia Bachrach.
It is unclear how Fox came to hire McPherson, and little is known about the architect’s early career. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, John V. McPherson (1908-1969) was the son of a mailman who later worked in real estate. Although McPherson’s training remains uncertain, he was active in the Chicago Architectural Club. In fact, he served as the organization’s treasurer from 1935 to 1938. By this time, he was married to Marjorie Billings, the daughter of a South Shore contractor. The young couple lived in South Shore (at one point, they were renting an apartment only two blocks away from the Fox family’s unit). It seems likely that McPherson and Fox met through shared connections in the community.
Fox residence’s south façade and adjacent yard/garden. Photo by Julia Bachrach.
The City of Chicago issued a building permit for the McPherson-designed residence on June 13, 1941. The Fox family soon moved in. They were active in the local Jewish community. From time to time, Ida Fox and her daughter-in-law Alma opened their home to host fundraisers and other events for Hadassah and the Sisterhood of the South Side Hebrew Congregation. The Fox family lived at 6700 S. Bennett Avenue home for at least a decade. (Both sons went into the family business which continued to be tremendously successful. Indeed, in the 1970s, F & F Laboratories acquired Smith Brothers Cough Drops. Morris lived to the age of 102.)
This 1952 McPherson-designed house in Flossmoor, Illinois recently sold. Photo courtesy of Scott Mehaffey. (Additional photos can be seen from a recent real estate listing.)
Around 1951, the McPhersons moved to Homewood, Illinois, and John opened an architectural office in the community. He soon began receiving attention from newspapers for his practical, Modern home designs. A 1954 Chicago Tribune article explained that McPherson had developed a method of modular construction that allowed him to pre-fabricate and build walls and ceilings and other major components off-site. These houses were made of high-quality woods such as fir, mahogany, and redwood, as well as brick and Lannon stone.
Built using his modular system, McPherson’s Helen Stark House in Highland Park, Illinois, received attention from the Tribune in 1954. Photo courtesy of James Jagel.
Other newspaper articles emphasized the expansive windows, skylights, and innovative floor plans of McPherson’s houses. He designed several homes in Munster, Indiana. These include the 1964 O’Neil House which is quite intact today. McPherson designed a central open space to provide a living/dining/great room with a circular steel fireplace as the centerpiece. He organized the bedrooms and other private spaces in a cruciform plan off of the main shared space.
Top: Interior view of O’Neil House, Hammond Times, May 18, 1965. Bottom: Interior view of same space today. Photo courtesy of David Carter.
David Carter, owner of the O’Neil House, recently told me that his family enjoys many aspects of their home, especially its expansive views of the outdoors. He said that “in this house we feel sheltered, but connected to nature, always aware of the time of day and season of the year as we witness the color and intensity of light change…. It may have originally been built for the O’Neils, but it suits us perfectly.”
Exterior of the O’Neil House, Munster, Indiana. Photo courtesy of David Carter.
Although I am uncertain of the full extent of McPherson’s work, his Mid-century Modern houses can be found in Homewood, Flossmoor, and Olympia Fields (including some in the Graymoor planned community), as well as in Highland Park, Illinois and Munster, Indiana. Interestingly, some of these homes are in enclaves that include Keck & Keck designs. There is clearly more to be learned about McPherson and his work. Maybe a graduate student will want to pursue this?