Chicagoland has always been a center of exciting architectural developments and has seen several building booms throughout its history. In the late 1990s, as demand for affordable residential housing skyrocketed, many single-family homes and condominium developments utilized concrete block, or its fancier cousin, split faced block. Split faced block is simply an inexpensive 16” concrete block split into two 8” pieces, each with a roughened face that resembles much more costly rock masonry. [...]