There’s been some pretty interesting redevelopment going on lately. Oakwood Builders finished up a modestly sized but strikingly beautiful home on the near northeast side, and two housing redevelopments are progressing that are very appealing, very forward thinking.
By now maybe everyone’s seen this one on Maple? Originally it was fairly straight up farm house style. (Folk Victorian? Can a reader help me out here? I don’t know what different styles are). There’s an addition to the west side and a front porch across the north front. This is at a prime residential location in the village. In the past, some homes on Maple were replaced by much larger new homes, some homes were preserved, and some added onto and enhanced.
The owners here chose to add-on and enhance. The character of the neighborhood stays intact. The new front porch ties it together and makes it whole. An excellent example of how builders can renew, reuse, and remodel and keep it all looking like it’s always been there, always belonged. Bonus, the contractor has kept the parkway trees safe and fenced properly. Corcoran Homes had their shingle out on this one.
This house begged for a picture at Washington Park. Another example of a house that will get significantly larger, yet by matching the existing structure, keep the look and feel of the original. It’s proportions and height are in keeping with the neighborhood. The turret feature provides interest and detail, and the front entry is now centrally located on the front. I didn’t catch a builder name but the van I think was Village Remodeling. Bonus, the owners kept their stone borders up around their trees. It looks like the builders took steps to leave them alone and they look like they’re in good shape. Retaining a 40 year tree is way cheaper than planting a 40 year old tree. And that was the little one.
There’s more examples of this kind of home enhancement going on around the village. Tear-downs have not been happening much lately, but build-ups seem to getting more popular.
I love when an older home made of good old wood is remodeled. Even in the many fine new homes built you can never recreate the “character” that 100 years or so adds.
The home on Maple was designed by 12/12 Architects. We pass it all the time, and think they did a stellar job.
As the designer and architect of record for the house on the corner of Maple and Lyman, thanks for the kind words. Of course, it would have been nice had the architect been mentioned, not just the builder, but the mention of the job is appreciated nonetheless.
Corcoran Homes has been great on this job, but let’s not forget that there was a long process of *design* long before the builder was brought on board to actually build the vision. The homeowners have been in that house a long time, put years of heart and soul into it, and wanted to maintain their original Edwardian / Princess Anne Victorian while getting some more modern and usable interior space. If you think it’s nice on the outside – you should see the inside!
We have several other additions/remodels going on in town right now – our overall goal is to fit into the neighborhood and the context of the existing home all while providing the new amenities and spatial organization the homeowners need. Please feel free to contact with any additional comments or questions. Thanks!
Cinda K. Lester, AIA, AICP
Owner
12/12 Architects & Planners
644 67th Street
Downers Grove, Illinois 60516
t: 630.346.1620
e: cinda@1212architects.com
Editor’s note: Thanks for letting us know, Cinda!
Nice article, Mark. Kudo’s to Cinda as well on the architecture.
Recycling usable structures is the ultimate in “green” architecture, especially when it’s done well.
The closing sentence is interesting: “Tear-downs have not been happening much lately, but build-ups seem to getting more popular”. We’ve been specializing in additions and remodeling since we opened our firm in 1995. Due to the economy, we were doing more work a few years ago than we are now. Clearly, the addition work is more visible now because the teardowns aren’t as plentiful…but addition work (the good and the bad) has always been popular in our town. Nice that it’s more visible now.
It is looking like a very nice project.
I’m curious as to how tough it was securing permits for everything and if the village made them negotiate a hundred miles of red tape or if they were reasonable. Taking just a quick glance at some of the municipal code stuff makes me think it would be very difficult to simply fix up a home rather than starting from scratch. Glad the homeowners were able to pull it off!!