Hyde Park Single Family Residence

Our clients had purchased a turn of the century, single family residence in Hyde Park planning to renovate the building in order to modernize the kitchen and bathrooms, mechanical systems, and bedroom/closet arrangement. As is typical with Victorian era buildings, the bedrooms had minimal closets, and the bathrooms were small and scarce by modern standards. However, our clients liked the look and feel of the house and wanted to retain the Victorian detailing.

They first went to a Different Architectural Firm, went happily through the Design and Construction Document process, but when the project went out to bid, prices came back considerably over their budget. The Different Architectural Firm was unable or unwilling to revise the project to meet budget. They came to us. We reviewed the drawings and were able to identify a number of places where specifications and detailing made the work more expensive that it needed to be. We were able to revise the project, keeping the important elements of their program but drawing them in a way that made its construction more economical, changed some material specifications, and put the project out to bid for a second time. The bids came back within budget. The successful General Contractor is an excellent one who did a terrific job; we continue to recommend him to our clients. Our clients were very pleased with the results.

Lincoln Park 3rd Floor Addition

Bidding was brisk on the project, given the economic downturn. Our clients selected a General Contractor who had a good track record in the neighborhood. And, finally, our clients were able to move back into their new home about a month before the birth of their second child.

This project involved a standard size Lincoln Park lot (25’x125’) with two Victorian era masonry buildings on it, a front building with two dwelling units and a rear building that was a single family residence.  The buildings had been organized as a condominium in the 1990’s.

Our clients lived in the first floor flat of the front building.  They had purchased the second floor unit and wanted to remodel their unit, adding the 2^nd floor and considering the possibility of adding a 3^rd floor. 

We began with a field survey of the existing building and prepared a base drawing on AutoCad.  We sketched a number of preliminary designs given the different options.  There was an existing enclosed frame porch--should we re-build it in masonry so that we could incorporate that space into the plan or remove it for more open space?  Should we add the 3^rd floor?  What about a deck?  Our clients quickly came to the conclusion that an additional floor was essential.  The footprint of the original building was quite small and their ideal house would have a master bedroom and three smaller bedrooms. 

Zoning considerations were going to be of primary importance.  The lot is zoned RT-4, typical of Lincoln Park, and with front and rear buildings on the lot, the buildings already exceeded the allowable floor area. We would need Zoning Variation17-13-1101-G; this permits the expansion of the Permitted Residential Use in RT-4 by 15%.   Curiously, the 15% expansion is based on the existing legally enclosed space, so the more square feet exist, the more square feet you can request. 

We needed to establish the amount of legally enclosed space on the site.  We requested copies of permit records.  We were fortunate in that we were able to get a copy of permit drawings issued in 1981 that showed enclosed frame porches on both the front and rear buildings.  Also, the finished basement in the front building was enough above grade so that it counted in the square footage calculation.  15% of the existing square footage was approximately 700 square feet, enough for a partial 3^rd floor.

We met with Supervising Plan Examiner of the City of Chicago several times, the zoning committee of Sheffield Neighborhood Association and the Alderman to explain our project and finally came to a hearing at the Zoning Board of Appeals.  The zoning variation was approved.