The wing the commission could read.
Highland Park, prairie, built 1928. The arch and the panel were copied from the 1928 rooms. The new wing faces the ravine.
$980k–1.2 million · 11 months · one project lead
Highland Park. Prairie, built 1928. The porch is a porch again.
The house
Built in1928
Brick, a broad eave, and a porch someone enclosed in 1964 with a picture window. The house sits above a ravine in Highland Park. The preservation commission wanted any new wing to read as part of 1928, not as a later idea.
We matched the brick bond, the eave, and the window proportion, and copied the arch and the panel from the library that was already there. The 1964 window came out. The porch is a porch again, and the wing continues it, toward the ravine rather than the street.
The ravine oaks stayed. The wing steps around them. Sills on that side had gone soft, and those were replaced. The plaster in the old rooms was not.
What stayed
Kept
- 1928 brick bond, eave, and window proportion
- The library arch and panel, copied for the wing
- The porch, returned to a porch
- Ravine oaks, which the wing steps around
Replaced
- The 1964 picture window in the enclosed porch
- Soft sills on the ravine side
- A 1990s deck off the old kitchen
- Knob-and-tube in the old wing, with the plaster left in place
The cut
Drag the section line.
Left is what we opened. Right is what the house holds now. The line is the same one on the drawings.
The wing, framed. The old floor still down.
The porch and the wing, in the 1928 brick.
Through the house
The arch in the old library. The wing copies this profile, not a new one.
The bedroom over the old wing. Plaster and floor, both kept.
The job
| Place | Highland Park, above the ravine |
|---|---|
| Size | 1,150 sq ft wing on a 3,900 sq ft house |
| Built | 1928 |
| Style | Prairie |
| Scope | Additions that look original |
| Budget | $980k–1.2 million |
| Duration | 11 months |
| Finished | 2022 |
| The problem | A porch enclosed in 1964 with a picture window, and a wing the commission would only allow if it read as 1928. |
| What we did | We matched the brick bond, the eave, and the window proportion, and copied the library arch. The wing faces the ravine. |
The commission asked which year the wing was from. We said 1928, and then we had to prove it.