• August 29, 2024

Evanston Mansion Renovation – Porch and Third Floor

Take a tour this beautiful 128-year-old Evanston mansion before we begin the renovation process. 

The house has two enclosed porches that we plan to unseal. Old photos show us how the columns and railings used to be and are very inspiring. The third floor is large but has lots of color and angled roofs that we need to tackle. It (and a temporary kitchen in the basement) will make perfect temporary living space for the homeowners while the rest of construction is underway.

 

Follow along!

• Episode 1 – Exterior and Foyer
• Episode 2 – Library and Family Room
• Episode 3 – Dining Room and Porch
• Episode 4 – Kitchen and Pantry
• Episode 5 – Stairwell and Landing
• Episode 6 – Primary Bedroom and Bathroom
• Episode 7 – Porch and Third Floor
• Episode 8 – Lower Level
• Episode 9 – Laundry and Guest Bath
• Episode 10 – Kitchen and Pantry After Demo
• Episode 11 – Primary Bath and Closet After Demo
• Episode 12 – Laundry and Guest Bath After Demo
• Episode 13 – Third Floor After Demo
• Episode 14 – Temporary Primary Bedroom

Transcript

Welcome to one of the most beautiful mansions in all of Evanston, that was built more than 100 years ago. In the “veranda” that was above the porch below. This porch was enclosed at some point later and we know that because we have some clues. We have rake trim from the outside of the building.

There’s a column, so two-story columns. This was all open. There might have been a guardrail or something like this here, you know, to protect you from falling, but all the windows that you see were added later. All of the windows have been siliconed shut. We think probably because they’re very, very drafty. So we’re going to do our best to get them open, get some screens.

There’s a big, tall, humongously tall double-hung window behind me and then there’s also a set of doors which come down these steps with, unlike downstairs where we had full chrome bolts, we’re upstairs now. So the hardware changes a little bit. It’s a little bit less formal. Here we have similar knobs, but at the head and the sill of the door we have flush holes.

Okay, so I am standing on a very colorful third floor. It’s kind of unheard of to have this much space on the third floor. In today’s present zoning climate, a house like this would never be able to be built. We’re going to be working while they’re living here. The beauty of this third floor is that there are two bathrooms, there’s a space for an office, and there’s a bedroom.

So they are going to camp up here. This is going to be their primary living space. We’re fortunate in that the basement of this house has a built-in bar and the previous owner left a full-height refrigerator.

This house also has two staircases, so we’re going to seal one off so they can sort of have this passageway from where they’re going to be cooking to where they’re going to be living and do our best to mitigate the dust.

In spaces like this where we have ceilings that are sloping, flat ceilings, we like to paint everything one color, trim included. As soon as we can unify the paint, it’ll start making things feel a little softer and not quite so angular.

There’s different dormer windows that are cut out. There’s one in front of me here that has one of my favorite windows in the entire building. It’s above the front door, so it’s what you see as you come in.

And what’s so interesting about this house is the house is asymmetrical. There’s dormers in the attic above dormers on the second floor, but you stand back and you look and somehow it works.