Say what you like, but those custom-made basement bars built into homes during the 1940s and `50s have a certain aura about them. They hearken back to a time of home parties where everyone dressed up, no one had to go outside to smoke and people danced if they felt like it.
Such bars range from the huge and garish, with dancing girl emblems and frescos of Venice, to the small and tasteful like the one at 1235 N. Oak Park Ave. in Oak Park.
The three-stool pine bar sits in a corner of the home`s large knotty pine-paneled, L-shaped basement. Completing the comfy local bar feel is an old television built into a cabinet.
Listing agent Joan Filbin of F. C. Pilgrim Real Estate said she gets a lot of good comments about that bar from people who tour the home, which is on the market for $214,000. ”They like that (bar). That`s part of the charm. You couldn`t afford to put in knotty pine now,” said Filbin during an open house Sunday.
But doesn`t such a feature date a home? No, says Filbin. ”It`s like having a built-in buffet. You wouldn`t consider that dated. You would consider that part of the era (in which the home was built).”
In this case, the home for sale is a two-story yellow brick Georgian built around 1947.
Cellar hearth
The basement bar is next to a standard laundry room and around the corner from the main recreation area that features a brown vinyl tile floor, a brown brick fireplace, built-in bookshelves on either side of the fireplace and a door to a small workshop.
The lower level is good for entertaining not only because of the bar but also because it has a nice flow pattern, thanks to two staircases to the first floor, Filbin said.
The staircase near the bar leads to a short hall connecting the kitchen with the living room. Between those two rooms is a half bathroom with a brown ceramic tile floor and floral wallpaper to match.
To the left of the bathroom is the 13-by-9 kitchen, which has a worn light yellow vinyl tile floor, new maple cabinets, a two-stool breakfast bar built into a bay window, a wood ceiling fan with a globe light and a door to the large back yard patio. (A sidewalk leads from the patio, through a door in the 6-foot fence to the home`s two-car garage off a side alley.)
Through a doorway on the kitchen`s east wall is the 14-by-12 dining room, decorated with a white, rust and blue floral wallpaper to match the rust-colored carpet that covers the rest of the first floor. The wood chair rail and molding around the floor and ceiling-as well as most of the woodwork in other rooms-was refinished by the present owner, Filbin said.
The dining room also has a brass chandelier, a bay window and a doorway to the entryway, where stairs lead to the second floor.
On the other side of the entryway is the 23-by-12 living room, which also has an east-facing bay window. The walls are covered with textured ivory wallpaper. Between two long windows on the south wall and framed by mirrors is an old-fashioned carved wood fireplace with a black marble inlay around the fireplace opening.
Roomy den
Besides the doorway to the kitchen, the living room also has a doorway to the 24-by-13 den, which previous owners added to the home. ”So many times people make a little tiny family room, but these people did a really nice job,” Filbin said.
The walls are paneled with wood and the pine ceiling has seven beams. At the west end of the room are stairs down to a back door. The steps continue from the landing to the basement.
While the first and second floors are about the same size, the third floor is a little smaller. Except for the pink and gray ceramic tile floor in the full bathroom, every floor is oak, including the hall`s.
To the right at the head of the stairs is a 16-by-12 bedroom with a small closet and light green, pink and white wallpaper.
The bedroom is on one side of the bathroom, while on the other side is a 12-by-9 bedroom with built-in bookshelves and white wallpaper striped with bright primary colors.
The bedroom is next to the last bedroom (15 by 12 feet), which has two sets of mirrored, double-folding-door closets and a white and red floral wallpaper. A wood fan hangs from the ceiling.
