Firandos Lonzo doesn’t make the slightest attempt to contain his enthusiasm: The City of Chicago Parade of Homes is a wonderful thing, he declares. Not only does his company, Men at Work, have the contract to paint three of the eight houses in the annual showcase, but the event is being staged in his very own West Side neighborhood.
This is, without a doubt, good news for a place that is long overdue for its share of new housing.
Lonzo takes a break and surveys his work at the home by Tauke & Cook. Leaning on the long handle of a paint roller, he gets to the bottom line: “I’ve been a painter around here for a long time, and this is the first time I’ve ever gotten to paint brand new walls,” he says.
“I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
Lonzo isn’t the only one who is keen on the houses that are going up in the 2700 block of West Washington Street, a neighborhood that undoubtedly saw its heydey long ago and now has about as many vacant lots as habitable houses.
On a hot morning about a week ago, half a dozen neighbors sat on the front porches of the noble but time-worn greystone two-flats and rowhouses across the street, watching the dozens of painters, carpenters, plumbers and other tradespeople scurrying to finish the houses for the parade, which opens at 11 a.m. Saturday and runs through Aug. 20. The neighbors scrutinized the doings and craned their necks as if they were watching a Bears game.
It is a good show. The eight builders have responded admirably to a challenge that, in some ways, is more complicated than what the average builder might encounter.
For starters, budget is a big issue here. Sure, any builder has to worry about money, but the parade houses have to be priced so that area residents can afford them, and at the same time they must show the pizazz that makes them worthy of being in a home show.
In other words, they have to do a lot with a little. And they have.
These houses are on “city lots”-narrow by any definition. The standard 25-foot lot translates into an 18-foot-wide house. As such, there’s no room for the sprawling decks, the bounteous family rooms and the whirlpool baths that are obligatory at the suburban parades’ typically larger houses.
In this parade, the houses average 1,300 to 1,500 square feet and are priced from $115,000 to $200,000.
Within those limitations, visitors will find a range of amenities that includes intercoms and whole-house music systems, built-in space for entertainment units, cathedral ceilings and long expanses of closet space that will bring smiles to the lips of city dwellers who struggle to put 1995-size wardrobes into 1895-era closets.
Indeed, space is the name of the game here, and even visitors who are not in the home-buying market might take away ideas for reconfiguring their own limited areas.
Take for example, the “mobile chopping block” that R. & A. Reichert has put into the kitchen of its Fairfield model. The portable but substantial wheeled cart goes where the cook wants it, then rolls out of the way, not impeding foot traffic in the room.
Then there are the bathrooms, which number from 1 1/2 to three in the eight houses. None is even remotely in the spa category, but some are ingeniously placed to maximize access without stealing space from the bedrooms.
The corner shower in a tiny bath at Whitman Architecture & Construction’s Dato model is certainly handsome, though no one is going to mistake it for a place to luxuriate. Nonetheless, the space it saves makes a master bedroom with not one, not two, but three closets.
Or, consider the master bathroom at Raymond Development Corp.’s Garfield model. Not only is it the master bath, it’s the only bath on the upper floor (a half bath is downstairs). The designer managed to provide access from both the hallway and the master bedroom, though somehow it still feels like a private bath for the person who is writing the mortgage checks.
That “feel” is important, as one of the weapons in the space battle is illusion.
And illusion’s best friend is high ceilings. They’re in abundance here, even in the secondary or kids’ bedrooms that usually get overlooked in favor of glamorizing the parents’ rooms.
Good examples are the secondary bedrooms at the Maxwell by LakeShore Development & Construction.
Another weapon is the comfort of having outdoor “escape” space. Whitman Construction put a dandy sprawling deck over the attached garage of its Dato home.
Most of the homes have sittable front porches, and three have second-floor porch/balcony combinations. When the new owners move in, they can wave right back at those attentive greystone-dwellers across the street.
Some highlights from the eight houses:
– The Garfield, by Raymond Development Corp.: This is the only parade home with an apartment-a one-bedroom basement unit that is remarkably sunny because of the size of its windows. It is accessible from the owner’s unit, and thus could be converted easily to single-family use.
The main living area, with 1,520 square feet, has a California feel. The combination family/dining room has a handsome corner fireplace.
Upstairs, the laundry units have been located for practicality, placed next to the bedrooms that will be generating most of the dirty clothes.
– The Maxwell, by LakeShore Development & Construction: The builder set out to design a master bedroom that would be a retreat, and has succeeded, with space for seating and consuming that first cup of morning coffee, plus high ceilings with walls sculpted to create a “barrel window” effect, all of this in 1,330 square feet of living space.
– The Muddy Waters, by Thrush Development Co.: This 1,330-square-foot cottage has a lot of things that its cottage forebears lacked-a family room, a kitchen island and vaulted ceilings, to name a few.
The decor in the family room makes handsome use of a material not known for its glamor, linoleum. The terra cotta-color flooring, topped by a handsome hand-woven rug, suggests that it can get away with more formality than we’d give it credit for.
– The Whitney, by Tauke & Cook, Ltd.: Two-story entries with acres of windows are almost obligatory in suburban construction these days, and the Whitney has applied it deftly here. Its family room, with its built-in entertainment center, is meant to accommodate what families tend to really do.
Going up the extra-wide staircase, one encounters an open study that could be converted to a third bedroom. The study opens to an outside balcony.
– The Warren, by Wade Enterprises & Associates: The house craftily separates the living room from the family room with a dual-side fireplace, a feature that also showed up prominantly at this summer’s Cavalcade of Homes in Naperville.
By putting the staircase in the middle of the house instead of the front, a significant amount of space becomes available for the master bedroom, which is made to feel even larger with a cathedral ceiling.
– The Fairfield, by R. & A. Reichert Homes: This house looks like it came from some charming small town, particularly with its pale yellow siding and gingerbread-trimmed porch.
Placing the stairway access at the kitchen, where a lot of the foot traffic will be, seems like a natural. The kitchen and adjoining family room, which amount to about 360 square feet, are made to feel even bigger courtesy of the oak parquet that covers the whole flooring area.
– The $200 Home, by the Isaiah Community Development Group: The name is derived from the builder’s guarantee that the house’s annual heating costs won’t exceed $200.
The second-floor master bedroom opens to the largest of the several balconies in the parade homes, this one easily accommodating a couple who might want to survey the neighborhood scene.
– The Dato, by Whitman Architecture & Construction Co.: The only all-masonry home in the parade is a formidible affair, with a gated entry that leads to a small courtyard where a lion-head fountain greets visitors with a stream of water.
Whitman claims 2,500 square feet for the house, though browsers should note that this figure includes the attached garage space. Even as garages go, it gets points for being the only one in the parade.
Besides, it’s topped with a roomy deck that’s just waiting for a barbecue grill.
Visitors’ guide
The City of Chicago Parade of Homes, on the 2700 block of West Washington Street, runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (last ticket sold at 6 p.m.) Aug. 5-20. Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens, free for children 12 and under.
Coupons for $1 discounts-usable on weekdays only-are available through the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago, 708-627-7575.
