A landmark district with real rules
In the designated bungalow district the street elevation, the art glass and the roofline are protected. Interior work is freer, but the front is settled with the city first.
Irving Park, Chicago
Remodeling in Irving Park, Chicago
Irving Park has the largest lots and the oldest houses on this part of the North Side, including two landmark districts. There is genuine Victorian stock here, and it needs renovating with that in mind.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Neighborhood
Irving Park, Chicago
Typical housing
Landmark bungalows & Victorian frame houses
Permits issued by
Chicago Dept. of Buildings
Our office
N. Halsted St., Chicago
Irving Park, Chicago
Renovating Homes in Irving Park
Irving Park was a commuter suburb before the city annexed it, and it still reads that way. Old Irving Park holds substantial frame Victorians and Queen Anne houses from the 1880s and 1890s on lots far wider than the standard Chicago twenty-five feet. The Villa District, a Chicago landmark district, is a block of Craftsman bungalows and American Foursquares built between 1907 and 1922, and Independence Park adds a run of large brick houses around the green.
That age brings the full pre-war set: plaster on lath, cast-iron waste, galvanised supply and wiring from several eras including live knob-and-tube in ceiling bays that were never reached.
It also brings room. Wide lots and generous plans mean a primary suite or an opened kitchen can usually be found inside the existing footprint, which is not true a mile east.
Your Building
Find your building, and you will find your project
Irving Park holds both a landmark bungalow district and some of the oldest frame houses on the North Side. They are completely different buildings to work on.
| Era and building type | What you find inside | What a whole-home project becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 1870–1900 — early Victorian frame houses | Tall ceilings, rooms in sequence, porches, and systems added long after the house was built. | A survey-led project. These houses reward restraint and punish assumptions. |
| 1910–1930 — brick bungalows, including the landmark district | A long plan with rooms in a line, art glass worth keeping, a small rear kitchen, one bathroom, and an unfinished attic. | Opening the rear, adding a bathroom, and often finishing the attic, with the street elevation left exactly as it is. |
| 1900–1930 — brick two-flats | Stacked units, a shared stack, and a rear porch doing all the work. | Either a single-home conversion or two good flats, decided before design. |
| 1990–today — infill and rebuilds | Newer houses on cleared lots, and older houses extended at the back. | Finish-led, with any earlier extension assessed first. |
Inside The Building
What you are actually working inside
Cut through a typical Irving Park building and the six things that decide a whole-home project are visible at once. Red marks what is shared or structural.
Scroll the drawing sideways →
- 1
A single wet core
Kitchen and bathroom sit close together over one stack. Keeping new fixtures near it is what keeps a bungalow project proportionate.
- 2
The spine wall
A bungalow plan is organised around a central bearing wall. It is the wall worth opening, and the one that needs a beam.
- 3
The service panel
Original in many of these houses. A second bathroom and a modern kitchen together need it sized properly, once.
- 4
The gangway and the back porch
A few feet between buildings and a rear stair. That is the whole delivery plan for a bungalow project.
- 5
The basement
The route for every new service, and often where the family room ends up.
- 6
The unfinished attic
The largest piece of unused space in a Chicago bungalow, and the reason many projects here go upwards rather than outwards.
In Irving Park
Room-by-Room in Irving Park
What the work actually involves here: the housing stock, who issues the permit, and what the budget turns on.
Kitchen Remodeling in Irving Park
Irving Park has the oldest houses and the widest lots on this part of the North Side. A Victorian kitchen here has room to become something genuinely generous.
Read more →Bathroom Remodeling in Irving Park
Irving Park houses are big enough that a proper primary suite usually fits inside the existing walls. That is rare on the North Side, and it is the project most people here should be considering.
Read more →
What We Do
Remodeling Services for Irving Park Homes
Most projects here combine more than one of these. Each links through to the full service page.
Kitchen Remodeling
Full kitchen remodels, from opening up a closed-off layout to cabinetry, countertops, tile and the plumbing and electrical work behind them.
View service →Bathroom Remodeling
Bathroom remodels that make small, older layouts work harder: waterproofing, tile, vanities, fixtures and shower or tub replacement.
View service →Custom Kitchen Cabinets
Cabinetry built and fitted to the room rather than the other way round, including scribing to walls that are rarely square.
View service →Walk-In Shower Installation
Replacing an unused tub or a dated enclosure with a level-access shower, properly waterproofed and tiled.
View service →On Site
What makes remodeling here different
These are the conditions that decide the sequence and the contingency on a whole-home job in Irving Park. We plan around them rather than discover them.
The attic is the extra floor
Dormers and finished attic space are how a bungalow gains a bedroom. Headroom and the stair position decide whether it is realistic.
The spine wall carries the roof
Opening a bungalow plan means a beam, an engineer and a permit. It is the one move that changes how the house lives.
Art glass and original trim
Worth repairing rather than replacing, and worth protecting during every service run. The making-good is a real line here.
An original service, a modern list
Kitchen, second bathroom and a finished attic together outgrow what the house was wired for. Sized once, early.
A gangway measured in feet
Everything arrives through a narrow side passage or up the back stair. It decides what can be delivered assembled.
Permits
Which permit does your project need?
The question every Irving Park homeowner asks first, answered before you commit to anything. Follow your own project across.
Scroll the chart sideways →
This is the route, not a ruling. Scope decides it, the city has the final say, and a property in the landmark district may carry a further review. We confirm all of it in writing before any money is committed.
Where It Goes
Where the money actually goes
No two Irving Park houses price the same, so this is an order rather than a number: the lines that pull hardest on a whole-home budget here, largest first.
Cabinetry and built-in joinery
The largest line, and in a bungalow it is the built-in storage the original plan never had as much as it is the kitchen.
Structural work and the attic
The beam that opens the plan and the framing and stair that bring the attic into use. Together they carry the project.
Labour and project management
Trades and supervision in a house small enough that two trades rarely fit at once.
Surfaces: stone, tile and flooring
Countertops, tile and refinishing the original oak, which in a bungalow runs through every room.
Fixtures, appliances and lighting
The widest spread on the list, and the easiest line to settle last.
Permits, landmark review, protection and insurance
City permit, any district review, floor protection and dust containment. Small, and never worth cutting.
This is the order these lines typically fall in on a whole-home project in Irving Park, not a breakdown of your project. Your figures come from a site visit and a scope, and nowhere else.
Coverage
Where we work in Irving Park
Irving Park is not one place. These are the parts of it we are in most often.
Old Irving ParkThe VillaIndependence ParkKilbourn ParkWest Walker
Planning a Renovation in Irving Park?
Tell us about the property and what you want to change. We will set up a consultation, walk the space, and come back with a scope, a schedule and a price.
FAQ
Irving Park Remodeling FAQs
What kinds of homes are in Irving Park?
Older and larger than most of the North Side. Old Irving Park has frame Victorians and Queen Anne houses from the 1880s and 1890s on wide lots; the Villa District is Craftsman bungalows and Foursquares from 1907 to 1922; Independence Park adds larger brick houses. Post-war infill fills the gaps.
My house is in the Villa District. What does that mean for the work?
For anything inside the house, nothing — landmark status concerns the exterior. It engages the moment you want a new window opening, a dormer, a rear addition or an exterior vent, which needs Commission review. That review takes longer than people expect, so it should be started well before the build.
Can we get a primary suite without extending?
In this housing, usually yes. The lots and the plans are generous enough that combining a bedroom with an adjoining room or a large hall gives a proper suite inside the existing walls. Whether the wall between them is carrying the floor above is the question, and it is answered with the ceiling open.
We still have knob-and-tube wiring. Is that a problem?
It is common in houses that were never fully rewired, particularly in ceiling bays nobody has reached. It is not an emergency, but anything we open comes up to current code, and a bathroom or kitchen gets its own protected circuits as part of the work.
Will the original staircase and trim survive?
Where it is worth keeping, yes. In an Irving Park Victorian the joinery is a large part of what the house is worth. We remove and label rather than cutting through, and refit at the end. It adds time to the programme and it is usually the difference between a renovation that belongs and one that was simply installed.