A stack shared up the whole line
Kitchen and bathroom on every floor connect to it. Doing both rooms in one project means opening that wall once rather than twice.
Rogers Park, Chicago
Remodeling in Rogers Park, Chicago
Rogers Park is courtyard buildings, vintage walk-ups and lakefront high-rises, and most of it is owned unit by unit. That makes a renovation here as much about the building and its board as about the apartment itself, and we plan both from the first visit.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Neighborhood
Rogers Park, Chicago
Typical housing
Courtyard buildings & vintage walk-ups
Permits issued by
Chicago Dept. of Buildings
Our office
N. Halsted St., Chicago
Rogers Park, Chicago
Renovating Homes in Rogers Park
Rogers Park runs from Devon Avenue north to Howard Street, between the lake and Ridge Boulevard. It was built out largely between 1915 and 1930, and the dominant building is the courtyard apartment block — three storeys of brick around an open court, built as rental and converted to condominium decades later. Alongside it sit vintage walk-ups, a run of frame and brick two-flats on the streets west of Clark, and the 1960s and 1970s high-rises along Sheridan Road.
Almost everything we do here is inside a unit rather than a house, and that sets the rules. The waste riser is shared, so the kitchen sink and the toilet move only as far as the branch reaches. The floor is shallow, which limits a new drain run. And the association has to approve the scope before anything starts.
None of that stops a good renovation. It just means the work is won back through planning and cabinetry rather than by moving services, and that the paperwork begins the day the scope is settled.
Your Building
Find your building, and you will find your project
Rogers Park is a neighbourhood of courtyard buildings and walk-ups, most of them put up in a twenty-year stretch. They are generous apartments with small, dated service ends.
| Era and building type | What you find inside | What a whole-home project becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 1915–1935 — courtyard buildings and walk-ups | Large principal rooms, sunrooms, original hardwood and trim, radiator heat, and a narrow kitchen off a back porch. | Rebuilding the kitchen and bathroom end of the apartment while the big rooms are left to do what they already do well. |
| 1920–1940 — small brick apartment buildings | Compact plans, stacked plumbing, and bathrooms that have usually been patched rather than renewed. | A full renewal of the wet rooms, with the stack condition established before anything is promised. |
| 1950–1980 — later blocks and lakefront buildings | Concrete construction, soffits carrying services, lower ceilings, and bathrooms with no window. | Ventilation and soffit routing drive the design more than taste does. |
| 1990–today — condo conversions | Older shells with newer services, converted with varying care. | Finish-led, once the conversion work has been looked at honestly. |
Inside The Building
What you are actually working inside
Cut through a typical Rogers Park building and the six things that decide a whole-home project are visible at once. Red marks what you share with the rest of the building.
Scroll the drawing sideways →
- 1
The shared stack
Every kitchen and bathroom on your line ties into it. It is the reason the wet rooms stay roughly where they are.
- 2
Partitions rather than bearing walls
Inside the apartment very little carries load. The constraint is the plumbing, not the walls.
- 3
The common stair and the back porch
Most of these buildings have both. The back porch is usually how materials actually arrive.
- 4
The units either side
Work hours, noise and access through common areas are set by the association rather than by the schedule.
- 5
The structural floor
Little or no void to run services through, so anything that moves sideways gains a soffit or a step.
- 6
The existing soffits
Already carrying services, and the first thing to be mapped when a kitchen layout is being considered.
In Rogers Park
Room-by-Room in Rogers Park
What the work actually involves here: the housing stock, who issues the permit, and what the budget turns on.
Kitchen Remodeling in Rogers Park
Almost every Rogers Park kitchen is inside a condominium, so the board and the shared riser decide what is possible before the cabinets do. We plan both from the first visit.
Read more →Bathroom Remodeling in Rogers Park
A Rogers Park bathroom is a small room in a 1920s courtyard building with a stack it shares with the neighbours. Rebuilt properly it is transformed; rebuilt carelessly it leaks into the flat below.
Read more →
What We Do
Remodeling Services for Rogers 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 Rogers Park. We plan around them rather than discover them.
Association approval comes first
Scope, certificate of insurance and work hours. In the smaller self-managed buildings here this is a conversation with neighbours as much as a submission.
The back porch is the loading route
In a walk-up, cabinetry and stone come up the rear stair. Its width and condition decide what can arrive in one piece.
Services live in the ceiling
Where a soffit can run sets the kitchen layout. It is resolved on paper before anything is ordered.
Original trim and hardwood worth keeping
The big rooms in these apartments are the reason to live here. Protecting the floors and trim during work on the wet rooms is part of the job.
One bathroom, one front door
There is usually no second bathroom. Whether you stay in the apartment changes the sequence more than any finish decision.
Permits
Which permit does your project need?
The question every Rogers 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 and the city has the final say, and in a condo building the association review sits on top. We confirm the whole picture in writing before any money is committed.
Where It Goes
Where the money actually goes
No two Rogers Park apartments 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 vintage apartment with a narrow kitchen it is what turns an awkward room into a usable one.
Labour and project management
Trades, supervision and the coordination with the building that comes with any multi-unit address.
The wet rooms and the services behind them
Stack condition, soffits and plumbing. In buildings of this age what is behind the wall is the main unknown, and it is priced with that in mind.
Surfaces: stone, tile and flooring
Countertops, bathroom tile, and refinishing the original hardwood in the rooms that are not being rebuilt.
Fixtures, appliances and lighting
The widest spread on the list, and the easiest to settle once the rest is fixed.
Permits, association requirements and protection
City permit, insurance certificate, stair and common-area protection. The smallest line and the one the building insists on.
This is the order these lines typically fall in on a whole-home project in Rogers 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 Rogers Park
Rogers Park is not one place. These are the parts of it we are in most often.
East Rogers ParkThe Loyola areaJarvis SquareThe Glenwood Avenue districtThe Sheridan Road corridor
Planning a Renovation in Rogers 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
Rogers Park Remodeling FAQs
What kinds of homes are in Rogers Park?
Mostly 1920s courtyard apartment buildings and vintage walk-ups, now largely condominium, plus brick and frame two-flats west of Clark and lakefront high-rises along Sheridan Road. Single-family houses are the exception rather than the rule.
Do I need my association’s approval before work starts?
In nearly every Rogers Park building, yes. The board will want a written scope, the hours you intend to work and a certificate of insurance naming the association. We prepare all three, and we recommend filing as soon as the scope is settled because it is usually slower than the Chicago building permit.
Can the kitchen sink or the toilet be moved?
A short distance, usually. The waste riser is shared with the units above and below and does not move, so fixtures stay on the branch that reaches it. Cabinets, a shower and a vanity have far more freedom, and that is normally where the room is won back.
How do materials get in?
Up the back stairs in most buildings, through a shared court, with permit parking to arrange. It is a real line in the schedule and we plan the route and the delivery window in advance rather than on the day.
Can original plaster and trim be kept?
Where it is sound, yes, and it is usually worth it. Crown, picture rail and oak flooring are much of what makes a vintage unit desirable. We cut carefully rather than strip, and we allow for patching instead of assuming none will be needed.