Up or down, rarely out
Lot widths here mean a rear addition is often not realistic. The honest options are a dormer above or a proper lower level below, and they are priced side by side.
Roscoe Village, Chicago
Remodeling in Roscoe Village, Chicago
Roscoe Village is a neighborhood of brick bungalows, worker cottages and two-flats on tight, tree-lined blocks — and most of the renovation work there comes down to one question: how do you get more usable room out of a small, century-old footprint? That is the kind of project Revive 360 Renovations plans for.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Neighborhood
Roscoe Village, Chicago
Typical housing
Workers cottages on narrow lots
Permits issued by
Chicago Dept. of Buildings
Our office
N. Halsted St., Chicago
Roscoe Village, Chicago
Renovating Homes in Roscoe Village
Roscoe Village sits between Addison and Belmont, roughly from Ravenswood west to Western. It is compact, largely residential, and built mostly of the same materials: brick bungalows, wood-frame worker cottages, and two-flats from the early twentieth century, with a scattering of newer construction on lots that were cleared along the way.
Those houses were built modestly and built small. A cottage may run front-to-back as a chain of rooms with no hallway. A bungalow typically has an unfinished attic under a low-pitched roof, a single bathroom, and a kitchen tucked at the rear. None of that matches how a household uses a home now, which is why so much of the work here is about capacity rather than cosmetics.
The projects that repeat are attic conversions with dormers, basements lowered or finished into real rooms, a second bathroom carved out where none existed, and the kitchen opened toward the dining and living space. Done well, that reshapes how the house works without touching its street-facing character.
Your Building
Find your building, and you will find your project
Roscoe Village is built on some of the narrowest lots on the North Side. Almost every project here is a question about how to get more out of a small footprint.
| Era and building type | What you find inside | What a whole-home project becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 1885–1910 — frame workers cottages | A small raised plan, three or four rooms, a steep stair, and a lower level that was always semi-habitable. | Going up or going down, because going out is rarely an option on a lot this narrow. |
| 1900–1925 — brick two-flats | Stacked units on one waste stack, rear porches, and a plan that has not changed since it was built. | One home or two, decided first, then the rear rebuilt around the answer. |
| 1920–1940 — later brick cottages and small bungalows | A slightly longer plan, one bathroom, and an attic that could be used but is not. | Opening the rear and bringing the attic into use. |
| 2000–today — rebuilds, dormers and rear additions | Cottages that have already been extended upwards or backwards, with varying success. | Assessing the earlier work honestly before adding anything else to it. |
Inside The Building
What you are actually working inside
Cut through a typical Roscoe Village cottage 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 stack
One line serving everything. On a small plan it decides where the kitchen and the bathroom can be, and that is most of the design.
- 2
The bearing wall along the length
It runs front to back. Opening it is what turns three small rooms into one usable space.
- 3
The service panel
Original in most cottages, and the limit on everything a modern household wants to plug in.
- 4
A gangway of a few feet
This is the whole access plan. It decides what arrives assembled and what is cut on site.
- 5
The raised lower level
Where the extra living space is, if the ceiling height allows. Measured on the first visit, because it sets the whole brief.
- 6
The roof and the attic above it
A dormer is the other direction a cottage can grow. Structure and the stair position decide whether it works.
In Roscoe Village
Room-by-Room in Roscoe Village
What the work actually involves here: the housing stock, who issues the permit, and what the budget turns on.
Bathroom Remodeling in Roscoe Village
Roscoe Village is narrow lots and workers’ cottages, many of them lifted over a new basement decades ago. That history is what we find when the bathroom floor comes up.
Read more →Kitchen Remodeling in Roscoe Village
A Roscoe Village kitchen is at the back of a narrow cottage, often above a basement that was dug out under it. Where the drain can go decides the layout before anything else.
Read more →
What We Do
Remodeling Services for Roscoe Village 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 Roscoe Village. We plan around them rather than discover them.
The lower level decides the brief
Ceiling height, damp and egress determine whether the basement becomes living space. That answer shapes everything else.
One wall, whole house
The bearing wall runs the length of the cottage. Opening it is the single change that most alters how the house feels.
A few feet between buildings
The narrowest access we work with. Everything from cabinetry to a skip has to fit through it, and that is planned first.
Original service, modern demands
A cottage was wired for very little. Any serious project starts by sizing the supply properly.
A small house, fully occupied
There is nowhere inside to retreat to. Whether you stay during the work changes the sequence completely.
Permits
Which permit does your project need?
The question every Roscoe Village 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, so we confirm which branch your project sits on in writing before any money is committed.
Where It Goes
Where the money actually goes
No two Roscoe Village cottages 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.
Structural work, up or down
A dormer or a dug-out lower level is usually the largest single piece of work here, which is unusual and it is why this list starts differently.
Cabinetry and built-in joinery
In a small house, built-in storage is not a luxury. It is what makes the plan work at all.
Labour and project management
Trades and supervision on a site where one trade at a time is the practical limit.
Services and supply
A new panel, a renewed stack, and services rerun through a building that had very few.
Surfaces: stone, tile and flooring
Smaller areas than anywhere else we work, so specification matters more than quantity.
Permits, protection and insurance
City permit, protection in a very tight gangway, dust containment. Small, and never worth cutting.
This is the order these lines typically fall in on a whole-home project in Roscoe Village, not a breakdown of your project. Your figures come from a site visit and a scope, and nowhere else.
Coverage
Where we work in Roscoe Village
Roscoe Village is not one place. These are the parts of it we are in most often.
The Roscoe Street blocksHamlin ParkEast Roscoe VillageWest Roscoe VillageThe Belmont Avenue corridor
Planning a Renovation in Roscoe Village?
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
Roscoe Village Remodeling FAQs
What kinds of homes are in Roscoe Village?
Mostly brick bungalows, wood-frame worker cottages and two-flats built in the early twentieth century, plus some newer infill construction. They tend to be modest in size with unfinished attics, low basements and a single bathroom, which is why so many projects here focus on gaining usable space.
Can you convert a Roscoe Village attic into living space?
Often yes. It depends on the roof structure, how much headroom exists under the ridge, and whether a stair can be routed without eating the floor below. A dormer usually makes the space genuinely usable but changes the exterior and needs a permit. We assess all of that before proposing a layout.
Is lowering a basement ceiling worth doing?
Sometimes. Underpinning or lowering a slab is real structural work with real cost, so it makes sense when the added floor genuinely changes how the house functions and not when it is simply nice to have. We give you the honest number early so the decision is made before the rest of the design depends on it.
How hard is it to add a second bathroom to a bungalow?
The deciding factor is usually the existing plumbing stack. A bathroom placed near it is far simpler and cheaper than one placed away from it, which may need new drain runs and floor work. We map the plumbing before drawing layouts, so the plan reflects what the house can actually support.
Can we stay in the house during the renovation?
Frequently, yes, depending on scope. We phase the work so a usable kitchen or bathroom stays available where possible, and set up dust barriers and protected walkways. For a full gut, staying is usually not realistic, and we will tell you that before the project starts rather than during it.