Contractor Neil Fortunato works his rehab magic on a 1928 house in Highland Park Neighborhood eyesore may be a 1920s Sears Oak Park model, but past work has covered up clues

By Leslie Mann, Special to the Tribune
November 15, 2009

The little house on Elmwood Drive isn't just an ugly duckling. It is an ugly duckling with its wings wrapped tightly around itself and its head tucked in, while it hides in the brush.

Now, contractor Neil Fortunato is coaxing the 1928 Highland Park house, one wing at a time. The house was a neighborhood eyesore, but Fortunato, who specializes in historic restorations, bought it because it has "good bones and good scale, which makes it a great candidate for restoration."

Fortunato's goal: to restore the house to its charming self, before years of "remuddling" altered it beyond recognition. His guide is a 1971 photo of the house, when it still had its original exterior and windows.

After buying the house from the estate of its deceased owner in October, Fortunato began the restoration by unveiling the pie-shaped lot, which was ringed with a 9-foot-thick hedge. "It filled four chipper trucks," recalls Fortunato, owner of Green Building Technologies Inc. in Highland Park.

Then, he removed the house's aluminum siding. Underneath were its original cedar clapboards, which Fortunato sandblasted and painted.

Now, Fortunato plans to replicate the house's original wooden shutters and the arched, wooden portico that had sheltered its front door.

Inside, the windows and walls were covered with mirrors. Its interior walls and doors were gone, but its oak floors survived the decades. Fortunato said he will create a more open layout from many tiny rooms to suit today's buyers.

The first floor will include a living room that opens to the sunroom, a kitchen with an island and peninsula, and a powder room. The second floor will feature three bedrooms and a full bathroom. A finished basement will include a rec room, full bath and utility/laundry room.

Fortunato will restore the house's original masonry fireplace, which had been partially removed, and leave its exposed brick chimney base in the basement.

Behind the walls, Fortunato is employing 21st century technology so the house will be energy efficient and have indoor air quality. He is using spray-foam insulation, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems and no-VOC paints. New windows will be low-E and Energy Star-rated.

The original house mirrors the Oak Park model in 1920s Sears Roebuck & Co. house catalogs, right down to its sun porch and louvered shutters, except it has a pointed portico instead of an arched one.

"The Oak Park has a high cuteness coefficient," said Rebecca Hunter of Elgin, who has authored several books on the topic. "It was especially popular in the Midwest and East Coast. In the Chicago area, I've seen it from Barrington to Crete."

The Highland Park house is a fine example of the Dutch Colonial Revival style, said Hunter, with its dormer windows, wide eaves and gambrel-style roof that gives it a barnlike appearance.

"In the Netherlands, the gambrel is called 'gebroken dak,' or broken roof," she said. "The style was very popular in the '20s, when Sears alone had about 10 models."

But identifying its origins is tricky, especially because its painted-over rafters conceal potential markings that would verify catalog origins.

"The catalog companies, local carpenters, architects and plan-book companies all copied each other's designs, so many of these houses are hard to identify," said Hunter. "This house's origins may remain a mystery forever."

Based on recent sales in the neighborhood, the restored house will sell for about $500,000, estimates Fortunato. In addition to its update, the house has what real estate agents trumpet as the greatest asset in real estate: location. It is within walking distance of a park and downtown Highland Park, and is 1.5 miles from Lake Michigan.

Fortunato is aiming for a March completion. Meantime, he reports, the neighbors are watching anxiously.

"The house had been in hiding for so long, many of them didn't know what it had looked like originally," he said.

If original owner Daniel Zick could see the completed house, Fortunato said, "I hope he would be pleased with its metamorphosis. When we're done, it will be the best of both worlds -- old on the outside and new on the inside."

Originally published in the Chicago Tribune - Copyright © 2014 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC