WICKER PARK — A plan to remove a staircase in front of an 1880s-era home has the blessing of an alderman and a neighborhood group known for being sticklers on historic preservation, but staffers from the city's Landmark Commission are denying a Wicker Park couple's building permit request.
In 2007, George Menninger and Ann Cheeseman's cottage at 1937 W. Evergreen Ave. in Wicker Park was converted from a two-flat into a single-family home.
Since their home is in Wicker Park's Historic Landmark District, the couple need the city's permission to remove a nearly 10½-foot-high, 6-foot-wide wooden staircase that they describe as "dangerous and a hazard."
The stairs lead to an upper-level door that is used as a window and not an entryway. The family enters their home on the first floor, beneath the stairs.
On a tour of the home on Friday, Menninger said he must stand by the lower steps to pass out candy on Halloween so kids don't try going upstairs. Cheeseman added that food delivery people often get confused by the stairs, despite a long chainlink rope that prevents entry.
"Regardless of whether the stairs are original or unsafe, landmarks says that the stairs are historically important," Menninger said.
Alisa Hauser explains the Landmark Commission's decision:
The landmarks panel's Permit Review Committee told Menninger and Cheeseman that the removal of the stairs would have an "adverse effect" on a significant feature of the landmark district, according to a letter from staffers on the landmarks panel.
A public hearing is set for June 10 to discuss the matter, though a formal vote on whether the stairs can be removed will likely not come before the Full Landmark Commission until mid-July, when the members of the appointed commission will either vote to approve the Permit Review Committee's preliminary denial or to reverse the decision.
Earlier this month, 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno wrote a letter supporting removal of the stairs, as did the eight members of the Wicker Park Committee's Preservation and Development subcommittee, which voted unanimously on May 20 to support the plan.
Paul Dickman, a member of the Wicker Park Committee's Preservation and Development subcommittee, said that the group "could survive the loss of the stairs," as long as the contributing physical elements of the building, including the appearance of the upper opening as a doorway, were preserved.
Based on an architect's rendering supplied by Menninger, the upper doorway would appear to resemble an entryway if the stairs were allowed to be removed.
(l.) 1937 W. Evergreen Ave. and a rendering of the proposed renovation. [Provided]
"Landmark issues are always a tightrope of preservation and legitimate property rights and uses," Dickman said.
Similar Wicker Park homes previously had staircases out front, such as at 2124 W. Evergreen Ave.
The stairs at 2124 W. Evergreen were removed, without a proper permit, in 1997, according to neighbor Nancy Stark, who kept detailed records of her fight to keep the stairs in front of the wood-frame two-flat intact.
Stark said she was traveling in France when her former neighbors removed the stairs.
Stark, a former president of the Wicker Park Committee, said she believes Menninger and Cheeseman should be forced to keep their home "as is."
"I fought to the death to get us into the Landmark District, and I will fight to the death to keep it enforced," Stark said, before producing photos of what the neighboring home at 2124 W. Evergreen looked like in 1997, with a front staircase.
(l.) 2124 W. Evergreen Ave. in 1997 and today [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser (today); Nancy Stark (1997)]
1937 W Evergreen Preliminary Denial - May 1 2015 by City's Landmark Historic Preservation Dept.
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