LINCOLN PARK — A 125-year-old Lincoln Park home described as one of the finest examples of a classic Chicago worker's cottage hit the market Tuesday morning for $2.635 million.
The cottage, a designated Chicago landmark, is one of the last surviving buildings of its kind in the neighborhood.
A developer purchased the building after it was landmarked in late 2013 and has plans to completely preserve the exterior.
"Lincoln Park over the years, based on the economics, many many of those worker's cottages have been lost due to major renovations or replacement," said Tim LeVaughn, the architect on the project. "There really isn't anything that is not only representative of that type, but has the absolute uniqueness and completeness that this one does."
Paul Biasco says the developer plans to gut the interior:
Worker's cottages were a common building type during Chicago's Nineteenth Century in working and middle class neighborhoods. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 most of the cottages were constructed with brick.
The home at 1925 N. Fremont St. was built in 1891 and designed by Bettinghofer & Hermann, an architectural partnership that designed a number of significant buildings in the neighborhood including St. Alphonsus Church, the Aldine Building at 909 W. Armitage Ave. and a firehouse at 202 E. Chicago Ave.
The developer on the current cottage project, Bob Berg of Foster Design Build, has been working with the landmarks commission to finalize plans to preserve the entirety of the exterior of the home, which is known as the Martin Schnitzius Cottage.
"This particular project [the landmarks commission] is very sensitive to because it's what they consider one of the finest examples of cottage architecture," LeVaughn said.
The builder expects to completely renovate the interior of the home.
"This is unique. There's not another house like this in Chicago," Berg said.
The reasons it's unique are that the worker's cottage was designed by an established architect rather than a simple cookie-cutter home builder in the late 1890s and that it remains in excellent shape.
The details on the facade and brick are not typical in worker's cottages.
"We are going to refinish the whole outside of the house to make it look like it was just built 150 years ago," Berg said.
The home went on the market Tuesday morning and is being marketed as a custom home — with an opportunity to customize the interior.
The home is listed by @properties. More information is available at 1925fremont.info.
"This home deserves more than your normal construction process in Lincoln Park," Berg said. "It's really a masterpiece."
Berg expects to receive a building permit within two to three months after going through the landmarks commission.
He estimates the total job will take about 14 months.
"It takes a lot to step up and do a project like this," LeVaughn said. "You really have to want to do it."
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