WICKER PARK — Among the oldest homes in the Wicker Park Landmark District, an 1860s wood frame cottage covered with blue vinyl for several years has shed its siding, revealing intricate details and surprises, such as significantly larger original window frames.
"One of my business partners drove past and texted, 'What did you do to your beautiful house?' " said Lyle Harlow, owner of the cottage at 1426 N. Hoyne Ave. and a real estate agent.
Harlow, who has owned the historic three-bedroom cottage since 2002, put it on the market in early April, asking $902,000. He reduced the price to $899,900 in May before removing the listing last week.
Before and after of the home's exterior. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
Harlow said he removed the listing because he felt like the home was not getting much attention because it lacked curb appeal and needed a face-lift.
"I am restoring the facade to the way it first looked in 1860 when it was built. We realized the windows were much larger. It's a pre-Chicago Fire home, and most of the other homes in the area were built in the 1880s. It was probably just a little house out in the fields at one point. It's really solidly built," he said.
The Chicago Historic Resource Survey lists the home as pre-1870s. It is one of only two pre-1870s home within several blocks (the other pre-1870s home is a dark green and white home at 1559 N. Hoyne).
If everything goes as planned — including adding new windows under the direction of the Landmark Commission permit review committee, arranging a colorful Victorian paint job and installing new sod for the yard's landscaped English cottage garden — Harlow hopes the home will shed its "an ugly duckling" status.
"I am getting people stopping and their jaws dropping because it looks so horrible right now. But I can see the potential. The woodworking details and all the intricacies are coming out now. It has always been quirky and bottom heavy. It had a lot of its Victorian detail covered up by siding since the 1950s," Harlow said.
Harlow said there were three layers of siding including asphalt siding on the home, and the second layer of siding was put on after a fire because pa rt of the first layer had melted.
The home is situated on a 150-foot lot, with a backyard twice the size as the front yard.
Harlow was unsure of when the work would be completed, or when he would again put the home back up for sale.
The front of the home. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
