Project Overview

The 1705 Vance Project is a complete renovation...tearing out all the old and replacing with new...except for a few things like trim and doors we salvaged from the house and some antique items we'll add to the house during the finish phase.  When people see it, they inevitably ask, "How were there seven apartments here!?!"  So to help you see it (and to make sense of the pictures), here's a little sketch of the house:  before, original, and proposed.  To the best of our ability, the left represents the state we got the house in with its seven apartments; the middle is what we believe the original 1910 layout - with circa 1930's additions - was, based on the original studs we uncovered; and the right is a representation of the room layout we plan to use for our renovation. Let's start with the lower level:

I'm not sure what happened to the right image as to why it didn't copy over at the same scale as the others, but you get the picture.  As you can see, we had to lose the garage in the very back.  Aside from its deplorable condition, the carpenter said it wasn't even built well to begin with; so it wasn't worth saving.

For the first time in many decades, the front door will face Vance Avenue (a kind neighbor who grew up two doors down shared with me that the entrance to the lower level was on the living room side when she was a child growing up in the 30s and 40s). There will also be a second entrance at the other end of the wrap around porch opening into the kitchen.  I've seen that on a few homes of this period in Highland Park.  We are widening the bathroom downstairs to allow standard fixtures to fit, so we lost a little back porch space there.  Additionally, we are widening the opening between the kitchen and dining room to allow better flow as well as opening up the entrance to the kitchen from the foyer/hallway.  Both fireplaces in the living room and dining room will be plumbed for gas logs and outfitted with antique mantles each with their original mirrors intact!

Now for the upper level:

This floor requires a little more adjustment than downstairs.  In order to meet code regulations for the stairs in the hallway and to avoid a wasted space behind the back bedroom, we decided to shift the back bedroom to the back corner of the house.  This really opens up the hallway and allows a very convenient space for a laundry room.  We feel that this layout will work out great for a modern family without taking away from the historic feel of the home.  The master suite is a real treat with a large bathroom and a big walk in closet!  And of course, we're keeping the fireplaces upstairs too...also plumbed for gas logs and outfitted with antique mantles!!