Eddy House

What We Bought:

We started with a weird Chicago 2-flat with great bones. A beautiful ivy covered brick building housed 3 beds, 3 baths, and 3 kitchens bizarrely laid out over its 3 floors. We toiled with designs for a couple of years while living in the first floor and basement; before taking over the tenants space on the second floor when they left in 2020; all the time drawing and redrawing layouts, tweaking here and there to align with how we lived in the house.

Design:

Documenting and navigating the Chicago Permit Process on a small project like this was new for me, and required the assistance of some experts. Through 2 rounds of permit comments, a debate about what is and what isn’t a bedroom, and a thousand smoke detectors later…we got there. Construction began in Spring 2021

Construction:

Luckily my wife was wise enough to make us move out; and found us an excellent partner in Merge construction to help bring our vision to reality. Quickly executed in just under 7 months, the team expertly demolished portions of the existing bearing wall, added new glue lam beams, exposed beautiful existing brick, and brought the amenities a couple of centuries forward; all while retaining the original character of the home.

We moved back in in October 2021, just weeks before welcoming a new baby girl.

Eddy House - 2021 - Personal Work