Architecture • Engineering • Planning • Forensic Services

This coach house adjoins the much larger Evanston Art Center, a former residence owned by the City of Evanston and designated as an Evanston historic landmark that we partially restored over the past decade. The large coach house contains two five-room apartments once occupied by household staff, three garage spaces and an attached greenhouse and work shed. Previously, we replaced the original windows and, while providing new insulated glass aluminum windows, were able to match style, color and, in one instance, the diagonal leaded glass pattern of the original window.

The original project scope for this most-recent renovation was to restore the entire building including repairing and upgrading the apartments for the first time in more than 60 years with new kitchens and baths, electrical power and lighting, plumbing, floor and wall finishes and the addition of air-conditioning. The exterior work was to include removal of massive amounts of ivy and moss, repairing the ornate copper gutters and downspouts, repairing the clay tile roof, wood trim, bluestone entry patio and the badly deteriorated stone masonry.

While bids for the entire project were within the project budget estimates, the economic downturn in 2009 required that the project be limited to only exterior renovations and repairs that could protect the interior from further water damage and deterioration. All of the stone masonry was repointed with mortar similar in color and consistency to the original mortar, new bluestone was installed at the front entry patio after the collapsed underlying concrete slab was replaced, new stoops and stairs were installed at the south entry, copper gutters were replaced and years of leaves and debris removed from the downspouts and subsurface drain lines, all of the ivy was removed from the building and chimney, the copper canopies over the entry doors were repaired, missing exterior lights were replicated and installed and the deteriorated oak frames around the windows and doors were replaced.