RICHARD MONASTRA, ARCHITECT
RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS
CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE THE SLIDE SHOWS
COACH HOUSE RECONFIGURATION LAKEVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD, CHICAGO
The three-story, brick coach house is 22 x 24 feet in plan. Before renovation small rooms divided the interior, and bearing walls carried the 2nd and 3rd floors. The owners, a young couple, were living in a loft. They wanted the renovated coach house to have a spacious feeling like the loft.
Two oak timbers replaced the bearing walls. The three-story window and cut away floors let in the view and space of outdoors and bring south light to each floor. The open stairs establish scale and focus awareness on the spaces out of view.
CONSULTING ARCHITECT: Marton Sass
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: R.I. Johnson
CONSTRUCTION: L. Harding & R. Monastra
PHOTOGRAPHER: Lew Harding
A SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE FROM A 2 FLAT,
PALMER SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD, CHICAGO
The new owners of this early 20th century 2 flat wanted to maintain the period detail in converting the building to their single family home.
The extra-wide lot allowed the window bay on the side of the building that had been lighting a bedroom on each floor to hold the new circular stair case. The new skylight on the dome over the staircase brings additional sunlight to the middle of the house.
Panel doors and casings and built-in wood work, including the room divider show in the photo, were salvaged, refurbished and built into new locations.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: R. I. Johnson
CONTRACTOR: Baltic Construction, Stanley Pukelis
PHOTOGRAPHER: Lew Harding
FAÇADE
1919 NORTH ORCHARD STREET, CHICAGO
This Victorian was built around 1890; the first floor was originally a retail store. The storefront had been bricked-in a good while ago. The slide show shows that bricked-in condition. The new owners had completed most of the interior renovation work and wanted to make the façade flirt with the street.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: R.I. Johnson
CONTRACTOR: Stellar Performance,
Cesar Auggie Pedroza,
PHOTOGRAPHER: Warren Perlstein Photography
New Basement Entry and Steel Stairs
Photo by Warren Perlstein
New Basement Entry and Steel Stairs
BASEMENT BUILD-OUT & BACKYARD RENOVATION
BUCKTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD, CHICAGO
Twenty years after designing the conversion of this 3 unit, 1890 apartment building into their single family home the owners again retained Richard Monastra for the design of their basement build-out and yard renovation.
The entire building foundation was underpinned with new concrete footings. This allowed the heat producing concrete floor to lie low enough to accommodate an 8 foot high ceiling and overhead mechanical work.
The original foundation stone and exterior brick walls were restored and exposed to the interior. Since the site sits about 5 feet below the street the low floor slab necessitated water-tight joints to keep out ground water. The lower portion of the interior walls is concrete poured in place, and the upper is patterned glass in aluminum frame. The owners wanted to assure that no water would ever damage the structure. At the north and south rooms the basement space was clear spanned to prevent the pre-existing wood posts and beams from interrupting it.
French windows open along the east wall to add sunlight and ventilation. Most of the sunlight enters through the south glass wall. This replaced the original brick wall that enclosed the back of the basement. Structural steel beams and columns support the 3 stories of building above the glass.
Also, the insulating glass in the aluminum frame visually connects the basement with the backyard. The concrete patio, planters and stairs and the steel stairs extend the indoor design to the outdoors. The steel stairs replace the lower portion of the pre-existing wood stairway and porch designed and built by the owner.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: Johnson Wilbur Adams
Mechanical Consultant: William B. Paschal
General Contractor: By Owner
Concrete Contractor: Bulley & Andrews
Steel Contractor: Vector Fabricating
PHOTOGRAPHER: Pete Lekousis except where indicated
Dining Room & Stairs - Looking West
East Wall - Entry & Living Room
Construction Drawing
Dining Room & Stairs - Looking West
BUNGALOW ADDITION AND RENOVATION,
BLUE ISLAND, ILLINOIS
Art and Lorie Wennerberg are now deceased. At the time of these architectural services Art was retired from the railroad. His time was spent shaping custom metal body parts for one antique Packard automobile that had never been built. It took prizes at the auto show and sold well. Art was also an enthusiast of the Arts & Crafts movement that flourished around 1900, in particular of the Greene Brothers of Pasadena California.
Exclusive of the kitchen, the building program called for the 1st floor and the stair to the 2nd floor to be renovated in the style of Charles and Henry Greene. The construction work was to be done in two phases. The addition of a wood paneled foyer was to be fitted to the house before the interior work commenced.
Early during the addition construction Art saw that the contractor was incapable of executing the design. Art took over and did the contracting and carpentry work, progressing to the stage shown in the photos, when Lorie became seriously ill. With Lorie’s death Art abandoned the project.
The design studies show the extent of development of the interior renovation. The construction drawings show the intended finished addition.
COACH HOUSE ADDITION,
GOLD COAST NEIGHBOROHOOD, CHICAGO
The first floor of this coach house was retained intact. It held an up-to-date 3 car garage. The second floor guest-house apartment was demolished and rebuilt and the third floor was added to enlarge the guest-house.
A zoning variation was required. A new wythe of brick and stone was added to the yard-facing façade of the coach house. The rear of the main building was also clad in a new wythe of brick and stone to reflect a similar appearance as shown in the photos.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: R. I. Johnson
MECHANICAL CONSULTANT: William B. Paschal
CONTRACTOR: Braver Construction
ADDITION TO 2 FAMILY RESIDENCE,
LINCOLN PARK NEIGHBORHOOD, CHICAGO
The owners, a couple with adolescent children, lived on the 2nd floor of this 2 flat. Long time residents leased the first floor apartment. The owners wanted to add a family room with storage space, a half bath, and a new master bedroom suite with space for a small sauna to be installed at a later date, so an addition was added to the back of the building.
The back door to the second floor apartment was moved to the 1st floor, capturing most of the space for the owners’ home that had previously been used for the back porch. The new back stairs to the 1st floor became interior to the owners’ unit.
A band of glass windows and doors across the south wall of the 2nd floor family room transmitted supplementary, passive solar heat to the room in winter. The roof south overhang kept the sun's heat out in summer.
The addition was built, but to lower construction cost vinyl siding replaced the exterior stucco walls, the exterior wood trim was eliminated and the new half bath installation was postponed to a later date.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: R. I. Johnson
MECHANICAL CONSULTANT: William B. Paschal
CONTRACTOR: Braver Construction
KITCHEN & FAMILY ROOM EXPANSION
WINNETKA, ILLINOIS
This Winnetka house had an awkward double door opening to the back yard that didn’t function well and a cramped kitchen. The small addition allowed for a much larger kitchen with a more open family room. Skylights brought much added light to the kitchen.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: Johnson, Wilbur Adams, Inc.
MECHANICAL CONSULTANT: William B. Paschal, PE
PHOTOGRAPHS: By Owner
BUNGALOW ADDITION & RENOVATION, CHICAGO
A couple with toddlers, 2 boys and a girl needed to modify their bungalow. The kitchen functioned poorly and did not overlook the family room which was too small. The enclosed back porch was unheated. The second floor had two small bedrooms and no bath and the stairs were too steep. The interior was too dark.
The owners decided to keep the master bedroom suite on the first floor. Their daughter's bedroom would stay on the first floor until the second floor was expanded at a later date.
These things were achieved by flipping the kitchen and bedroom locations and replacing the enclosed porch with a new addition. Also the back door was relocated and a new open staircase assended from the new kitchen and adjacent family room to the 2nd floor. New skylights and windows brought light to the family room.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: Johnson, Wilbur Adams, Inc.
MECHANICAL CONSULTANT: Calor Design Group, Ltd.
SINGLE FAMILY RENOVATION
DePAUL NEIGHBORHOOD, CHICAGO
Besides the renovation and addition on the back of this single family residence, the street façade was restored. At some point in the life of this Victorian, the original porch had been replaced by a stoop with balustrades of solid concrete. The design of the wood entry porch and balustrade replaced that stoop.
CONSTRUCTION: Creative Remodeling Co.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Lew Harding
ROWHOUSE RESTORATION TO SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE, CHICAGO
This Hyde Park row house was built to accommodate visiting dignitaries for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Subsequently subdivided into two apartments the building had suffered somewhat serious, fire damage, the original staircase had been demolished and the pocket doors were gone. However, a substantial number of original panel doors, and significant amounts of casing and other woodwork remained intact.
The new owners wanted to refurbish and replicate the period detail, adding the new mill work stairs and other features. The floor plans were reconfigured to satisfy the single family use. The fire damaged floors of the east wing were demolished and replaced with new structures. The stairs to the basement were moved to fall under the entry stairs allowing a small entry closet to be located under part of the kitchen counter.
ASSOCIATED ARCHITECT: Offenbert-Tiritilli, Ltd.
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT: Johnson, Wilbur Adams, Inc.
MECHANICAL CONSULTANT: Calor Design Group, Ltd.
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copyright 2024 Richard Monastra, Architect