Little by little, vintage Zook home at 4 E. Fifth gets refurbished for contemporary living
Subcontractor Tony Lopresti cuts tile and assists Piero Scoleri in laying it in the primary bathroom at 4 E. Fifth St. The previous space-deficient bath was enlarged, helping convert the historic home into a more livable one. (Jim Slonoff photos)
The reinvigorated living room benefits from natural light on three sides, which also accentuates the dark, old-world wooden beams overhead that confer the Cotswolds style of which R. Harold Zook was fond.
Hinsdale is cold and gray on a mid-January morning. Just the kind of day to spend in the snug.
"I saw some article about little English rooms, and they call it a 'snug,' " Mimi Collins said of the cozy reading nook off the living room of her 4 E. Fifth St. cottage. "I thought that was such a cute name."
Those minor discoveries offer moments of mirth in the stamina-testing ordeal of a historic home restoration/renovation. But after a little more than six months of construction, Collins can sense the project turning a corner.
"It's nice to see progress rather than demolition and destruction," she said.
The dated orange paneling throughout the first floor, which she inherited upon purchasing the 1928 R. Harold Zook-designed home last June, has now been stained a dark patina to exude a richer feel.
"It looks too red, and I don't like red," she remarked.
Collins pointed out new air conditioning system outlets carefully located in the floor to bring comfort without compromising the vintage aesthetic.
"They didn't have AC here, so (the challenge was) finding places to put it without ruining the whole room," Collins said.
Original baseboard pieces needed to be replaced as part of the renovations. That could be a challenge with a century-old property. But when entire upstairs bedrooms feature that same finishing, Collins can harvest from the private space to benefit the common area.
"You're not going to find this same base," she said of trying to be faithful in a preservation project. "I try to save stuff, reuse it if I can, patch things."
Some of the ornamental wooden spindles beneath fireplace-flanking benches and in the snug have been taken away for refinishing. The dining room is brighter with the walls cleared of paneling. The opening to the adjacent kitchen has been widened and given a thick header to mimic the other entrance.
"They enlarged the opening so it feels a little more cohesive," she said of the update.
The powder room near the main entrance, previously accessible from the kitchen side as well, now has just one ingress/egress point.
Upstairs, the enlarged guest bathroom is nearly complete, with a chevron tile pattern in the shower stall paying homage to a Zook hallmark. Tiler Piero Scoleri, laboring in the reimagined master bathroom when The Hinsdalean stopped by, has applied his decades of experience to carry out Collins' vision.
"This floor, it was like this," Scoleri said of the aging structure, holding his hand at an angle. "Now it's level. That takes experience."
Armed with Calacatta Gold Marble tile, he professed his love for antiquity.
"I'm a guy that likes old stuff. I'm from Italy," Scoleri quipped. "Even if you put in modern stuff, I try to blend it with the old and make it look the same."
That modern stuff includes heated floors. The vintage radiators are staying, as well, although one had to be removed in the guest bath because of a leak.
"So we're going to put an under-cabinet blower here. Somehow," Collins added with a knowing laugh, as "somehow" is a common working state during such a project.
Alan Walz, Collins' carpenter, told The Hinsdalean surprises are par for the course in preservation work.
"You never know what you're going to get into on something this old," Walz said. "You never know until you tear it apart."
Last week, Collins appeared before the village's historic preservation commission, which awarded her zoning relief and a permit fee waiver for her conversion of a back sun room into a fully enclosed den. On Tuesday village trustees held a first read on providing a property tax rebate and grant funding for the plan. It's all part of a local push to encourage restoration over razing of character-contributing older homes.
"Thank you for saving this house," Commissioner Shannon Weinberger told Collins at the HPC meeting. "You've done a great job."
Plenty of work remains. The basement needs a new staircase and windows - unlike others in the home, these 100-year-old holdovers are past the point of salvaging. Landscaping work come spring will be pretty extensive.
"It's getting there. I'm seeing progress but not, like 'Oh wow!' yet," Collins said. "It's always slower than you want."
Her measuring tool is not yet ready for deployment.
"I think I could live here, but I'm not sure."
