Looks can be deceiving in the housing world.
While courtyard apartment buildings and newly constructed condominiums loudly announce their status as multi-family homes, there’s more going on behind the many single-family façades in the area than you might think. A closer inspection reveals that some house multiple families. Nestled in single-family neighborhoods, they offer a different take on the Oak Park residential experience.
There are obvious conversion dwellings where an older home has an enormous addition tacked on the back with multiple entrances and house numbers. Less obvious are the multiple unit homes created when a single-family home was converted to a two or three-flat, while keeping within its original footprint.
Frank Lipo, executive director of the Historical Society of Oak Park-River Forest, says that multiple family dwellings tend to crop up in certain areas for a reason.
“Going back to before 1921 in the earliest days of the community, the population was concentrated in the center band of the community, north and south of Lake Street and north and south of Madison,” explains Lipo. “As new construction started happening along and near major thoroughfares, you started to get people either tearing down homes or converting homes into apartments.
“In 1921, Oak Park was in on the ground floor of community zoning laws. During this first wave of zoning, anything that already had some multi-family or commercial areas was squared off to allow people to keep doing this. They made a very specific point of encouraging future growth and density in areas where there already were multi-family homes.”
Dianne Schneider, who lives in a single-family home on the 100 block of South Euclid, is currently selling another property she owns and manages across the street, 127-129 S. Euclid. The property includes a house and a building of three rental units at the rear of the lot. She has seen many older homes on her block that were divided into multiple family units and later returned to single-family homes.
Schneider isn’t sure what the three-unit building at the rear of the property was originally.
“I’ve been told that it was moved to make way for the building of St. Edmund’s Parish Hall. It has been altered a lot in its history,” she says. “It may have originally been a single-family home, but now it is made up of three rental units, including a third and fourth floor duplex. Currently, I rent out the main house at the front of the property as well, and it would be an ideal situation for someone who wants to live on the property and manage the other units.”
Schneider’s realtor, Rosemary Amani of Baird and Warner, who is listing the property for $579,000, notes that these types of multiple-family dwellings have been popular in different generations for various reasons.
“After World War II, many homes in the village became boarding houses as people looked to save money,” she says. “Now, with the market the way it is, we’re seeing these types of properties become more desirable as families are looking for ways to live together but still have their own space.”
Schneider who has owned and managed over 200 properties in Oak Park and Chicago, says the appeal of the property she is selling is strong.
“I’ve kept rents the same the past few years due to the economy, and, at that rate, the income from the back building more than pays the mortgage for the property. The units are always easy to rent. Our location right by the Green Line and town is a real draw, plus we have seven parking spaces and each unit has its own outdoor space.”
Lipo notes that location plays a role in where multiple-family buildings crop up and remain as do village zoning laws.
“It’s just sort of natural along busier streets and streets near public transportation for corridors of multiple-family housing to build up. Yes, there are zoning laws, but there is also a lot of individual choice,” he says. “Starting in the 1950s and ’60s, the village made people get approval to rent out rooms. At this point in history, rather than trying to increase density, they were concerned about urban decay and public safety. It was a modern idea of not letting market forces take over.”
Lipo notes that it is not uncommon for these types of individual homes to go back and forth between conversion as the market changes, and that public sentiment about multi-family housing can vary.
“During the last real estate boom period, before 2008, there were a lot of developers interested in tearing down single-family homes to put up condominiums. While the developers were often successful where the right zoning existed, there was some outcry from the community and a sense that just because some blocks were zoned multi-family in the 1920s doesn’t mean they have to stay that way.”
Diane Davis, of Better Homes and Gardens Gloor Realty, recently listed a Victorian on the 100 of South Grove Avenue that had been converted into a three-flat. She says that the home has a lot to offer as both a three-flat and as a possible reconversion to a single-family home.
“The home was probably converted in the 1930s or ’40s when tough economic times made the idea of renting out rooms more appealing. You can tell that the now enclosed staircase was once a grand front stairway, and the first floor unit has many original features, such as the fireplace in the living room,” she says. “While all the units are lovely, it would be an easy de-conversion to a single-family home.”
Davis says that there is a strong interest in multi-family housing these days.
“This property was under contract within one week of listing. It’s in a prime geographical location, it shows well and it was priced right. With those three factors, there is just nothing holding back these kinds of properties.”