When Laura Maychruk and husband Andrew moved from River Forest to Oak Park this summer, there was no question they were going to tackle their home renovations in a historically-sensitive manner. The duo had won Historic Preservations Awards for their work restoring their River Forest Victorian home at 210 Gale Ave.
There was no work left to do on that house and with the last of their four kids leaving the nest, Maychruk was ready for another project. In her work as a Realtor, she showed the home at 926 Columbian Ave. to several clients, and none were interested in tackling the renovation project.
Unlike her clients, Maychruk was excited about the treasure trove of original tile and kitchen cabinets. When none of her clients bit, she and her husband put together an offer and ended up the winning bidders. She said of her new home, “Part of the charm of the house and part of the agony of the house is that nothing’s really been changed.”
Through her research at the Oak Park River Forest Historical Society, Maychruk determined that the first owners of the 1927-era house made a few alterations, including lowering the kitchen cabinets, adding Formica countertops, putting linoleum flooring in the kitchen and installing an elevator. The second owners might have added one more layer of tile to the kitchen floor and swapped out one toilet.
Maychruk’s goal is to erase those changes and bring the aesthetic of the house back to 1927, and she’s documenting it all in a series of You Tube videos that she hopes will help other historic home owners.
“When I’m selling houses and working with buyers, I try my best to educate them on what’s important and what’s not,” she said. “The level of quality in these old homes is far superior to what you can build today. You’ll see the same stuff in my videos that I say to my clients all the time.”
Some of her earlier videos cover the purchase of her house and her research at the Historical Society. Now, she’s moving on to specific topics. She covers the bathrooms and the tile, which were two main draws for her and Andrew.
She interviewed Tony Buttitta of Oak Park’s Elite Tile, and they discussed ways to repair the original tile.
She said that all of the toilets in the house were original, save for the powder room toilet. It was a lucky find to discover an original toilet in the basement. With a lot of elbow grease, cleaning solution and the services of Oak Park plumber Matt Visteen, she moved that toilet to the powder room and is hard at work making the bathrooms look as they did in 1927.
She’ll do something similar in the kitchen. “I’m talking to Mark Menna about the kitchen, and I tell him I’m doing a period restoration, and he’s kind of shaking his head,” she said laughingly.
By period restoration, she means that she’s keeping the original breakfast room and built in, and hopes to find the original floors under layers of linoleum.
Another episode covers door restoration. She hired furniture refinisher Lyle Zimbler, formerly of Oak Park, to restore every door and remove the veneers that had been added over time. She’s working with Tayloe Glass of Oak Park to re-install missing mirrors on the bathroom doors.
While staying true to the historic look of the house is important, that doesn’t mean she’s ignoring reality. Maychruk is firmly in the camp of updating the systems that need to be updated to make home life more comfortable.
She’s tackled some major issues like tuckpointing and a rotten portico, as well as a needed upgrade to the electric system. Working with Kinetic Energy to upgrade the home’s electric system and provide electric vehicle charging to her garage has been an exercise in patience with ComEd, but for Maychruk it’s all part of a process which she enjoys.
“I’m hoping when I’m done, it’ll be like 210 [Gale,] where you walk in and think it’s original and has just been completely restored,” she said. “I’m having a lot of fun with it.”
Preservation Oak Park turns eye to music
For the past year, Preservation Oak Park has been hosting storytelling events called Oak Park 360. The free event limits story tellers to 360 seconds to share their knowledge about a topic related to local architecture, history or preservation.
This month’s event is titled, “I’ve Got the Music in Me” and will be held at Fitzgerald’s on Oct. 28. Preservation Oak Park’s Chris Payne says that story tellers will speak about how music contributes to making great places in Oak Park and surrounding communities.
Featured speakers include Wednesday Journal’s own Ken Trainor speaking about Mills Musical Machines, Bobby Nguyen from First United Church speaking about the church’s Skinner organ, Betsy Backes covering the history of music and potlucks, Caitlin Hilyard covering the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest, Jaime Garza delving into Latin music and the near west suburbs, Jim Polanski talking about the Oak Park Farmers Market Band, and Jess King speaking on Fitzgeralds Then and Now.
The event takes place at Fitzgerald’s Night Club, 6615 Roosevelt Rd., Berwyn. Attendance is free, and pre-registration is suggested. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the story telling begins at 7 p.m. To sign up visit: https://www.fitzgeraldsnightclub.com/tm-event/360-oak-park-ive-got-the-music-in-me/