Celebrating preservation

On Wednesday, Jan. 28, Oak Parkers gathered at the library for A Night in Our Village — Community Awards Celebration, which brought together community award recipients, nominators, village officials, citizen commission members and neighbors to “recognize the pride, creativity and care that defines Oak Park.”

Included in the ceremony, the annual Historic Preservation Awards were given to homeowners, architects, contractors and business owners who took pains during renovations, restorations and construction projects to honor the history of Oak Park’s built community.

According to Brenton Boitse, Oak Park’s urban planner focused on preservation, the awards address historic preservation and sustainability. Residential and commercial projects can be nominated for the awards in four categories: restoration, rehabilitation, adaptive use and additions/new construction. Additional awards can be presented for stewardship. These awards generally recognize maintenance of an historic property.

The home at 1021 Superior St. won an award for residential restoration for its restoration and addition project. Built in the 1890’s, the home was originally constructed on the southwest corner of Forest and Superior, where 333 Forest Avenue is located today. 

In 1886, Nathan Moore purchased the home now known as 1021 Superior and moved it to its present lot on Superior in 1894. Moore hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design his new home on Forest, and Moore and his family moved into that home at 333 N. Forest in 1895.

The owners of 1021 Superior, Kristina and Patrick Woodward, won their award for the work they did restoring the front porch and adding a three-seasons room to the side of the house. The owners used historically accurate materials to match the home, including painted wood flooring, railings and siding. New windows for the three-seasons room are clad in wood.

The owners worked with architect Kimberlee Smith and contractor Tony Roeder of Marion Street Services on the project.

517 N. Euclid Ave. won an award for residential rehabilitation. Built circa 1900, the home is in the Queen Anne Style. Henry Fiddelke designed the home for owner W.G. Adams.

The homeowners, Christina Weber and David Muzic, won an award for renovating their historic porch with the help of architect and contractor Ruben Jaime. They took care during the renovation to remove, clean, and restore all decorative elements such as ornamental motifs, columns, capitals, moldings, vintage corbellings, brackets and dentils. The project also included installing a new beadboard ceiling, new pine flooring and new beams.

A bit down the street at 213 S. Euclid Ave., architect Frank Heitzman worked with contractor Zenon Kolacz of Z.K. Quality Construction on his own home and won an historic preservation award in the restoration category.

The Queen Anne style home was designed in 1889 by architect William J. Van Keuren.

Heitzman added an elevator to the interior of the building, which runs from the basement to the third floor. The project involved removing a section of interior stairs to provide hallway access to the elevator door.

On the exterior, a new tower was constructed to house the elevator shaft. It has wood siding and asphalt shingles to match the existing home. The tower is tucked behind a side wing of the home, with a part of the addition visible where it projects above an existing gable.

It was a banner year for Heitzman, whose commercial building at 111 N. Marion St. won a stewardship award. Heitzman worked with contractor Paul Jedras of P&L Construction to restore the building. We covered Heitzman’s restoration of his former office building here: https://www.oakpark.com/2025/03/13/marion-street-makeover/

This year’s other commercial property winner was 401 South Boulevard, the former Pieritz Brothers Building. Owner and architect William Scholtens won an award for commercial restoration. He worked with contractor Master Mason, LLC. 

Together, they restored the building’s intricate terra cotta exterior. Scholtens created a sustainable office space for his office, Elements Architectural Group, as well as several rental spaces in the building. We covered the project here: https://www.oakpark.com/2025/10/09/former-pieritz-bros-building-transformed/

How it works

Oak Park typically opens up nominations for the awards in the late summer or early fall. In order to be considered, projects must have taken place within the last five years and must be within Oak Park village boundaries. Properties do not have to be in one of the village’s three historic districts to be considered.

Any resident, owner of an eligible building, member of local preservation and historical societies, and member of a local board or commission may make nominations. 

Boitse says that a panel of non-Oak Park-based professionals from architecture and construction fields choose the winners based on the Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission’s Architectural Review Guidelines, drawn from the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The panel also considers context and design appropriateness. This year’s panelists were Natalie Hicks, Architect and Sustainability Integration Leader at Ratio; Katie Hart, Architect & Senior Project Manager; Alyssa Frystak, Director of Research and Data Analytics at PlaceEconomics.

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