The Sanford S. and Grace Vaughan House was featured on May 17 in this year’s Wright Plus architectural housewalk in Oak Park. The 1898 Colonial Revival-style home, designed by Oak Park architect E.E. Roberts, weathered some substantial setbacks in its past, including a fire two years ago. A lot of construction was needed to make it showhouse-ready.
The original owner, Sanford Vaughan, was a member of the family who founded Vaughan and Bushnell Manufacturing Co. in Chicago in 1869. The company had several patents for tools, with Sanford Vaughan patenting a hammer part that is still in use today. It’s possible his hammer made an impact on the home’s recent history.
Current owners Michelle Zavislak and Steven Barry recently completed a top-to-bottom restoration of the home. When the couple purchased the home out of foreclosure in 2008, they knew they had bit of work to do… eventually. The house had a lot of its original plumbing and wiring, and they thought the kitchen could be more family-friendly.
About two years ago, the project became a bit more urgent. The family had enjoyed a fire in the front parlor’s original fireplace before extinguishing it and heading out to a late breakfast. When they returned a few hours later, the house was full of the smell of smoke.
Barry ran to the basement and identified the fireplace’s ashpit as the source of the fire, but he was unable to douse the flames that were coming up behind the waterproofing system and up into the rafters between the basement and first floor.
The fire department put out the fire, but the home suffered extensive smoke damage.
The couple decided to redo the home to their preferences during the necessary restoration. Along the way, they found out they had to address structural issues that had nothing to do with the fire. Over its 127-year history, the home had begun to sag and the fire remediation work made clear the home needed to be shored up.
Out came the original floors and most of the smoke damaged walls. With the house
opened up, their contractor, Loop Construction and Remodeling, found evidence of another significant fire that most likely took place in the 1950s.
Luckily, the couple was armed with architect E. E. Roberts’ original blueprints for the home that a previous owner had given to the Oak Park River Forest Historical Society. The blueprints detailed every inch of the house, down to the paint colors.
The couple decided to follow the blueprints during their restoration, and they credit Loop with saving everything original in the house that could be salvaged. They kept most of the floor plan intact, save for the remodeled kitchen and family room at the back of the house.
Zavislak noted that the restoration took over two years, primarily because of the added requirements of working with their insurance company, village permitting and the restraints of the historic district guidelines.
Barry said that it was worth the process and “now, we have the confidence everything is new.”
In addition to an open kitchen designed by River Forest designer Mark Menna, the family also redid the basement. The high-ceilinged space now hosts a mudroom, laundry room, full bathroom and family room as well as updated mechanicals for the entire home.
In spite of the construction, the home’s entry looks much as it might have in 1898 with the original staircase, wainscot, leaded glass windows and leaded glass front door.
Up on the second floor, the primary suite got a new walk-in closet, and the primary bath was also remodeled to showcase an original E. E. Roberts art glass window.
The third-floor rec room was reworked, and Barry has plans to use a new ladder to access the home’s original widow’s walk. Next up on his agenda is to restore the original second floor balcony that the blueprints indicate the house originally sported.
Zavislak and Barry recently moved back into the home with their family and pets, and are enjoying both the historic charm and the modern amenities that the home now affords. Both point out that their contractors and kitchen workers were craftsmen and carpenters who took the utmost care to make the home safe, livable and comfortable – something Sanford S. Vaughan might have been proud to be a part of.