Situated directly across the street from Austin Gardens and adjacent to some of the area’s most notable homes, the row houses on the 200 block of Forest Avenue draw the interest of tourists and locals. Known as the Emerson Ingalls Row Houses, the four Queen Anne Victorian style homes sport front porches and brick designs that speak to another era but remain very livable for denizens of the twenty-first century.
The rowhouse at 204 Forest Ave. recently hit the market asking $800,000. The home retains much of the original detail put into place in 1891, when it was designed by architect William J. Van Keuren. Van Keuren, who was born in 1853, called Oak Park home and lived at 100 Clinton Ave. from 1897 until he died in 1915.
He designed numerous homes and commercial buildings in Oak Park, including the Cicero Fire House No. 2, which now serves as the Oak Park River Forest Museum, and the Niles block on the southwest corner of Marion and South Boulevard.
Homeowner Tara Zinger has lived at 204 Forest for 13 years. While she’s moving to be closer to family, she says she has poured her heart and soul into the home.
“I’m the third owner of the home. I bought it from a married couple — the woman grew up next door,” she said. “She and her husband met in the 1940s and bought this place. When I saw the home, she was having memory issues and her husband was leaving love notes for her on the walls. The home was filled with books and those love notes. I immediately felt the vibe of love.”
Zinger, who worked for years as a teacher in River Forest, sought to imbue the home with that same spirit. Sitting on her front porch, she would chat with former students who biked past the house on their way to high school.
She also converted her lower level to a successful Airbnb, which generates over $30,000 annually, and helped her put her children through college. She’s hosted international students and tourists from all over the world and says that it’s been a joy to get to know so many different people through her home.
Realtor Ann Keeney of Baird & Warner, who is listing the home for Zinger, notes that the lower level of the home could remain a professionally managed rental or could easily make a suite for an au pair or in-laws with its kitchenette, laundry, full bathroom and separate entrance.
The upstairs of the house shines with the original wood staircase, built-in bench and art glass windows in the entry.
“When I stepped into the foyer,” said Zinger, “I said ‘I’m buying this place.’”
The front parlor has coved ceilings and dentil molding and a sweeping view of the park across the street. The rear parlor, set off by original pocket doors, includes a fireplace with the original Trent tile.
The home’s kitchen has mid-century modern Sears & Roebuck cabinets, steel-rimmed Formica counters and a Chambers range in a sunny shade of yellow. There is a full bathroom on the first floor.
The second floor includes four bedrooms with original transom windows. The third floor is a primary suite with a kitchenette, laundry and full bathroom featuring a Victoria and Albert bathtub, which looks original to the 1891 house, but is actually a new model. This floor is completed with a private roof top deck that looks over the village.
For Zinger, the home was the perfect place to raise her children and also the perfect place to live when they left the house. She loved the location in the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School of Architecture Historic District and the proximity to downtown Oak Park amenities. “The park was my living room here. This place just has such a vibrancy to it.”
