Neighborhood Teardown

Stairway to nowhere

2010-02-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

Any week, another floor. As we can see the second floor seems to have been taken down. I think they cut hole too big for the new skylight..........

The confusion grows

2010-01-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

This weeks visit finds our house losing its roof. It appears the house is being knocked down by hand. Maybe they are going for the leave one wall up remodel. By remodeling only 90% of the house there are maybe some easier permit issues. Hmm...

The destruction begins

2010-01-24T20:29:00.000-08:00

I am a little confused by this one. The windows have been chopped out and the interior has been gutted. Perhaps they are going for a gut rehab. I thought they were going to get a wrecking ball and just push it into the ground. I guess only time will tell what their intentions are.

New Teardown

2010-01-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

This will be my latest case study for this year. I found this house slated for demolition. I am not sure of the owners intentions, but it looks like the wrecking ball is close at hand.

National Louis

2007-02-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

National Louis college sold their property last year for a new development. I will try to chronicle some of the progress of this project. Here is a view of part of the old building going down.

Baker School

2007-02-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize that the Baker school also purchased part of the property besides the school itself. Imagine my surprise when this park was established for the school. It is really nice to see a large parcel of property going to open space. Way to go Baker!!!

September 18 ,2005

2005-09-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Kind of fell asleep at the wheel. The west house is all done on the outside . They are working on the landscaping and completing the interior.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

september 18

2005-09-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

The east house is also progressing along well. From the outside, they both look like they are a the same point of completion.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

September 18

2005-09-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

The garage is almost nicer than my house.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

September 18

2005-09-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here is the rear of house. Nice size yard to spend your weekends maintaining.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

july 7 2005

2005-07-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

The west building is going along. The tyvek is on and they will brick it up soon.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

June 12, 2005

2005-06-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a difference a couple weeks makes. the stone is on the front and the cxopper flashing is also in.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

2005-06-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

The west building is now topped off and is going along. The builder is only going 5 days while the east building is working 6 days.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

May 15, 2005

2005-05-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

The stone has arrived and the work has begun.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

2005-05-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

We can see that the stone work has started on the west side of the building. The roof also has the tar paper down and the building is almost enclosed.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

2005-05-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile the west building has had the basement framed out.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

2005-04-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

The west building has had the foundation poured. Today they are stripping the forms and loading them up.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

2005-04-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

The east building has been topped off and the interiors are being framed out. It has a nice turret and is the same height as the building next store.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Wow, That's the Cat's...............

2005-04-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, its the cats ....Well you know what I mean.

Kids, it is moving day. The bulldozer is here. (Does anyone know where this obscure quote is from?)
Copyright E. Mac 2005

A Hole in the Ground

2005-04-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

All that is left of the west side house is a hole in the ground.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

East Side Progress

2005-04-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

The east side house is progressing along. The second floor is up and the roof is being started. The site did lose a day though as no one showed up on Friday. I guess it was out of respect for the Pope's funeral. Actually it was a double whammy on Friday as the president of the Polish National Alliance in Chicago funeral was also that day.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Last Man Standing

2005-04-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

The fireplace was all that was left. They left it up over the weekend.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

West house demo

2005-04-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

More rubble being loaded up.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

West House demo

2005-04-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

The west house met its demise last week. They are starting to load the rubble away.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

East House first floor

2005-04-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

The east house is coming along. The first floor is almost framed out.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

More framing

2005-03-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

Another view
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Framing

2005-03-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

Framing is starting.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

It's worse than I thought

2005-03-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

On the other hand, its worse than I thought. This house is 4 doors down from my first study and the word on the street is that this one is going going to suffer the same fate as its neighbor.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Backfilled

2005-03-15T18:28:00.000-08:00

The foundation has been backfilled. I guess they can start to build the house.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Foundation is Poured

2005-03-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

Things are moving along. The forms have been stripped and the waterproofing has been applied. Just need to back fill.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Another view

2005-03-05T18:36:00.001-08:00

Another view of the foundation walls.
Copyright E. Mac
2005

All formed up and no place to go.

2005-03-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

The forms are up and the contractor is getting ready to pour. It looks like they are going for the maximum allowable square footage.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Getting ready to form

2005-02-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

The trucks are here to unload the concrete forms. This is where the foundation really begins to take shape.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Basement pour and haymaking.

2005-02-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

The basement floor has been poured and the hay has been put down for the hootenenanny celebration of finishing the floor. Actually it is there to keep the concrete warm and help it cure properly.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Basement Shelter

2005-02-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

Another delivery of material for the basement floor and drain tile. They are starting to move on the floor and foundation.

On a funny note, a friend of mine told me that his town in the 90's removed the bomb shelter suggestion for new housing. I don't think the styrofoam is here for the bomb shelter.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Here Today..............

2005-02-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well they knocked the old house down. I guess it was a pretty quick affair. All that is left is the rubble and memory of the house that once was there. I was told that during demolition that there were many old books scattered about. I wasn't able to recover any of them...
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Demolition Day is Here.

2005-02-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

Interior demolition has started. The metal scrappers have taken down the gutters and also started breaking the windows.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Demolition Day is Here

2005-02-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

The fencing is up. They are trying to protect the beautiful tree in front. I hope the tree survives this ordeal. The sister house next door also has the same large tree in front.
Copyright E. Mah 2005

Underground utilities

2005-02-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

The underground contractor finished. Those are street paving stones on the lawn. It warmed up quite a bit and melted the snow.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

The backhoe is here.

2005-02-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

It looks like demolition is just around the corner. This backhoe appeared to do some underground utility work.
Copyright E. Mac 2005

Sold

2005-01-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

This home recently sold and is slated for teardown. This home and the one next to it were originally owned by sisters.They are both of the cottage style and occupy the same footprint. I never had a chance to explore it. It probably dated back to the 20's.
Copyright E. Mah 2005