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one thing can change on the exterior or façade , so that from the street , the house will still look as it did in the 1800s .”
Middlefork has completed renovation projects on some of these buildings , including an Old Town workman ’ s cottage ; a project that Andrew recalls with pride and enthusiasm . “ We were asked to redesign and rebuild a workman ’ s cottage in the Old Town , and by working closely with Landmarks , we demolished the existing home apart from the original façade and 28 feet of the exterior walls ,” he details .
“ In other words , we basically scraped out the insides of the house , leaving the façade and historical features , then inserted an entire new building with new floor systems , HVAC , electrics , and plumbing ,” Andrew continues . “ From the outside , it appears to be an 1800s home , but the interior reveals a modern four-bedroom , four-bathroom property .
“ Working on a 100-year-old building certainly comes with complexities . It ’ s almost as though we have two clients to please – our client , as well as the relevant bodies – because we have to meet both regulations and client requests .”
Additionally , Andrew explains : “ We ’ ve just completed another similar project , which was located in the Gold Coast , a neighborhood that borders both Lake Michigan and the Magnificent Mile , where the client wanted to rebuild and extend the original building . As required , we kept and restored the façade , then rebuilt and redesigned the interior , before we added a 1500-square-foot extension at the back of the property .
“ Adding to this specific project ’ s difficulty was the fact that we were working on it during the Covid-19 pandemic ,” he adds . “ We were navigating labor issues and supply chain shortages , with the client making changes along the
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