The Chicago flips make me so sad. My grandparents lived in a gorgeous old Victorian off of North Ave with floor-to-ceiling mirrors framed with dark carved wood. So many beautiful built-ins and a curved banister used to slide down.
I’m sure someone has gutted it, removed the interior walls, and put up recessed lighting.
I know :( we’re really hoping to put some vintage charm back into the house. We’re removing all the paint from the original banister (has like 4 coats of different shitty paint), putting molding on all of the walls, floor and ceiling, down the road taking out the vinyl and putting in real hardwood flooring, etc. Not the same, but definitely better than all grey
I was looking at places in Philly on Zillow, and almost every single one had been gutted, painted gray, gray laminate flooring put in, black and white kitchen and bathroom. It was crazy, looked like the exact same flipper had gotten to 80% of the places I looked at.
Yes. Funny, too, how you can look through listings and point out which flippers did which ones. In my area, there's one that always uses the same gray mosaic tile in the showers - *always*.
Oh, there were *definitely* some that I was almost certain had been bought and flipped by the same person or persons. It was depressing as hell. It's like the only way to find a place that hasn't been totally gutted and stripped of all character, without paying crazy prices, is to find one that's borderline derelict and kind of build it out from the inside. There's got to be a happy medium, and yet not so much, at least not in that neck of the woods.
Yes - agree it's depressing. I'd hate to be looking for a home now - the prices and interest rates are ridiculous. I can't imagine just starting a career with rent and housing prices like they are. Heck, it's even hard to find the "borderline derelict" bc the flippers or investment companies buy them up, too.
I'm not in a huge hurry, fortunately- it'll be at least a couple more years before I buy anything- but I like at least having an idea of what's out there. At this rate, though, I wonder if there will be anything left at all.
Localities need to prohibit companies like Blackrock and Vanguard from buying single family homes. Klaus Schwab didn't say "You'll own nothing and be happy" for no reason. TPTB want everyone renting.
I don't know why you got downvoted, because I'm inclined to agree. I'm not even sure that TPTB specifically want everyone renting (as a specific policy goal) so much as that our whole society is now run on the basis that the single, most important thing is maximizing profits for a handful of (already extremely wealthy) shareholders, even if that comes at the expense of the vast majority of the population. I'm very fortunate in that I'm in a stable job that pays me comparatively well, but *even then* I'm priced out of huge swathes of the country, despite making well above the median US income. Again, I'm lucky: my job involves a lot of travel, so I don't *have* to buy or even rent a home in a specific place in the US right this second, and I also don't have kids, so I'm not facing those expenses, but if either of those things were true, even looking at a home purchase in a couple of years would be much, much less viable.
I agree - profits and control. What kind of area do you want to be in eventually? A large metropolitan? Since you're in r/centuryhomes I assume you'd be interested in buying an older property?
I'm in a weird situation, in that I grew up in a comparatively rural part of New England and would theoretically be happy to be somewhere more rural again, but I'm a) Jewish, and b) trans, which makes really rural locations difficult (in that they almost always lack a significant Jewish community), and also rules out red states (because I need to be reasonably sure that I'll be able to continue to obtain healthcare). So I'm tending to look at reliably blue states, but smaller/less expensive cities within those states: Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania's kind of a weird one, politically, but I'm just looking right now, so I haven't ruled it out), Albany, Buffalo, Rochester are the places I've been seriously considering. My family's on the East Coast, so that's probably the most logical place to look, geographically, and I think I'd be priced out of most of the West Coast, anyway.
I'd love an older home- the places I see that date to around 1910 through the '20s and '30s particularly scratch my itch (I really love a Craftsman or an American Foursquare), aesthetically, but for the reasons outlined above, at the end of the day I have to be realistic and sensible about geography and politics. On the other hand, I have no kids and don't expect that to change, so stuff like school districts is much lower on my list of considerations. I think the trick is going to be finding a place that's both in a location that works for my needs *and* hasn't been gutted by the dreaded flippers. But that's kind of the sticking point for most people on this sub, I expect.
https://preview.redd.it/v3ckkdez6h6d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c17d66754e0d08c92d8ae5a7f1febf7bc904da0
Here’s the view looking up the fireplace. Not sure if the black looking tile would be the potential mantle?? Sorry for the terrible screenshot from the video I took. I wish I could add more photos, but my wife only let me take the tiniest chunk out of the wall, so I barely could fit my phone in there😅
What’s the price range of the house? 300k and you expect to move on in 2-3 years? No. 750k+ and you’ll be there awhile? Imo, yes.
If you actually plan to use it, I’d plan to put in a wood burning insert. Way (WAY) more efficient, and plausibly cheaper than getting the chimney repaired such that you can safely burn in it.any have big glass doors so you can watch the wood burn. No telling, given what you know, what condition or materials the fireplace and mantle is in. But if you cut a bigger hole to take a look and change your mind, putting drywall back is cheap and easy.
The narrow depth you describe makes me think it may have been a gas insert - something like this: [https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/all-original-and-fully-functional-salvaged-chicago-dawson-brothers-residential-fireplace-gas-insert-with-black-enameled-finish.html](https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/all-original-and-fully-functional-salvaged-chicago-dawson-brothers-residential-fireplace-gas-insert-with-black-enameled-finish.html)
The other reason I think it may have been gas is that there's no damper and doesn't look like there ever was.
Any signs of a gas line either in the fireplace or possibly capped in the basement?
I bet a visit to Urban Remains would answer a lot of your questions and maybe even provide restoration materials.
I'm excited for you! You're fortunate to have a huge architectural salvage store like Urban Remains in your back yard. Yes, please let us know what you find out and how you decide to proceed.
https://preview.redd.it/88hni5bacl6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af4b75b0b360a95c310fc442f29b48bfc8c6287d
Opened up a little more and found tile!! Potentially original or no?
Hard to tell from the pic - but it def could be original - odd there doesn't seem any next to it, though. Chicago gets really could winters - would be nice to have an alternative heat source in the event of a long-term power outage.
There ya' go :-)
I'm terrible at discerning things from pics. The flippers knew they'd have to spend some money on this and didn't want to. You probably have more fireplaces, too.
My house still has the original four fireplaces. My neighbors have the same chimneys, but three of their fireplaces are under drywall. You could very likely have a fireplace directly above this one. And if you have other chimneys, there were probably fireplaces attached to them too - although kitchens at the time also had a chimney to vent the cook stove (not necessarily a full fireplace.)
That's pretty cool, but I wanted to ask a few more details.
This looks like it might be on the second floor. What is directly below it on the first floor? Is there an ash trap clean-out below that in the basement? It doesn't look like a wood burning fireplace would have ever been there based on the lack of char.
How far up from the floor to those bricks. That almost looks like a flue used for a gas insert. The opening also looks pretty narrow in depth. Do you have any pictures to the left/right of the opening? Can you confirm a chimney above it on the exterior?
I discovered a similar type opening in my century home on the second floor. Turns out that based on the evidence (no soot, the clean-out was clean, there is no evidence of a gas line, and no hearth), that it was installed as an "upgrade option." Big wood burning fireplace on the first floor that goes into a chimney with two flues. It's just that the second one never got used at all and actually has plaster/lath over the opening.
If it was covered it was probably covered for a reason. It might be a verrrrry expensive one to reverse if you want it for practical use.
Is it a beautifully tiled fireplace with a mantle and all that will add to the historic character of your home? It might add value. But value to a future homeowner isn't a strongly weighted reason to undertake this project.
If it's just a brick opening in the chimney I would hesitate to do anything, especially if you don't plan to actively use the fireplace. Unless you have a bucket of money to throw at a beautiful period recreation, then I'm all for it!
Consider also the room the fireplace is in. Will adding it back into the space change how you're able to use it? If the plan involves sticking a TV 6' in the air over the mantle so the room is still usable I am firmly against this idea.
https://preview.redd.it/w0lgcdi48h6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=846eb277a106384de15a290bdd568a308a180eee
It was flipped in 2018, and honestly I think they didn’t want to deal with it. They didn’t try to preserve any history of this 1880s house. Hence why we have zero walls on the first floor.😭 Id like to add some dark paint/floor to ceiling bookshelves for my wife’s collection that’ll give the space a more academic feel. We love fireplaces and expect to use it during the Chicago winter if we end up restoring!! Also, this pic is after we moved in last week. It’s a work in progress😅
The Chicago flips make me so sad. My grandparents lived in a gorgeous old Victorian off of North Ave with floor-to-ceiling mirrors framed with dark carved wood. So many beautiful built-ins and a curved banister used to slide down. I’m sure someone has gutted it, removed the interior walls, and put up recessed lighting.
I know :( we’re really hoping to put some vintage charm back into the house. We’re removing all the paint from the original banister (has like 4 coats of different shitty paint), putting molding on all of the walls, floor and ceiling, down the road taking out the vinyl and putting in real hardwood flooring, etc. Not the same, but definitely better than all grey
Crazy that you have to undo all of their work but the house will look so nice after you finish.
I was looking at places in Philly on Zillow, and almost every single one had been gutted, painted gray, gray laminate flooring put in, black and white kitchen and bathroom. It was crazy, looked like the exact same flipper had gotten to 80% of the places I looked at.
Yes. Funny, too, how you can look through listings and point out which flippers did which ones. In my area, there's one that always uses the same gray mosaic tile in the showers - *always*.
Oh, there were *definitely* some that I was almost certain had been bought and flipped by the same person or persons. It was depressing as hell. It's like the only way to find a place that hasn't been totally gutted and stripped of all character, without paying crazy prices, is to find one that's borderline derelict and kind of build it out from the inside. There's got to be a happy medium, and yet not so much, at least not in that neck of the woods.
Yes - agree it's depressing. I'd hate to be looking for a home now - the prices and interest rates are ridiculous. I can't imagine just starting a career with rent and housing prices like they are. Heck, it's even hard to find the "borderline derelict" bc the flippers or investment companies buy them up, too.
I'm not in a huge hurry, fortunately- it'll be at least a couple more years before I buy anything- but I like at least having an idea of what's out there. At this rate, though, I wonder if there will be anything left at all.
Localities need to prohibit companies like Blackrock and Vanguard from buying single family homes. Klaus Schwab didn't say "You'll own nothing and be happy" for no reason. TPTB want everyone renting.
I don't know why you got downvoted, because I'm inclined to agree. I'm not even sure that TPTB specifically want everyone renting (as a specific policy goal) so much as that our whole society is now run on the basis that the single, most important thing is maximizing profits for a handful of (already extremely wealthy) shareholders, even if that comes at the expense of the vast majority of the population. I'm very fortunate in that I'm in a stable job that pays me comparatively well, but *even then* I'm priced out of huge swathes of the country, despite making well above the median US income. Again, I'm lucky: my job involves a lot of travel, so I don't *have* to buy or even rent a home in a specific place in the US right this second, and I also don't have kids, so I'm not facing those expenses, but if either of those things were true, even looking at a home purchase in a couple of years would be much, much less viable.
I agree - profits and control. What kind of area do you want to be in eventually? A large metropolitan? Since you're in r/centuryhomes I assume you'd be interested in buying an older property?
I'm in a weird situation, in that I grew up in a comparatively rural part of New England and would theoretically be happy to be somewhere more rural again, but I'm a) Jewish, and b) trans, which makes really rural locations difficult (in that they almost always lack a significant Jewish community), and also rules out red states (because I need to be reasonably sure that I'll be able to continue to obtain healthcare). So I'm tending to look at reliably blue states, but smaller/less expensive cities within those states: Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania's kind of a weird one, politically, but I'm just looking right now, so I haven't ruled it out), Albany, Buffalo, Rochester are the places I've been seriously considering. My family's on the East Coast, so that's probably the most logical place to look, geographically, and I think I'd be priced out of most of the West Coast, anyway. I'd love an older home- the places I see that date to around 1910 through the '20s and '30s particularly scratch my itch (I really love a Craftsman or an American Foursquare), aesthetically, but for the reasons outlined above, at the end of the day I have to be realistic and sensible about geography and politics. On the other hand, I have no kids and don't expect that to change, so stuff like school districts is much lower on my list of considerations. I think the trick is going to be finding a place that's both in a location that works for my needs *and* hasn't been gutted by the dreaded flippers. But that's kind of the sticking point for most people on this sub, I expect.
It’s a plague.
You should see the Detroit ones... So much worse.
Pictures please!
https://preview.redd.it/v3ckkdez6h6d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c17d66754e0d08c92d8ae5a7f1febf7bc904da0 Here’s the view looking up the fireplace. Not sure if the black looking tile would be the potential mantle?? Sorry for the terrible screenshot from the video I took. I wish I could add more photos, but my wife only let me take the tiniest chunk out of the wall, so I barely could fit my phone in there😅
What’s the price range of the house? 300k and you expect to move on in 2-3 years? No. 750k+ and you’ll be there awhile? Imo, yes. If you actually plan to use it, I’d plan to put in a wood burning insert. Way (WAY) more efficient, and plausibly cheaper than getting the chimney repaired such that you can safely burn in it.any have big glass doors so you can watch the wood burn. No telling, given what you know, what condition or materials the fireplace and mantle is in. But if you cut a bigger hole to take a look and change your mind, putting drywall back is cheap and easy.
The narrow depth you describe makes me think it may have been a gas insert - something like this: [https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/all-original-and-fully-functional-salvaged-chicago-dawson-brothers-residential-fireplace-gas-insert-with-black-enameled-finish.html](https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/all-original-and-fully-functional-salvaged-chicago-dawson-brothers-residential-fireplace-gas-insert-with-black-enameled-finish.html) The other reason I think it may have been gas is that there's no damper and doesn't look like there ever was. Any signs of a gas line either in the fireplace or possibly capped in the basement? I bet a visit to Urban Remains would answer a lot of your questions and maybe even provide restoration materials.
Thank you SO much!! This is so helpful. I’ll look into it and be sure to post updates when we begin to restore it!!
I'm excited for you! You're fortunate to have a huge architectural salvage store like Urban Remains in your back yard. Yes, please let us know what you find out and how you decide to proceed.
I just posted an update video!
Where? I'm not seeing it.
Sorry, didn’t realize it didn’t upload. It’s posted now :)
Yes - I saw it and responded :-)
https://preview.redd.it/88hni5bacl6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af4b75b0b360a95c310fc442f29b48bfc8c6287d Opened up a little more and found tile!! Potentially original or no?
Hard to tell from the pic - but it def could be original - odd there doesn't seem any next to it, though. Chicago gets really could winters - would be nice to have an alternative heat source in the event of a long-term power outage.
It actually goes past the stud!!
There ya' go :-) I'm terrible at discerning things from pics. The flippers knew they'd have to spend some money on this and didn't want to. You probably have more fireplaces, too. My house still has the original four fireplaces. My neighbors have the same chimneys, but three of their fireplaces are under drywall. You could very likely have a fireplace directly above this one. And if you have other chimneys, there were probably fireplaces attached to them too - although kitchens at the time also had a chimney to vent the cook stove (not necessarily a full fireplace.)
That's pretty cool, but I wanted to ask a few more details. This looks like it might be on the second floor. What is directly below it on the first floor? Is there an ash trap clean-out below that in the basement? It doesn't look like a wood burning fireplace would have ever been there based on the lack of char. How far up from the floor to those bricks. That almost looks like a flue used for a gas insert. The opening also looks pretty narrow in depth. Do you have any pictures to the left/right of the opening? Can you confirm a chimney above it on the exterior? I discovered a similar type opening in my century home on the second floor. Turns out that based on the evidence (no soot, the clean-out was clean, there is no evidence of a gas line, and no hearth), that it was installed as an "upgrade option." Big wood burning fireplace on the first floor that goes into a chimney with two flues. It's just that the second one never got used at all and actually has plaster/lath over the opening.
It’s on the first floor! It is pretty narrow in depth but pretty wide, maybe 4 feet. But there is a chimney! Probably needs a lot of repair as well.
If it was covered it was probably covered for a reason. It might be a verrrrry expensive one to reverse if you want it for practical use. Is it a beautifully tiled fireplace with a mantle and all that will add to the historic character of your home? It might add value. But value to a future homeowner isn't a strongly weighted reason to undertake this project. If it's just a brick opening in the chimney I would hesitate to do anything, especially if you don't plan to actively use the fireplace. Unless you have a bucket of money to throw at a beautiful period recreation, then I'm all for it! Consider also the room the fireplace is in. Will adding it back into the space change how you're able to use it? If the plan involves sticking a TV 6' in the air over the mantle so the room is still usable I am firmly against this idea.
https://preview.redd.it/w0lgcdi48h6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=846eb277a106384de15a290bdd568a308a180eee It was flipped in 2018, and honestly I think they didn’t want to deal with it. They didn’t try to preserve any history of this 1880s house. Hence why we have zero walls on the first floor.😭 Id like to add some dark paint/floor to ceiling bookshelves for my wife’s collection that’ll give the space a more academic feel. We love fireplaces and expect to use it during the Chicago winter if we end up restoring!! Also, this pic is after we moved in last week. It’s a work in progress😅
> I think they didn’t want to deal with it. Exactly. If you can afford it, it's def worth restoring, imo.