Every so often, a renovation story comes along that perfectly captures why we do what we do. Recently we came across a project featured by Sweeten — “Historic Details Guide This Brownstone Remodel in Park Slope” — and it stuck with us. The premise is simple and familiar: a couple had outgrown their one-bedroom duplex in Hell’s Kitchen. They wanted two bedrooms and two baths, set their sights on Park Slope, and quickly discovered that the right home at the right price is a rare animal in a historic neighborhood.
What they eventually found was a three-bedroom, one-bath co-op on the second floor of a brownstone. It needed work. But it also had something that can’t be manufactured: original architectural character. Rather than gutting it into something generic and new, they let the home’s historic details lead the design.
If you own a home in the Chicagoland area, that story probably sounds a lot more relevant than “Brooklyn brownstone” might suggest. Swap the brownstone for a Chicago greystone, a Berwyn bungalow, an Oak Park Prairie-style two-flat, or a 1920s Evanston walk-up, and you’ve got the same situation: beautiful bones, dated plumbing, and exactly one bathroom for an entire household.
Here at Century City Baths, serving the Chicagoland area, this is the work we love most — bringing century-old homes into the present without stripping away the reasons people fell in love with them in the first place.
Why Historic Homes Deserve a Different Approach
A new-construction bathroom is a blank slate. A historic bathroom is a conversation.
Older Chicagoland homes were built with materials and craftsmanship that simply aren’t standard anymore: hexagonal mosaic floor tile, subway tile with true bullnose edges, cast iron tubs with rolled rims, transom windows, plaster crown molding, original oak or fir trim, and doors with real mortise hardware. When a contractor treats all of that as demolition debris, something irreplaceable goes in the dumpster.
The Park Slope project is a good example of the alternative. Instead of fighting the building, the homeowners worked with it — reconfiguring for a second bathroom while keeping the moldings, the proportions, and the period feel intact. The result reads as though it always could have been that way.
That’s the goal. A great historic remodel shouldn’t announce itself. It should feel inevitable.
Adding a Second Bathroom Without Losing the House
The single most common request we hear from owners of older Chicagoland homes is some version of: “We love this place, but we cannot share one bathroom anymore.”
It’s a solvable problem, and it usually starts with finding square footage that isn’t currently pulling its weight. Some of the places we look:
Oversized closets and pantries. Vintage homes often have deep linen closets, back hall pantries, or “sewing rooms” that can be converted into a powder room or a compact three-quarter bath.
Under-stair and hallway space. A surprising number of half baths can be carved out of a stair landing or an awkward hall bump-out, especially when we’re willing to use a corner sink and a compact toilet.
Rear porch and mudroom enclosures. Chicago’s enclosed back porches are prime candidates, though they require careful attention to insulation and freeze protection.
Splitting an oversized original bath. Some early-twentieth-century baths are genuinely large. Dividing one into a primary en suite and a hall bath can serve a family far better than one big room.
Basement and attic conversions. These involve more mechanical work — waterproofing, ejector pumps, headroom, egress — but they can dramatically change how a home functions.
The key in every case is plumbing logic. In older Chicagoland housing stock, cast iron stacks, galvanized supply lines, and knob-and-tube remnants dictate what’s realistic. We’d rather tell you honestly where a bathroom can go than sell you a layout that turns into a structural and budgetary nightmare halfway through.
Materials That Honor the Original Without Living in the Past
You don’t have to choose between a museum piece and a hotel bathroom. The best historic baths borrow the vocabulary of the original era and pair it with modern performance.
Floors. Hexagonal or basketweave mosaic tile in white with a black border is period-correct and endlessly durable. Modern porcelain versions offer better slip resistance and lower absorption than the originals, and they’re happy over radiant heat — a genuine luxury in a Chicago February.
Walls. Subway tile remains the workhorse, but the details matter: proper bullnose trim, a chair-rail cap, and thin grout joints keep it from reading as a builder-grade default. Beadboard wainscoting suits bungalows and farmhouse-style homes particularly well.
Fixtures. Pedestal sinks, console sinks with chrome legs, and wall-mount faucets nod to the era. Where storage is non-negotiable, a furniture-style vanity in painted wood splits the difference. Freestanding or alcove tubs with apron fronts work far better in these spaces than bulky drop-in units.
Fittings. Polished chrome and unlacquered brass both have historic precedent. Cross handles, exposed shower risers, and porcelain indices are small moves with big payoff.
Lighting. Sconces flanking the mirror — rather than a single fixture overhead — is both more historically accurate and dramatically more flattering. Layer in a discreet recessed fixture over the shower for task light.
Color. Early-twentieth-century bathrooms were not all white. Soft greens, powder blues, blush pinks, and deep burgundy accents all have documented precedent, and they’re having a well-deserved revival.
The Unglamorous Work That Makes It Last
The finishes are what people photograph. The infrastructure is what determines whether the bathroom is still performing beautifully in twenty years.
In Chicagoland’s older homes, a thorough bath remodel almost always involves some combination of:
- Replacing galvanized supply lines that have narrowed with decades of mineral buildup
- Updating or re-venting drain lines to current code
- Bringing electrical up to standard with GFCI protection and dedicated circuits
- Installing proper mechanical ventilation, ducted to the exterior — not into an attic or soffit
- Adding insulation and vapor control on exterior walls, especially in porch conversions and additions
- Correcting subfloor deflection and rot before a single tile is set
- Waterproofing shower assemblies with modern membrane systems rather than relying on tile alone
Freeze-thaw cycles, decades of settling, and a hundred-plus winters of moisture take a toll. We’d rather open a wall, see what’s actually happening, and address it than tile over a problem.
Working With Chicagoland’s Landmark and Historic Districts
If your home sits in a designated historic district — Chicago has dozens, and communities like Oak Park, Evanston, Riverside, and Hinsdale have their own protections — exterior changes and sometimes window replacements may require review. Interior bathroom work is typically less restricted, but permitting, licensed plumbing, and inspections still apply.
For those in condo or co-op buildings, there’s an added layer: building rules on work hours, elevator use, wet-over-dry restrictions, and required insurance certificates. We handle this documentation as part of the process, because a project that stalls waiting on board approval is a project that costs more than it should.
What We Took Away From the Park Slope Story
The couple in that brownstone didn’t get everything on their original wish list. They didn’t find a turnkey two-bed, two-bath in their price range. What they found instead was a home with real character and real potential, and they made a decision that we see pay off again and again: they invested in the space rather than starting over.
That’s the same calculation thousands of Chicagoland homeowners are running right now. Between interest rates, limited inventory, and the simple fact that homes with this kind of craftsmanship aren’t being built anymore, staying put and remodeling well is often the smarter move.
Let’s Talk About Your Home
At Century City Baths, we specialize in bathroom design and remodeling throughout the Chicagoland area, with particular experience in vintage homes — greystones, bungalows, two-flats, four-plus-ones, and prewar condos. Whether you’re adding a much-needed second bath, restoring an original one, or finally addressing a room that hasn’t been touched since the Eisenhower administration, we’d like to see it.
We’ll walk the space with you, talk honestly about what’s possible, and give you a clear picture of scope, sequence, and cost before anything gets demolished.
Reach out to Century City Baths to schedule a consultation. Your home’s history is worth building on.
