Where do tree hugging, vegetarian liberals belong in north Chicago? (Evanston: credit, new home)

[jaynetarzana]

We're not opposed to buying a little Atomic ranch if we could find the right one. We just want one with an open floorplan and loads of natural light that doesn't need $100-$150K of work put into it to make it what we want. I find some decent ones in the $400K range, but they all need quite a bit of work to open the floorplan and remodeling a house with little ones is no fun at all. Ideally, the entire living space would be open; kitchen, dining, living and great room combined into one space like with lofts. Does anyone want to ring in on the best place to find an Atomic ranch? I subscribe to that magazine and I see the cool things people do with their little ranches. They have loads of potential. You just have to get one at the right price so you can afford to make it really nice.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

Does anyone want to ring in on the best place to find an Atomic ranch? I subscribe to that magazine and I see the cool things people do with their little ranches. They have loads of potential. You just have to get one at the right price so you can afford to make it really nice.

Anywhere on the western edge of the North Shore. Evanston has some near the Skokie border (an area many call Skevanston). The cheaper houses in Wilmette are ranches, but they are still pretty steep. Going north along the Edens Expressway will put you in the middle of post-war ranch central. Pretty much any suburb that boomed just after the war will have tons of them, but the western North Shore ranches are mostly brick. Some of them can get sort of tacky and kitschy (what some call Skokie-Baroquey).

One problem with these areas is that a lot of teardowns are now occuring, and the replacements are usually out of scale with the neighborhood, tacky, and just look out of place. Like the bungalows of old, many people don't value "atomic ranches"--though they are definitely starting to get re-discovered by rehabbers who recognize their 20th century appeal. I certainly prefer them to the awful McMansions of today, as they were a purely American housing style that didn't pretend to be anything else. The unadorned ranch house embodies a certain embrace of modernism and the optimism of the mid-20th century.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

One problem with these areas is that a lot of teardowns are now occuring, and the replacements are usually out of scale with the neighborhood, tacky, and just look out of place. Like the bungalows of old, many people don't value "atomic ranches"--though they are definitely starting to get re-discovered by rehabbers who recognize their 20th century appeal. I certainly prefer them to the awful McMansions of today, as they were a purely American housing style that didn't pretend to be anything else. The unadorned ranch house embodies a certain embrace of modernism and the optimism of the mid-20th century.

Thank you for your thoughtful posts Lookout Kid. We prefer the brick ranches actually. We want to steer clear of the McMansions and areas where the houses are inexpensive enough to warrant a teardown. I guess that could be somewhat impossible though.

I love what you said about how the ranch house "embodies a certain embrace of modernism and the optimism of the mid-20th century". I couldn't have said it better myself.

[chet everett]

It is NOT that the houses are inexpensive, it is that the LAND is far more valuable. Right up my street an all masonry ranch sat on a huge 21,000 sq. ft lot. It was not worth doing anything to try and "fix up" the house as it had small chopped up rooms and was only about 1,200 sq ft of living space. The masonry was a combination of common brick and ugly stone. Sold for $615K. Lot will easily support a single home of 4-5K sq ft and if done right will look GOOD... Believe it or not there are families that can live in places that large and do it with a modicum of taste.

There are a handful of neighborhoods that are full of true Atomic Ranches through out the region but the odds of finding one that has not be badly redone is pretty small. The other thing I run into quite a bit are the "split levels" of the same era that are even less livable. As I know you've said the housing style will be the easiest to give up, but should you move into the area I'll happily keep an eye out for something that fits what you are looking for. It is funny, but many years ago DuPage County Forest Preserve bought out a whole neighborhood full of Atomic Ranches, you'll be happy to know that they at least built a green Vistor's Center with a fully planted vegetative roof -- Weekend Explorer: Lyman Woods Forest Preserve, Fall 2002

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Lot will easily support a single home of 4-5K sq ft and if done right will look GOOD... Believe it or not there are families that can live in places that large and do it with a modicum of taste.

Haven't seen one yet... Virtually ALL of the teardowns in Chicagoland (at least 98% of them) look terrible. But they do wonders for your property value if you happen to live near them.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Haven't seen one yet... Virtually ALL of the teardowns in Chicagoland (at least 98% of them) look terrible. But they do wonders for your property value if you happen to live near them.

No one is going to claim that it looks good to plop some generic "Acme Plan Book" house on some barren lot, but I gotta disagree that the teardowns happening currently are mostly terrible. For every nasty looking concrete-block sided "fortress" there was probably an asbestos sides abomination that had been carved into so many rabbit warren apartment that it gave fire fighters chills just thinking about how many unlucky renters would smother to death in the event of blaze...

When I spend time around Park Ridge, Hinsdale, Glenview, Deerfield or any other suburb where teardowns have been the norm I have to say those that are improvements outnumber the "what were they thinking" houses by an easy 50:1.
This is /was especially true as the cost of the underlying land soared. Builders with the wherewithal to construct projects that sold/sell for over $300/sq. ft. can afford the architects that put every bit of the personality into places that was common in Chicago's golden age of architecture.

Even in Chicago's priciest neighborhoods when folks like Penny Pritzker teardown most of a city block to but up their modernist pad you don't have to say it is the most beautiful thing in the world to agree that it certainly looks better than the dumpy faux Oliver Twist's London places it replaced.

The burbs have grown in the sophistication of modern homes that are found as teardown replacements too. If the site is right, the kind of places that one finds on the cover of Dwell or Metropolitan Home are certainly an improvement over some freakish home that recalls the New England coast as interpreted by a builder who probably only saw it in bad pre-war movies...

[XavierJen]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

We're open to looking in Evanston, Wilmette, Glencoe, Northbrook, Northfield, Lincolnshire, Highland Park or Lake Forest.

This is the land of the mega-guzzling-SUV and the 4,000 lb. import sedan. not many tree-huggers.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by XavierJen

This is the land of the mega-guzzling-SUV and the 4,000 lb. import sedan. not many tree-huggers.

Is that true? I thought that was Southern California where I am now. It is all you see on the road. My realtor in Chicago said that I am going to find my people all over the north shore without a problem. It is her personal opinion that one doesn't need to live in Evanston at all to find other liberal tree huggers like ourselves. Someone from Berkeley, CA posted on here that they are quite happy in Evanston and that it feels much like home. Please don't tell me that I am going to be surrounded by a bunch of people who don't even take the time to recycle (on trash day, I look at the sea of lonely trash cans whose recyling container mate is regrettably missing! That will send me packing once again if that is the case.

[CrazyJay]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

Is that true? I thought that was Southern California where I am now. It is all you see on the road. My realtor in Chicago said that I am going to find my people all over the north shore without a problem. It is her personal opinion that one doesn't need to live in Evanston at all to find other liberal tree huggers like ourselves. Someone from Berkeley, CA posted on here that they are quite happy in Evanston and that it feels much like home. Please don't tell me that I am going to be surrounded by a bunch of people who don't even take the time to recycle (on trash day, I look at the sea of lonely trash cans whose recyling container mate is regrettably missing! That will send me packing once again if that is the case.

don't worry, you'll be a happy little liberal in Evanston. He's just screwing around. I just got done apartment hunting in Evanston the week before last.

By the way, since when has recycling only been something the tree huggers do? I recycle everything i can, and i'm not a looney liberal.

[chet everett]

Not just Evanston -- the whole region is peppered with Obama signs, Prius buyers are so desperate they are driving three-four states over to get hybrids, I've already linked to some of the activities of REAL "forest PRESERVATIONISTS"...

Obviously we've got nothing on the "fruits & nuts" of the San Fransisco and the Pacific Northwest, but in terms of many issues that sound important to you there is no chance that you will be alone.