Rarely does a renovation project commence with something as delightfully convivial as a dinner party, but the owners of this Chicago abode orchestrated a food- and wine-fueled mixer for the members of their design team, some of whom had never met. “We thought it would be a nice gesture to break the ice while breaking bread,” the husband explains. The gathering turned out to be the first of many inspired and synergistic moments for the crew. “That night, everybody understood the desire for a thoughtful, beautiful design,” architect Tom Hagerty of dSpace Studio says. “Right out of the gate, we knew they wanted something really special.”
For the family of five, the project represented a new chapter in an ever-evolving story. The house had been extensively remodeled in 2016 by the owner and his first wife. Fast forward a few years, the owner had remarried, and a new baby was on the way. His two sons had grown, and the entire family required a bigger footprint. When a neighbor offered to sell him the adjacent property, he seized the opportunity, even though the timing was far from perfect. “We had just finished a massive gut renovation,” he says, noting that years spent in the remodeling trenches did have an upside. “We had collected artisans and tradespeople from prior projects that we trusted, so we knew exactly who to call.”
Those industry pros included interior designer Anthony Michael and general contractor David Haegeland, who both worked on the earlier iteration of the residence. New to the mix were Hagerty and architect Kevin Toukoumidis, also from dSpace Studio, who were brought on for an addition that required innovation and near-surgical precision. “The complexity came because we were removing one of the four exterior load-bearing walls and then doubling the size of the house,” Hagerty explains. “That amount of change to a building is never easy, but to do it in a way that feels like it was always there was very challenging.”
Knitting the addition, which includes a library, lounge, primary suite and lower-level entertaining spaces, to the original structure called for a unifying exterior. The formerly red-brick townhome now wears limestone cladding cut to resemble slender Roman bricks. Art Deco-inspired metalwork articulates the entry, bejeweling the streamlined façade like an elegant brooch. Numerous patios, an outsize roof deck, and gardens featuring birch and katsura trees, shaped by landscape architect Carrie Woleben-Meade, further tie the home to its urban setting.
Inspired by the abode’s more modern envelope, Michael says he took a “warm, decorative approach to enhance and complement the architecture.” That meant employing a kaleidoscope of jewel tones and luxuriously textured wallcoverings to bring his own maximalist flair to the project. Seating covered in velvet, chenille, mohair and leather creates a through line of coziness. Nods to the Art Deco exterior are also found throughout: A vintage table of the era welcomes upon arrival, leather-upholstered stools in the style pull up to the breakfast bar, and custom metalwork on the primary bedroom doors recall the period once again. Bold choices—such as wrapping the family room in a graphic wallpaper and topping it off with a fresh lick of teal ceiling paint—make for an enticing what’s-around-that-corner feel.
Because the owners are ardent hosts, entertaining spaces both inside and out took top billing. The lower level boasts a full bar, lounge, and the dwelling’s most ingenious feature: an underground cylindrical wine cellar with a retractable glass ceiling. “The experience of descending into the wine tunnel is something straight out of a James Bond movie,” Toukoumidis says. Requested by the clients, “it was one of the things on this project that inspired us as architects to dream big,” he adds. It is also an engineering feat that took months to execute.
That the team exhibited a level of tenacity rivaling the homeowners’ own can-do mindset proved it was a match made in design heaven. “At the end of the day, it was about the client and the challenge and the beauty of the house, and that inspired all of us,” Toukoumidis says. “This place provided us the freedom to dream, and that initial dinner when we all first met set the tone for the synergy and collaboration to make those dreams a reality.”
