Renovating a Historic Queen Anne

Opportunity to renovate a historic Queen Anne house

Upon returning from our Wisconsin fishing season opener in May 2015, we learned that the house next door was being sold.  Pat and Terry had lived in the house for several decades and were the neighborhood celebrities (Netflix movie Secret Love).  With health concerns, Pat and Terry decided to move to a local Senior Citizen community.  We were sad to see our neighbors leaving as they were an anchor to our community. Our son also adored talking to them about baseball and their travels. However, we looked forward to renovating a historic Queen Anne Victorian house, in the process.

Our home resides in the historic district in Saint Charles, IL.  This area is attractive to developers due to its proximity to downtown, Pottawattamie Park and highly rated schools.  It also boasts large lots and a great local community.  We were concerned about the possibility of the sale and demolition of the 1898 Queen Anne, in favor of new construction. Another concern was its further development as a rental (as it had already been converted to a two-flat several year ago).  As a result of these concerns, we joined our neighbors across the street in purchasing the house. The intent of this partnership was to restore the house to a single family residence. We also intended to register it as a historical home to protect it from these possibilities in the future.

Beautiful original features

The Locke-Marchialette House was built on a subdivision of the parcel originally belonging to our house (Balis House- 1892 Italianate).  In researching the history of the home, we learned that the Marchialette family owned the local lumber company/mill.  With this history of the original owners, it was no surprise that for the style and location of the house, the interior woodwork and details were quite extravagant and unique for the area.  Pat and Terry truly loved this house and were excellent stewards of the unique architectural details. 

Even during the conversion of the upstairs to a two-flat, care was taken to conserve the original details.  Highlights included fully pearled door and window moldings, original pine planked floors in the living areas, maple floors in the kitchen, candy striped maple/mahogany floors in the formal dining room and original doors, windows, hardware and stained glass throughout the house.

Renovating a historic Queen Anne House

Main priorities in the renovation included:

• Re-opening of the main entry and stairwell as the primary access to the residence
• Removal of the external stair case and door accessing the up-stairs unit of the two-flat
• the conversion of the up-stairs kitchenette to a master bathroom (ensuite)
• the installation of Central AC
• the gut remodel of the kitchen
• the upgrade of the two existing bathrooms
• the conversion of the enclosed porch to a breakfast room off the kitchen

 We did not remove the vinyl siding and refurbish the original external wood siding. Nor did we pursue the conversion of an expansive attic space into additional living area. Both of these ideas were on the list of potential projects.

A rewarding renovation experience

As with most restoration projects, we did experience a number of surprises, along the way.  In the case of the Locke-Marchialette House, all surprises were positive experiences (which is not so common).   The most exciting surprise was our discovery of  a time capsule, left by the original owners, when demolishing an old coal shoot to expand the kitchen entry way. We gifted most of the objects which we discovered in the house’s time-capsule to the current owners and they are proudly displayed as a part of the home’s history. We donated the balance of the items to our local history museum.

In the end, we completed our renovation of a historic Queen Anne and the landmarking of the Locke- Marchialette house on time and largely on budget.  Although the project was not a big money maker for us or our partners, we successfully secured a piece of local history.  We also have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of our labor when we look at this house from our kitchen window, as we drink our coffee each morning.    Two different families have called this sanctuary home, since we completed the restoration. We hope that many more families will grace the halls of this beauty in future years.