A local developer acquired a standard lot in the bucolic Chicago neighborhood of Old Irving, an area known for its rich heritage of gracious homes.

Avatar designed a 3,200 square foot frame home on three levels in the Victorian Queen Anne style, in keeping with the neighborhood vernacular. The singular feature of this design is a lacquered copper-clad oriel window with painted sunburst achoring the street façade. Other features include a free classical front stoop roofed with lacquered copper and use of verge boards on the gable ends to achieve the rich textures and forms characteristic of the style. The design achieves its harmony through carefully controlled vinyl colors and textures, accented by the judicious use of painted elements to mimic the polychome palettes of the nineteenth century.

The plan make the most of the narrow floor plates and limited view corridors by maximizing circulation efficiency between carefully articulated spaces connected by skylit two-story stairs. The strength and drama of the oriel window is exploited in the carefully detailed front bedroom.