I represent Oak Park homeowners on property insurance claims: I inspect the damage, read the policy, price the repair and negotiate it with your insurer. My office is on North Long Avenue in Chicago, a few minutes' drive from the north edge of the Village.
Many houses here sit inside one of three local historic districts, where exterior work that needs a building permit is reviewed by the Village's Historic Preservation Commission first. I write the estimate with that review in mind, so the repair the insurer pays for is one the Village will accept.
The Village says its three local districts cover about a third of Oak Park, and it has more than 70 locally designated landmarks besides. Each district is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
The first of the three, created by the Village in 1972 and enlarged since. The Village counts 25 Frank Lloyd Wright designs in Oak Park, part of the largest group of Prairie School buildings in the country.
Listed on July 20, 1983. Exterior work on its houses goes through the same Village review as in the other two districts.
About 230 houses built from 1906 to 1920 by S.T. Gunderson and Sons, mostly American Foursquares set side by side. A hailstorm here often marks the same parts on a whole street.
To check your own address, use the historic resource lookup linked from the Village's Historic Preservation page. It also shows whether the house counts as a contributing building, which matters for the next section.
The Commission reviews building permit applications for exterior alterations, additions, new construction and demolition in the districts and on landmarks. Ordinary maintenance that needs no permit, such as exterior painting, is not reviewed. When a review applies, it is one of these two.
| Certificate of Advisory Review | Certificate of Appropriateness | |
|---|---|---|
| When it is needed | Work on a property inside one of the historic districts, and any new construction. | Historic landmarks, and projects on contributing buildings in a district that remove part of the building, change the outside where it can be seen from the street or sidewalk, or use Village money. |
| Do you have to follow it? | No. It is advice, and the permit can go ahead without the changes. | Yes. The certificate comes before the permit. |
| Who decides | The Village's preservation staff or the Commission. | Only the Historic Preservation Commission, 11 volunteers appointed by the Village Board. |
| Listed exceptions | None needed: the advice does not stop a permit. | Interior work only, a non-contributing building, no change in materials, or a restoration with little effect on the historic character. |
"No change in materials" is one of the exceptions above. A repair in the same material as the damaged part is the simplest path through the Village. A cheaper substitute on the street face of a contributing house is the kind of change the binding review looks at. These are the parts I check on every Oak Park estimate, numbered as on the drawing.
Slate, clay tile and cedar are priced by the piece and by the labour of setting it, not by the square of asphalt. I count the broken and loose pieces, test whether a repair can be matched, and price the right material. How I prove it is on my tile and slate roof claims page.
Old wood clapboard and shingle have profiles that a stock product rarely matches. When new boards cannot match the old ones on the same face of the house, I raise matching with the insurer, as explained in my article on matching undamaged siding in Illinois. Siding claims are argued wall by wall, as on my siding damage page.
Hail and wind break glass, split sashes and crack the trim around them. I list each window by its location, its size and its type, and price a repair of the existing window where that is the work the house needs, not a stock replacement.
Columns, railings, brackets and the eaves boards carry most of the character of the street face. A falling limb or a fire next door can damage all of them. They go into the estimate one by one, with the carpentry they take.
When a local rule makes the repair cost more than the insurer's first price, the part of a policy that may pay for it is Ordinance or Law coverage. What it covers and where it stops is in my article on code upgrade coverage in Illinois. I read your own policy for it before I argue anything.
The first conversation, the inspection and reading your policy cost you nothing. If you hire me, my fee is a share of the insurance payments on the claim, at the rate written in the contract we both sign before I start.
The street, the date of the loss and what was damaged are enough to start. If the insurer has sent an estimate, keep it next to the phone.
I speak English, Ukrainian and Russian.
+1 224-481-2095 volodymyr@staterestoration.usI take calls seven days a week: weekdays 7 AM to 7 PM, weekends 9 AM to 5 PM.
The Village of Oak Park keeps an online historic resource lookup, linked from its page on work in a historic district. It also tells you whether the house is listed as contributing. You can call the Village on 708.358.5443 too. I check it before I write the estimate, because the answer changes how I scope the exterior.
Not by itself. Your policy decides what is paid. What the district changes is the repair: which materials the Village will accept on the street face, and whether a review stands between you and the permit. I write that into the estimate and read your policy for Ordinance or Law coverage, which is the part that may pay for work a local rule requires.
It depends on what is on the house now, what your policy promises for a covered loss, and what the Village review allows on a house like yours. I inspect the roof as a HAAG certified inspector and a licensed roofing contractor, count the damaged pieces, and argue the scope with the insurer from the evidence. My tile and slate roof page shows how I document it.
I am a licensed public adjuster working for policyholders, not an attorney, and I do not speak for the Village of Oak Park. What your insurer pays depends on your policy wording, and nobody can promise a result in advance.