Two and a half years after buying a vacant lot on Evanston’s lakefront, and despite continuing objections from neighbors, Adam and Susan Sabow finally have Preservation Commission approval to build a home there.
The commission voted 4-2 Tuesday night to approve what’s at least the third major revision to designs for the contemporary home at 917 Edgemere Court.
As described by architect Fred Wilson of Morgante Wilson Architects the latest design makes the house shorter than before, eliminates the use of wood siding in favor of stucco and glass and removes a c-shaped design feature from the front facade.
The latest design for 917 Edgemere.
A verson of the design rejected last summer.
The first design from 2016.
Jackie Crihfield.
But despite the revisions, Jackie Crihfield, who lives next door to the lot at 911 Edgemere, said the planned home “would loom over our house.”
It would be the second largest house on the block on the narrowest lot, Crihfield said, comparing it to “a 10-pound sausage in a five pound casing.”
“Some might field sympathy for the applicants,” Crihfield added, “but that’s not a basis on which to issue a certificate of appropriateness.”
Several other neighbors also opposed the new design, although Pauline Sheehan of 920 Edgemere did say it was “greatly improved” over previous versions.
Preservation Commission members Robert Bady and Suzi Reinhold.
But Commission member Robert Bady said that given the narrow lot he didn’t think the architects could have done any better with the design adding that he appreciated that the new design reduced the mass of the structure.
Commission member Suzi Reinhold said the latest design met suggestions she had made at the last meeting — significantly reducing the height. She said the new front facade also “looks more appropriate from the street.”