Elgin family's Queen Anne wins 'Painted Lady' contest

It takes a special type of person to invest the time, energy and money necessary to rehabilitate an old house. But it takes an owner who is truly dedicated to his or her vintage home to turn it into a “painted lady” with all of its details — both intricate and mundane — painted in such a way as to make them stand out and “wow” passers-by.

For the past 29 years, these dedicated homeowners and the painting contractors they hired have been honored annually by the Chicago Paint and Coatings Association, which recognizes their efforts to improve historic neighborhoods and preserve our communities' residential architectural history. The contest is open to properties within a 50-mile radius of Chicago.

This year's six winners reside in communities like Elgin, Barrington Hills, Harvard and Chicago. They were recently honored at a dinner held at Maggiano's in Schaumburg.

The entries are always judged in a variety of categories like Best Use of Expressive Color, Best Use of Color for a Victorian Home Not Painted by Professionals, Best Use of Colors for a Non-Victorian Home and Best Use of Color for the Style of the Home. A Grand Prize winner is also chosen each year and all honorees receive a plaque to commemorate their achievement.

The Queen Anne-style home of Thomas and Maureen Lee, located at 359 Park St. in Elgin, is this year's Grand Prize winner, as well as winner of the Best Use of Colors for a Victorian Home Not Painted by Professionals designation. Built in 1887, it is officially known as the Edward and Cordelia Barclay House. The Barclay family owned a local hardware business.

According to Maureen Lee, a production manager for a direct mail marketing firm, the house was stripped of its ornamentation during the 1940s and covered with asphalt siding, “leaving just a fragment of what this magnificent home once represented.” Fifty years later, during the 1990s, the asphalt siding was removed but only a few details were replaced because owners didn't have a historic photo of how the home originally looked.

The Lees purchased the house in 2009 following a bank foreclosure and, shortly thereafter, the Elgin Area Historical Society staff discovered a negative in its archives showing the home in all of its original glory.

“With this photograph and with the help of the city of Elgin's 50/50 Historic Rehabilitation Grant, we started the rehabilitation of the exterior,” Lee wrote to the Chicago Paint and Coatings Association in her award application. “During the cold weather you could find us in the basement, painting these architectural elements that had been missing (like 200 balls/dots, 75 spindles, appliqués and on and on). We are thrilled with how it turned out and honored that we were able to bring this home back to its original splendor.”

Dan Miller of Elgin painstakingly re-created the missing gingerbread and spindles and everything needed for the second floor “parade porch” and Chris Freeman of Exterior Specialist in Cary installed them.

In total, the Lees, along with friends and relatives, painted the home in seven different colors. The colors were chosen with the help of a retired University of Michigan professor named Robert Schweitzer, who advises owners on paint colors for historic homes.

“We are thrilled with the award. We love the house but it is nice to know that others appreciate it, too,” Maureen said.

Incidentally, Thomas Lee is a professional photographer and a professional upholsterer, so he has an eye for design.

Non-Victorians can also be dressed up with multiple paint colors. That was certainly illustrated by the strikingly-painted 1880 farmhouse at 157 F Helm Road in Barrington Hills, which won the Best Use of Colors for a Non-Victorian Home award. It has been owned by Gwynne and Susan Johnston for the past 24 years. Swanson Painting of Cary was their contractor.

“We had it painted in three colors — green, cream and red,” Susan said. “When we bought it the house was painted white and had black shutters. Fifteen or 20 years ago we had the old layers of paint burned off and we painted it those three colors ourselves. It was a real treat to hire someone this time.”

Known as the Charles Helm House, it was lived in by Helm's daughter, Opal, until 1951. The Johnstons, who originally hail from Australia, are only the home's third owners and they have been there since 1991.

“We removed the shutters from the house in 1994 and over the years, I have stripped them of several layers of paint and Gwynne is restoring them to their former glory. After they are painted red, we hope to have them reinstalled next spring,” Susan wrote in a statement to the Chicago Paint and Coatings Association.

“Non-Victorian homes really benefit from multiple color painting,” said Bob Swanson, owner of Swanson Painting. “Every home has certain things that you can accent in order to make it look as best as it possibly can. So this is a growing trend.”

The neo-Colonial home owned by Paul and Jean Bednar at 16 Rugby Place in Elgin is another example of a non-Victorian home that has been painted in multiple colors for an incredible look. Their home, which won the Best Use of Color for the Style of the Home award, was painted by Carlos Rivera of Homework Construction in Elgin.

Built in 1905, this Elgin Historic District home had been painted in multiple colors in the past, but the Bednars chose to add even more colors this time and to vary the color of the body of the house. It is now adorned with five different colors and its broken trim pieces were recently repaired.

“Our house is not a Victorian lady, so it wouldn't have been painted in as many colors as one of those. With a neo-Colonial, it is appropriate to use fewer colors,” Paul Bednar said. He should know. He has been active in neighborhood preservation groups and has owned multiple homes, some of which have won this contest in the past.

The final Northwest suburban home recognized this year is the Gable-Ell Folk Style (aka vernacular) Victorian home at 250 Vincent Place, Elgin. It is owned by Marcia Borzeka and her husband, Roy Ochoa. They are the home's sixth owners since it was built for the Rinn family in 1899. The Rinns were local saloonkeepers who probably kept their ornate house painted white, Borzeka said.

The house's primary ornament is its wraparound porch and spindles, but there is also detail on the cornice, windows and doors.

Borzeka and Ochoa won the Best Use of Expressive Color award. Their painting contractor was Josh Martin of Josh's Painting.

“We have owned the house since 2009. We bought it because it had a first-floor bedroom for my ailing mother and we bought it even though it was painted primarily a rose pink, which Roy made fun of,” Borzeka recalled.

When a September 2014 microburst hit Elgin, it brought a tree down, ruining the back of the house. It needed to be repaired and repainted. Martin, whom Borzeka and Ochoa had met by chance, suggested they change the colors on the house and then ended up going to maroon for the body of the house, accented by navy, pink, gray, beige and black.

The six-color paint job relies heavily on outlining in black, which they say makes all of the other colors pop.

“Josh's wife and daughter painted the spindles and other details with makeup brushes. In addition, Josh is obsessive about color so there was lots of trial and error before we all got what we wanted,” Borzeka said. “It took a long time to complete so we are really happy with it and are very excited to have won this award.”

The Chicago Paint and Coatings Association is based in Schaumburg. For more information about this annual competition, visit www.chicagopaint.org.