A Teardown-proof Zook in Chicagoland Gets a $1.5M Makeover

In an Elmhurst neighborhood where teardowns have become the norm, a small 1920s house that dodged the wrecking ball is making its case for preservation — with a glossy, design-forward relaunch.

A 1925 cottage on Arlington Avenue designed by architect Harold Zook has hit the market just under $1.5 million after a full-scale glow-up that leans into its storybook bones rather than erasing them. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom, 2,900-square-foot home at 231 South Arlington Avenue was listed Dec. 18 by Pattie Murray of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago, according to Crain’s, which first reported the sale. The price amounts to $517 per square foot.

Owner Kristin Luu calls it “Zook 2.0.” The renovation keeps the chalet-style wood ceiling, gingerbread staircase trim and rolled eaves intact, while layering in a high-contrast color palette, eccentric light fixtures and finishes that skew decidedly 2025. Luu, an executive search consultant, worked remotely with Finnish designer Maya Mhanna via Decorilla to update both form and function, carving out a mudroom and adding a basement powder room without flattening the home’s original character.

That balance matters in Elmhurst, where older homes are routinely scrapped for large new construction. The Zook house sits on a one-third-acre lot that would have been catnip for builders. Its two immediate neighbors are replacement homes, and at least four nearby properties have sold to teardown buyers in recent months, according to the publication. One such sale on Illinois Street closed in July for $1.7 million — for the land alone.

By comparison, Luu’s asking price covers both land and a fully reimagined historic house.

The property’s prior owner, Regina Bollaert, sold the home in 2023 for $1 million after her family owned it for six decades and actively resisted selling to developers. Luu told the outlet that she wasn’t initially shopping as a preservationist, but the house’s intact details changed the project from a simple redesign into something closer to a rescue.

In at least one case, the house won the argument. Luu initially planned to open up the kitchen, then backed off, deciding the closed layout better suited the home’s Cotswold-style footprint.

Zook, who left his mark across the western suburbs and designed the art deco Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge, isn’t typically associated with modest cottages. That architectural provenance sets this house apart from many of the homes that have disappeared nearby.

— Eric Weilbacher