Chicago’s storied Bridgeport neighborhood has been the home of mayors, police, and firefighters for years. But hidden in plain sight is another feature of that illustrious neighborhood: the almost century-old Ramova Theatre, newly renovated and reopened for business. Now it anchors a 36,000-square-foot entertainment complex including a live music hall, banquet space, brewery, and restaurant. The upstairs banquet space, called the “Ramova Loft,” was once a karate/boxing gym.
This is Part 4 of my series Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home. Read all 4 parts here.
A little over a year ago in April of 2023, we completed the electrification of our house. Since then, I’ve received a lot of interest in this project, was awarded a Green Award by the Village of Oak Park, and was even featured in the Chicago Tribune!
Since Unity Temple’s latest renovation in 2017, led by Harboe Architects, a plethora of modern features, many cleverly hidden from view in columns or ductwork, have coexisted with historic elements. Moreover, a lot of the newfangled improvements—a geothermal heating/cooling system, energy-saving LED lights, upgraded skylights, motion sensors—might even qualify the Temple as a certifiable green structure. Thanks to the geothermal apparatus' connection with the moderate temperatures of the earth, the building is air-conditioned for the first time in its history.
In Chicago, it’s possible to buy an old, deteriorating building for one dollar, provided you promise to save it from the wrecking ball and spend your money renovating it. Not only do you avoid the wasted energy and resources associated with demolition and starting from scratch, but you can also make the building more sustainable in the process.
As of this writing, we have installed solar panels on our roof (giving us a source of free renewable electricity), switched out our gas furnace with electric heat pumps, and replaced all gas appliances with electric equivalents in our 100-year-old Oak Park home. We have shut off our gas service and upgraded our car to an electric vehicle (EV), charging it basically for free at home, eliminating our reliance on polluting gasoline with its rising costs.
