Luxury Renovations & Custom Homes in Chicago
Design-led renovations, conversions and interiors for Chicago's most storied addresses, from Gold Coast to Lincoln Park, shaped around the people who live in them.
Chicago is a city written in architecture. In the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Bucktown and Lakeview, vintage greystones and brownstones stand shoulder to shoulder with co-ops, two-flats awaiting their next life and lakefront residences with views that ask to be framed rather than fought. It is a housing stock of real provenance and real constraint, narrow lots, party walls, landmark facades, generous bones hidden behind a century of well-meaning alterations. Here the difference between a renovation that merely modernises and one that genuinely belongs comes down to judgement: knowing what to honour, what to open up, and what to quietly let go. Martire Custom Homes brings that judgement, principal-led and design-first, reading the building, the block and the life intended to unfold within.
Honouring the bones of a Chicago home
A greystone's carved limestone, a brownstone's rhythm of bays and stoops, the deep, light-starved plan of a classic two-flat, these are languages to be spoken fluently, not overwritten. Much of the city's finest work lies in coaxing more from what is already there: drawing daylight through a long, narrow floor plate, reworking a two-flat or three-flat into a single gracious family home, and modernising comfort, systems and interiors without flattening the character that makes these buildings worth keeping.
Engaged early, ideally before the architect, the firm can read what a building is quietly asking for and where the real opportunities lie. New millwork, cabinetry, lighting plans and materials are drawn into conversation with the original architecture rather than imposed upon it, so the result reads as though it had always been intended. On landmark blocks and within historic streetscapes, that fluency is what allows a home to feel current inside while keeping faith with its facade and its neighbours.
Designed for the way the city lives
A Chicago home is rarely only a residence. It entertains, it works, it holds a family through long winters and lake-bright summers, and it makes the most of every square foot a city lot allows. Design here begins with the homeowner's own story, how they gather, cook, collect and unwind, and lets that lifestyle shape plan, flow and finish. The result is a home that feels composed rather than decorated: layered interiors, custom joinery, considered drapery and textiles, art and materials chosen with intent, and rooms that carry a clear sense of the people in them.
Because Martire carries artistic direction from pre-construction through the final styling, the architecture and the interiors arrive as a single idea. For a lakefront residence, that might mean orienting the whole composition toward the water; for a Lincoln Park rebuild behind a preserved facade, it means a contemporary life unfolding within a familiar street. Nothing feels added on at the end; everything feels intended from the start.
A studio suited to homes of this calibre.
- Principal-led direction from Courtenay Martire, with a fashion, photography and design background that brings an editorial eye to high-value city homes
- Best engaged in the pre-architect, pre-construction phase, guiding plans, selecting or working alongside the architect, and setting the design direction before decisions become costly to unwind
- Fluency across greystone, brownstone, co-op and lakefront vocabularies, so renovations, conversions and additions read as original to the home and its block
- A single creative hand across architecture, millwork, cabinetry, lighting, drapery, materials and styling, cohesion that suits whole-home transformations on demanding city lots
- A firm built on trust and long relationships, with roughly 90% of work coming from returning clients and long-standing artisan partnerships
Good to know.
Do you work on landmark or historic Chicago homes?
Yes. Greystones, brownstones and other established city homes are some of the most rewarding work we do. We approach them with restraint, modernising comfort, systems and interiors while honouring the proportion, masonry and character that make them significant. Where a facade or streetscape is protected, we design to keep faith with it while transforming how the home lives inside.
Can you convert a two-flat or three-flat into a single-family home?
This is a natural fit, and a conversation best had early, ideally before engaging an architect. By reading the existing building, the lot and how you intend to live, we can advise on whether a whole-home conversion, a significant addition or a ground-up rebuild will serve you best, then carry the design direction through to the finished home and its interiors.
What size of project is the right fit in Chicago?
Our work centres on substantial luxury renovations, conversions, custom homes and design-led interiors, typically larger, whole-home undertakings rather than single isolated rooms. If you are considering a meaningful transformation of a Chicago home, it is well worth a conversation.
If a home in Chicago is taking shape in your mind, we would welcome the chance to hear its story.