Luxury Renovations & Custom Homes on Chicago's North Shore
Design-led renovation, custom homes and architectural interiors for the lakefront, historic and architect-designed homes of the North Shore, Wilmette to Lake Forest.
The North Shore is among the most thoughtfully built stretches of residential America, a string of villages drawn along Lake Michigan through Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park and Lake Forest. Its houses were made by people who cared how they were made: Prairie School and Arts and Crafts homes, Tudor, Georgian and Colonial revivals, considered mid-century commissions, and grand lakefront estates set behind ravines and old trees. To renovate well here is not to impose a style but to read a house honestly, its proportion, its provenance, the way light crosses it through the day, and the family who will live within it, then carry that understanding through architecture, materials, joinery and finishes. That is the work Martire Custom Homes is built for: principal-led, deeply personal, and faithful to both the home and the homeowner.
An umbrella of villages, each with its own architectural voice
The North Shore is not one place but several, and the distinctions matter. Wilmette and Kenilworth hold finely detailed revival streetscapes; Winnetka and Glencoe carry lakefront estates and wooded enclaves of real provenance; Highland Park's ravines and mid-century commissions ask a different sensibility again; Lake Forest sets the old-world, estate-scaled standard at the northern reach. A renovation that ignores these differences flattens what makes a home belong where it stands.
Courtenay Martire begins by reading the house and its setting before anything is altered, its era and lineage, the quality of its original detail, and the life its owners want to lead within it. The aim is never a renovation that announces itself, but a home that feels more itself than before, and one that makes the homeowner the star of it.
The lakefront and the ravine, read on their own terms
The defining feature of the North Shore is Lake Michigan, and the homes that face it, along with the ravine-side properties set just back from the bluff, ask for a particular hand. Light here is generous and ever-changing; sightlines, exposure, mature canopy and the long horizon of the water all shape how a house should open and where it should hold back. Martire approaches these homes as compositions tuned to their setting: orienting living spaces to the view, calibrating glazing and materials to weather and brightness, and balancing a home's energies so that grand, light-filled rooms still feel grounded and intimate.
Whether the project is a whole-home transformation, a sensitive addition or a ground-up custom home, the land and the lake are treated as collaborators rather than constraints, drawn into the design rather than worked around.
One artistic direction, from pre-construction to the final styling
The most resolved North Shore homes are the ones a single sensibility carries from end to end. Martire is best engaged early, in the pre-architect, pre-construction phase, where Courtenay can select or work alongside your architect, guide or shape the plans, and then hold the artistic direction unbroken through construction and into the finishes. Custom millwork and cabinetry, lighting plans, stone and material selection, drapery, textiles, art and final styling are considered together rather than handed off in pieces.
Drawing on more than two decades across fashion, photography, art, architecture and interiors, and long-standing relationships with skilled artisans, she translates each homeowner's story into spaces that are genuinely theirs, and built to last. For families along the North Shore, that means a calm, cohesive process and a home that holds together from the structure to the last finish.
A studio suited to homes of this calibre.
- Principal-led from first conversation to final styling, Courtenay Martire personally directs every North Shore project rather than delegating its vision
- Fluent across the area's architectural range, Prairie, Arts and Crafts, Tudor and Georgian revivals, mid-century and lakefront estates, and committed to renovating with restraint
- A specialist's feel for lakefront and ravine-side homes, where light, view and exposure shape every decision
- Best engaged before the architect, carrying one unbroken artistic direction through construction, finishes and styling
- Long-standing artisan partnerships and a roughly 90% repeat-client practice, the mark of a trust-based, relationship-led studio
Good to know.
Which North Shore communities does Martire work in?
Martire serves the full North Shore as an umbrella region, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park and Lake Forest, alongside the wider Chicago suburbs and lakefront communities in Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Winnetka and Lake Forest are also covered by their own dedicated pages.
Do you renovate historic and architect-designed homes sensitively?
Yes. Much of the North Shore's housing stock is historic or architect-designed, and that heritage is the starting point of the work. Courtenay reads each home's era, lineage and original detail before anything changes, preserving what gives a house its character while updating it to live beautifully for today.
When is the best time to bring Martire into a North Shore project?
As early as possible, ideally in the pre-architect, pre-construction phase. Engaging early lets Courtenay select or work alongside your architect, shape the plans, and carry a single artistic direction through construction, finishes and styling. It is the surest way to a home that feels whole and personal.
Begin the Conversation about your North Shore home.