1339 W Webster
- Building
- Built 1896 · 2 stories · single-family house
- Architect
- Burns & Beyerl Architects
- Prepared
- September 2026
This report synthesizes public information to show what a property is on the city and county record and what its zoning and location would allow it to become.
1339 W Webster is two lots under one owner in Lincoln Park. The main house, built in 1896 and rebuilt inside in 2018, stands on the 5,671-square-foot lot at 1339. A one-story house from 1897 stands on the 3,652-square-foot lot next door at 1345. Colleen Chinlund bought both in December 2012, paying $1,900,000 for the main house and $425,000 for the smaller house, and has held them in a trust since.
The land is zoned RT-4, which allows one home for every 1,000 square feet of lot. Across both lots that is nine homes where two stand now, and 11,188 square feet of building where the Assessor counts 4,420. A coach house or a basement unit is also allowed by right under the citywide ADU ordinance that took effect in April 2026, without the permit caps and owner-occupancy conditions that apply in parts of the city. Whether any of that fits on this land is a question for a survey and an architect.
The city has fourteen inspections on record, one of them failed, and one closed violation. The file holds a $600,000 renovation in 2018 and one 311 call in five years, for rats. One unit is registered with the city as a short-term rental.
What is on record
The city has inspected this address fourteen times and failed it once, has written one violation against it, now closed, and the permit file’s largest entry is the $600,000 renovation of 2018, filed as “interior alterations and renovation of existing two story plus basement, attic and 2 existing towers single…”, among three permits since 2006. The Assessor’s value has risen 22 percent since 2017, to $282,465. What the record cannot tell you is the age of the roof, the boiler and the wiring, or whether the largest job was finished and signed off.1,2
What the zoning allows
The property is zoned RT-4, residential two-flat, townhouse and multi-unit. The district allows one home per 1,000 square feet of lot, 1.2 square feet of building per square foot of land and 38 feet of height.
A coach house or a conversion unit is allowed here by right, and neither counts against the district’s lot area per unit. A building that has stood twenty years may add conversion units — basement or attic units — equal to a third of its lawful units, rounded, so the main house adds one. A coach house — one dwelling in an accessory building no taller than 22 feet, inside the rear-setback coverage the code allows — is permitted besides. Where two or more are added after May 2021, half of them must be kept affordable for thirty years. The city’s ADU ordinance has applied citywide since April 2026: RT, RM, B and C districts qualify outright, RS districts only where the alderperson opted the ward in. 1339 W Webster is outside the areas where the city adds conditions (annual permit caps, owner occupancy, administrative adjustment), so none apply.3
The larger number is in the base zoning. Two lots totaling 9,323 square feet allow nine homes; two stand today. The district allows 11,188 square feet of building. The Assessor counts 4,420 and the listings say 10,143; on the listings’ figure, about 1,045 square feet is left. Setbacks, the rear yard, parking and light decide the real number. Consult an architect for confirmation.
The zoning board denied a request on this parcel in 1997 (436-97-Z) and granted one in 1998 (273-98-Z). Refer to the zoning board’s case file for the 1998 decision and its conditions.
Second dwellings nearby
Five owners within half a mile of 1339 W Webster have pulled permits on a coach house or second unit. Four kept theirs, at $108k to $225k of permitted work; one tore it down.
The nearest, 2238 N Wayne Ave, is a teardown: the whole lot is being rebuilt as a new house.
Use the four renovations as the price range for keeping a second dwelling here. The highest, $225,000 at 2421 N Clybourn Ave, followed a fire.
| Address | Away | Cost | What the permit did |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12238 N Wayne Ave | 493 ft | $9kMarch 2026 | Demolished |
| 21128 W Fullerton Ave | 2,047 ft | $180kMay 2020 | Renovated |
| 32113 N Kenmore Ave | 2,188 ft | $150kDecember 2024 | Renovated |
| 42421 N Clybourn Ave | 2,636 ft | $225kOctober 2021 | Renovated |
| 51954 N Sheffield Ave | 2,733 ft | $108kAugust 2023 | Renovated · 3 permits |
- 12238 N Wayne Ave. Demolition permit, March 2026, for the two-story masonry coach house at the rear, at $9,000. An $803,000 permit the same year builds a new two-story frame house on the lot.
- 21128 W Fullerton Ave. One address, two buildings, four homes: a three-unit main house and a one-unit coach house. Renovated on a $180,000 permit in May 2020.
- 32113 N Kenmore Ave. Interior renovation of an existing two-story coach house at the rear. $150,000 permit, December 2024.
- 42421 N Clybourn Ave. Fire repair and code upgrades to two units, plus a new rear porch. $225,000 permit, October 2021.
- 51954 N Sheffield Ave. Front and rear decks replaced and the interior of a two-story coach house reworked. Three permits, August 2023, $108,000 together.
The block
The 1300 block of W Webster Ave, both sides, is 19 homes and 2 commercial buildings: 16 single-family houses and 3 two- to six-flats. Within an eighth of a mile the mix is 60% single-family houses, 14% two- to six-flats and 12% commercial buildings, and 51% of the census tract’s homes are rented.
Three permits of $250,000 or more have been issued within an eighth of a mile in the last five years, two of them for new houses: 2146 N Magnolia Ave, a new three-story house, $2.0M in 2024; 2238 N Wayne Ave, a new two-story house, $803k in 2026; 2121 N Clybourn Ave, an interior renovation, $750k in 2023. Three applications are pending: 2242 N Wayne Ave, a rear pergola, filed May 2026; 2112 N Clybourn Ave, a restaurant build-out, filed April 2026; 2225 N Wayne Ave, a new coach house with a unit above, filed March 2026. On the block itself the largest permit since 2016 is $150k at 1354 W Webster Ave in 2018.
One business holds an active license on the block: Citizen Canine, a pet business, at 1358. The nearest run of storefronts is on W Webster Ave, with Potbelly Sandwich Works, a restaurant, and Standard Parking, a parking operator.
| Address | Filed or issued | What | Cost or status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2242 N Wayne Ave | May 2026 | A rear pergola | Pending |
| 2112 N Clybourn Ave | April 2026 | A restaurant build-out | Pending |
| 2225 N Wayne Ave | March 2026 | A new coach house with a unit above | Pending |
| 2146 N Magnolia Ave | 2024 | A new three-story house | $2.0M |
| 2238 N Wayne Ave | 2026 | A new two-story house | $803k |
| 2121 N Clybourn Ave | 2023 | An interior renovation | $750k |
Quick questions
Questions to put to your architect, your broker and the seller before an offer (feel free to ).
- Second unit Which is cheaper here, a coach house under the ADU rules or a third home under RT-4? Consult an architect, and ask what each does to parking and the rear yard.
- The two lots Were the two lots ever legally combined? Ask the seller. Combining them changes the setbacks and the tax bill, and one large lot is not always the better position.
- Capacity How much of the nine-home, 11,188-square-foot allowance is real on this lot? Get a survey and a zoning certificate before treating any of it as buildable.