Fight Over Historic Wacker House Goes Public As Preservationists Call For City Action

OLD TOWN — In the Old Town Triangle Historic District sits a house born from one of Chicago’s greatest disasters.

The original home on the site at 1838 N. Lincoln Park West burned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Three years later, brewer Frederick Wacker rebuilt it as a distinctive Swiss chalet-style home, creating what would be known as the Wacker House.

The home later belonged to Frederick’s son, Charles Wacker, one of the city’s most influential civic leaders. As chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission for 17 years, Wacker helped carry out Daniel Burnham’s landmark 1909 Plan of Chicago, championing projects including the widening of Michigan Avenue, expansion of the lakefront park system and construction of the double-deck boulevard that now bears his name.

Now, the 150-year-old Wacker House is at the center of an escalating preservation fight.

Over the past several years, the home’s exterior has been dramatically transformed. Siding has been removed, the front staircase is now flanked by tree trunks, exposed wood covers much of the facade and the rear coach house has undergone extensive alterations.

To some passersby, the house appears whimsical or unconventional. But preservationists see something very different.

The Old Town Triangle Association says the years of exterior alterations have transformed one of the neighborhood’s defining landmark buildings. The group is publicly urging city officials to intervene before more of its historic character is lost.

“Over the last four years, the house has been altered to an alarming degree,” the association wrote in a letter to neighbors this month. “The most noticeable changes are the obvious and inappropriate tree sections clumsily attached to the front stairs and now the back of the builing. The most harmful work was done by stripping the (lead-based) paint off of the entire building.”

The owner of the home, Michael Gancarz, did not return multiple requests for comment. He was facing foreclosure of the property as of April, according to county records.

Gancarz appears to be the same person who was charged in 2024 with burglary, petit larceny and trespassing in New York City, with officials saying he went into and took wine from a luxury wine shop he and his then-wife had previously owned there, according to The New York Post.

Years Of Concerns

After years of raising concerns privately, the Old Town Triangle Association is asking neighbors to report ongoing work at the property to city officials.

The move follows years of complaints to the Department of Buildings, which confirmed to Block Club it has issued two stop-work orders at the property since 2023 and responded to multiple complaints in recent years alleging work without permits, alterations to a landmark building and other construction-related concerns.

City records provided to Block Club show the Department of Buildings has been monitoring the Wacker House property for years.

“We know that living next to a construction project that has gone on this long is difficult, and we understand why neighbors on this block have raised concerns,” department spokesperson Nefsa’Hyatt Brown said in a statement. “The Department of Buildings continues to monitor this property.”

What’s concerned neighbors is not just the years of construction work, though.

The Wacker House is within the Old Town Triangle Historic District, one of Chicago’s oldest designated landmark districts.

Under Chicago’s landmark ordinance, exterior alterations to designated landmark properties and contributing buildings within landmark districts generally require review by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks before permits can be issued.

The rules are intended to preserve the historic character of protected buildings while allowing owners to repair and rehabilitate them in ways that are compatible with the surrounding district.

In a letter this month, the Old Town Triangle Association urged the Department of Buildings and Commission on Chicago Landmarks to take stronger enforcement action, arguing years of alterations have left one of the neighborhood’s defining historic homes “at serious risk.”

The dispute isn’t about whether homeowners can renovate historic homes, Karl Hjerpe, the Old Town Triangle Association’s Historic District, Planning and Zoning chairman, told Block Club. However, the association believes changes to landmark properties should comply with the city’s preservation rules, he said.

“While the Old Town Triangle Association respects homeowners’ rights to make changes to their property, those changes must comply with the City of Chicago’s Landmark Ordinance requirements governing the Old Town Triangle District,” the organization’s members said in a statement to Block Club.

No building permits have been issued for the property since 2023. That December, inspectors issued a stop-work order related to paint removal at the home.

From 2023 through 2026, the Department of Buildings received 13 complaints related to the property, including reports of work without plans or permits, paint stripping, alterations to a landmark building, work encroaching onto neighboring properties, construction on the coach house, rooftop work and jobsite safety concerns.

Some of the complaints were duplicates submitted by multiple neighbors reporting the same activity, Brown said.

In June 2025, inspectors issued a second stop-work order after observing construction on top of the property’s coach house, according to the buildings department.

Despite the complaints and stop-work orders, the department’s enforcement authority is limited because inspectors have never been able to get inside the home, “which limits what we can document and act on,” Brown said.

When inspectors cannot enter a property, they can leave notices requesting the owner schedule an inspection, and they return at a later date or issue violations for conditions visible from the exterior, Brown said. The city cannot gain entry on its own, meaning a full assessment of any interior work generally requires the owner’s cooperation.