Masonry & Tuckpointing in Clarendon Hills, Illinois
Clarendon Hills incorporated in 1924 to avoid being swallowed by Hinsdale. It is 1.82 square miles, it has no preservation commission, and its one landmark is gone.
The landmark is gone and the station is new
Most local masonry pages open by pointing at a historic building. In Clarendon Hills we have to open by telling you that the two buildings anyone would point at do not support the story.
The Henry C. Middaugh House at 66 Norfolk Avenue was National Register listed on September 21, 1978, reference 78003105. It was demolished in 2002 and formally removed from the Register on August 14, 2004. Clarendon Hills currently has zero active National Register listings.
And the Metra station — the village's most visible public building — is new. Groundbreaking January 6, 2020, ribbon-cutting November 7, 2022. Its design philosophy was explicitly “buildings as landscape”: a low-profile, landscape-integrated structure with native prairie plantings, deliberately unlike the classical brick depots up and down the BNSF line.
So the village's marquee landmark was demolished, and its most prominent building was intentionally designed not to be the brick station you would expect. If a contractor's page tells you they work on Clarendon Hills' historic landmarks, ask which ones.
There is no preservation process here at all
This is unusually clean-cut, and it is genuinely useful to know.
The village's own Boards and Commissions roster lists: the Village Board, Pension Boards, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, the Downtown Design Review Commission, the Economic Development Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals and Plan Commission, and the Foreign Fire Insurance Board.
There is no historic preservation commission and no landmark body on that list. No landmark ordinance, no Certificate of Appropriateness process, no historic district.
One thing not to confuse: the Downtown Design Review Commission governs downtown commercial design. It is not a residential preservation ordinance and it should not be described as one. Whether its scope reaches exterior masonry on downtown buildings we could not confirm, so if you own commercial property in the core, ask the village rather than assume either way.
There is a volunteer-run Clarendon Hills Historical Society, which is a historical society and not a regulator.
So for a homeowner: no preservation approval stands between you and a repointing job. Ordinary building permits apply as anywhere. Any copy implying landmark approval is required in Clarendon Hills would be inventing it.
What we can and cannot tell you about the houses
We are going to be unusually candid about the data here, because it is thin and it conflicts.
Figures put the median year built at about 1982, with roughly 2.5 percent built before 1940 and a further 8.3 percent by 1949 — about 10.8 percent pre-1950. Those come from a single secondary aggregator.
A separate source describes the housing as primarily built in the 1940s or the 1990s, which conflicts with the 1982 median and we could not reconcile the two. CMAP publishes a Community Data Snapshot for the village — the village even hosts a copy — but it could not be text-extracted. So we could not establish the dominant construction decade at all.
And no source documents facade or exterior material for the housing stock, which is the same everywhere in this network.
We could have picked the friendlier-sounding number and moved on. But this page is going to be read by somebody deciding whether to spend five figures on their wall, and a confident statistic we cannot stand behind is worth less than an honest gap.
Which makes the mortar question the practical one
Since we cannot tell you what era your house belongs to from village-wide data, the useful thing is to give you both answers and let the mason in front of the wall decide.
Masonry laid before roughly 1930 sits in lime-based mortar, softer than modern Portland cement. That softness is the design: lime mortar is the sacrificial element in the wall, moving and weathering so the brick does not, and when the joint fails you replace the joint. Repoint it with hard Portland cement and the relationship inverts — the joint becomes stronger than the brick, moisture leaves through the brick face instead, and you get spalling, which cannot be undone.
Masonry laid after that sits in modern Portland mixes, where a modern mix is correct rather than a compromise, and the issues move to age and hardware.
Given a median in the early 1980s, most Clarendon Hills walls are probably in the second category — and a wall from 1982 is forty-four years old, which is past a typical 25-to-30-year repointing cycle with its original hardware still behind the brick.
What fails on a wall of that age
Masonry of the postwar and later decades generally behaves as a veneer rather than a solid load-bearing wall — a rain screen designed to let some water through, with a cavity behind it draining that water back out through weep holes, and metal ties holding the brick to the structure.
We should say plainly that brick veneer is not documented for Clarendon Hills specifically. It was standard regional practice for the era. That describes the period, not your house.
- Wall ties — corrode and lose section. A bulge or wavy line in a flat brick face is the late, expensive stage.
- Weep holes — blocked by original mortar droppings, decades of debris, or landscaping and mulch banked against the wall.
- Steel lintels — the angle over windows and doors rusts, and rusting steel expands, lifting the masonry above. Rust staining or a lifted joint is the tell.
- Sealant joints — harden, shrink and crack around openings, letting water straight in.
- Chimney crowns and stacks — exposed on every side above the roofline, and usually first to fail.
Questions worth more than a price per square foot
- Which era is my house, and which mortar does that mean? Since the village-wide data is thin, this has to be answered at your wall rather than from a table.
- Are the weep holes at the base of the wall open? Cheapest item on the list and the first thing a competent mason checks on a veneer wall.
- What condition are the lintels above the windows and doors in? Rust staining or lifting means repointing around them accomplishes nothing.
- Any bulging or bowing in a flat brick face? That points at wall ties, which is structural rather than cosmetic.
- What is the chimney doing? On a house of this vintage it is usually where the real failure is.
- Which joint profile — and does it match what is on the wall now?
- How is the old joint being removed? An angle grinder in the wrong hands widens joints and scars brick edges permanently.
A mason who answers only with a price per square foot is quoting a different job than the one your building needs.
Signs your masonry needs a look
- Mortar you can rake out with a house key, or that falls away as sand
- Joints noticeably recessed behind the face of the brick
- Rust staining or lifting above a window or door — the steel lintel is corroding and expanding
- Bulging, bowing or a wavy line in what should be a flat brick face — suspect wall ties
- Spalling — brick faces flaking or popping off. Water is already getting in and freezing
- White efflorescence on brick or basement walls, or damp patches inside after a wet spring
- Cracked chimney crown, or mortar washing out of the stack above the roofline
Act early on these. The components behind the brick — ties, flashing, weeps, lintels — are the expensive part, and they fail quietly for years before anything shows on the face.
Clarendon Hills and the surrounding area
Clarendon Hills is a compact village between Hinsdale and Westmont, just 1.82 square miles on the BNSF line. If yours is a greystone, a landmark facade or a full estate elevation, start with our greystone, landmark and estate work, compare masonry in Hinsdale next door or masonry in Western Springs, or browse every area we serve across Chicagoland.
Questions Clarendon Hills owners ask
Does Clarendon Hills have a historic district or landmark rules?
No, on both counts, and this is unusually clear-cut. The village's own Boards and Commissions roster lists the Village Board, Pension Boards, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, the Downtown Design Review Commission, the Economic Development Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals and Plan Commission, and the Foreign Fire Insurance Board. There is no historic preservation commission and no landmark body anywhere on that list, no landmark ordinance and no Certificate of Appropriateness process. One thing not to confuse: the Downtown Design Review Commission governs downtown commercial design, not residential preservation, and whether its scope reaches exterior masonry on downtown buildings we could not confirm. There is also a volunteer-run Clarendon Hills Historical Society, which is a historical society rather than a regulator. For a homeowner, no preservation approval stands between you and a repointing job.
What happened to the Middaugh House?
It was demolished. The Henry C. Middaugh House at 66 Norfolk Avenue was listed on the National Register on September 21, 1978 under reference 78003105, then demolished in 2002 and formally removed from the Register on August 14, 2004. That leaves Clarendon Hills with zero active National Register listings and no known local historic district. We mention it because it still appears in places as though it were standing, and any source that references it as an extant landmark is simply out of date. It is a real piece of village history and it is not a building you can go and look at.
Is the train station historic?
No, it is new. The current Clarendon Hills Metra station on the BNSF Line broke ground on January 6, 2020 and had its ribbon-cutting on November 7, 2022. Its design philosophy was explicitly described as buildings as landscape: a low-profile, landscape-integrated structure with native prairie plantings, deliberately unlike the classical brick train stations found up and down the BNSF line. So the village's most prominent public building was intentionally designed not to be the historic brick depot people picture. The construction material of the prior 1970s-era station was not documented in anything we could find.
How old are Clarendon Hills houses?
We are going to be candid: the data here is thin and it conflicts. Figures put the median year built at about 1982, with roughly 2.5 percent built before 1940 and a further 8.3 percent by 1949, giving about 10.8 percent pre-1950, but those come from a single secondary aggregator. A separate source describes the housing as primarily built in the 1940s or the 1990s, which conflicts with that 1982 median, and we could not reconcile the two. CMAP publishes a Community Data Snapshot for the village and the village even hosts a copy, but it could not be text-extracted, so we could not establish the dominant construction decade at all. We could have picked the friendlier number and moved on, but a confident statistic we cannot stand behind is worth less to you than an honest gap.
So which mortar does my house need?
Since we cannot tell you which era your house belongs to from village-wide data, here are both answers. Masonry laid before roughly 1930 sits in lime-based mortar, which is softer than modern Portland cement, and that softness is the design rather than a defect: the mortar is the sacrificial element in the wall, moving and weathering so the brick does not. Repoint that with hard Portland cement and it reverses, pushing moisture and expansion stress into the brick face and producing spalling that cannot be undone. Masonry laid after that sits in modern Portland mixes, where a modern mix is correct rather than a compromise, and the issues shift to age and hardware. Given a median in the early 1980s, most Clarendon Hills walls are probably in the second category, and a wall from 1982 is forty-four years old, which is past a typical repointing cycle with original hardware still behind it.
Are Clarendon Hills homes brick veneer?
Many appear to be, but we are not going to assert it. No source documents facade or exterior material composition for the general housing stock, and the Census does not collect exterior wall material at any geography. Brick veneer over frame was the standard regional practice for the postwar and later decades, but that describes the construction era rather than your specific house. If that is what you own, the veneer works as a rain screen: it is expected to let some water through, a cavity behind it drains that water out through weep holes, and metal ties hold the brick to the structure. Every part of that system is consumable, which is why the drainage path, ties, lintels and chimney are what deserve attention on a wall of this age.
Do I need a permit to tuckpoint in Clarendon Hills?
No preservation approval, certainly. There is no historic preservation commission, no landmark ordinance and no Certificate of Appropriateness process in the village, so nothing of that kind stands between you and the work. Ordinary building permits apply as they would in any village, and the thresholds for those are a question for the village's building department rather than something we would state from research. The trade-off of having no review layer is the one that recurs across every unregulated town: nothing external will catch a bad specification for you, so the contractor you choose is the entire quality control system.
How often does brick need tuckpointing in Clarendon Hills?
Brick in this climate generally runs 25 to 30 years between repointings, but that is an average rather than a schedule, and exposure decides it. Clarendon Hills has no lake frontage and no ravines, and at 1.82 square miles it is compact enough that microclimate varies less than in bigger towns. The variables are orientation and street exposure: a south and west elevation takes the driven rain, a chimney above the roofline takes weather from every direction and usually fails first, and a wall along Ogden Avenue or 55th Street takes traffic spray and winter road salt that a quiet street off Prospect Avenue never sees. Any mason quoting a whole-house number without walking every elevation is guessing.
Is MasonryPros.us a masonry contractor?
No. MasonryPros.us is a free matching service operated by Media Express LLC, a Chicago digital agency founded in 1995. We do not perform masonry work and we have no office in Clarendon Hills. You describe the job once, and we match you with local contractors who do that specific type of work. There is no obligation to hire.