Tim Goodsell’s balcony is small, projecting only a few inches from the second floor of his contemporary Chicago house. But its effect on his master bedroom is big.
“It’s away from the street noise that’s in front, so we can open the door and hear the birds, smell the garden and have fresh air,” said Goodsell, a banker. “It makes the bedroom part of our little urban oasis.”
A waist-high glass partition provides protection from the glass door that opens to the minibalcony but does not block the view of the backyard.
“It was Paul’s idea,” said Goodsell of his architect, Paul Florian of Chicago-based Florian Architects. “It’s just enough to give the house something whimsical.”
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Rarely necessary but usually appreciated, the residential balcony can be outside or, like its cousin in the theater, inside. Sometimes it is inherent to the architecture, like the rows of “corn” on the Marina Towers’ cob design or the waves on the Aqua tower, both in Chicago. Sometimes, it is unapologetically utilitarian. It is chameleonic, assimilating the style of the home from which it protrudes. Or it drips with ornamentation, begging for attention.
From the word “balc” (“beam”), the balcony differs from the porch and veranda, which are at ground level. If it is raised but not necessarily protruding, it is a gallery. A balcony like Goodsell’s, which is not large enough to stand on but is roomy enough from which to shout “Wherefore art thou?”, is called a Juliet.
While the square footage of the balcony does not count toward the homeowner’s real estate tax bill, it counts as a sought-after amenity for many buyers.
“Mine is small, but it’s large enough for a bistro table,” said Gina Hammond of the balcony that extends from the master bedroom in her new Arlington Heights house, built by Palatine-based Patrick Finn Ltd.
Hammond, a teacher and mother of two children, 4 and 7 years old, relaxes on the balcony after work while her Great Dane, Jewel, stretches out on the floor’s wooden decking. “When it is warmer, we have breakfast out there,” she said.
The glass door to the balcony gives the illusion that the bedroom is bigger. “It’s the openness and the light,” Hammond said.
Balconies are integral to the design of the uber-modern house Anna Bobak shares with her husband in Beecher. Designed by Mark A. Miller Architects/Builders Inc. in Chicago, the home has three balconies that jut from the shiplike house. Bobak said the balconies give the impression “we are sailing in the frequent wind.”
The balcony connected to the master bedroom has reclining chairs and a coffee table, so it has become an outdoor reading room. Balconies extending from the family’s second and third bedrooms are ideal for watching sunsets, said Bobak, a marketing manager.
For buyers of multifamily homes that lack yards, balconies are windows onto the world.
For ironworker Anthony Caputo, who spends his days outside, a home without outdoor access “would feel jail-like,” he said. The balconies on the three-story town house he bought at Millbrook Pointe in Wheeling clinched the deal.
“I saw a lot of other town houses that just had a balcony off of the kitchen, but no others that had one off of the bedroom, too, like mine does,” said Caputo, who closed on his home in October. “Next summer, I’ll be able to open the doors to the balcony in my bedroom at night for cool breezes.”
Caputo’s second-floor balcony, attached to his kitchen, houses his grill. “It is extra room when I have people over,” he said.
Tom Kucinski describes the 11-by-5-foot balcony attached to his midrise condo at Belle Plaine Commons in Chicago as “kind of like the wrought-iron version of the white picket fence.”
“While it’s private, it’s where the neighbors say hi,” he said. “One of my neighbors is a wonderful baker, so she’s seen me on the balcony and given me cookies and brownies.”
After living on the lakefront for 30 years, Kucinski worried he would lose his views of Chicago’s air and fireworks shows after he moved to Belle Plaine. “Now I see both from my balcony,” he said. “During the air show, the planes come right at us.”
The former steward of a community garden, Kucinski treasures access to the outdoors.
“Having a balcony was extremely important to me when I moved here in 2011,” he said. “I want to be able to get outside without going down the elevator and down the hall.” This summer, the container garden on his balcony hosted a profusion of pansies, impatiens and marigolds. Tucked between the planters are a gas grill and a reading chair.
Keeping the retired musician company on his balcony retreats are his two parakeets. “I bring their cage out when it’s warm outside. They love it,” he said. “They chatter away.”
Balconies are important to the buyers of 200 North Dearborn Private Residences, said sales manager Karen Howard. Stretching 111/2 feet across the end of the condos, the balconies offer views of Lake Michigan, the Chicago River or the skyline.
“For most of our buyers, these are second homes,” said Howard. “They keep planters, grills or furniture on the balconies so they can use them when they’re here.” They put their dining room tables just inside the balconies so they can take advantage of the views during meals, she said.
Home shoppers should look past the “wow” factor of balconies, said interior designer Kenneth Walter, of Gray & Walter in Chicago, and consider how they will use them. If you entertain large groups, a tiny balcony can be useless, he said. But if the balcony is just the sanctuary for the cigar smoker or griller in the family, small will do.
The direction your unit faces matters when you consider wind, sunrises and sunsets.
Walter’s No. 1 tip: Look for a balcony that offers some protection from Chicago’s gusty winds. Otherwise, he said, “you fall in love with the balcony idea, then after using it a few times, the novelty wears off.”
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“Costwise, the balcony is incidental” to the builder, said architect John Issa of Chicago-based Perimeter Architects, which tucked balconies into Wicker West 1555, a midrise condo rehab in Chicago. He wrapped the dated balcony floors, ceilings and walls in cedar for an updated look.
“In the city, especially, any outdoor space is good, even if it’s just enough room to step outside in the morning with your coffee and check the weather,” said Issa. Although the Wicker West balconies measure 4 feet by 6 feet, they add light and cross-ventilation to the units, he said.
“Architecturally, the balconies tell you, ‘This building is a residence,'” said Issa. “For the buyers who will live there, they’re a big deal.”