The recently renovated house at 1123 Madison St. doesn’t look 99 years old at first glance. The building is newly painted and sits on a well-landscaped property dotted by the surviving flowers of this year’s bloom.

But the 1903 structure was in “terrible condition” when Amy and Marco Rodriguez bought it in May 2001 from the adjoining St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church, said Shirline Ward, a neighbor.

“We were excited that Marco and Amy bought the house and were working so hard to fix it up,” Ward said.

Rodriguez said he and his wife wanted to live closer to the church and hoped their children would one day attend its school. So they bought the run-down custodian’s residence next to St. Nicholas, 806 Ridge Ave., and fixed it up.

But the fix-up has caused the Rodriguez’s relationship with the church to go to — pot.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has sued the couple, saying some of the land around the property belongs to the church, and it wants it back.

The lawsuit claims an outdated property survey was used during the finalization of the sale, incorrectly giving a 10-foot-wide patch of the church parking lot to the Rodriguezes.

In January, the couple built a fence along the edge of the property. In July, the archdiocese filed the lawsuit, demanding that the Rodriguezes remove the fence and restore the parking lot to its original dimensions.

“I was surprised to hear about the lawsuit and very disappointed that the church felt they needed to take that step,” Ward said.

But for church officials, the discrepancy in lot size was simply an oversight. The Rev. Robert Oldershaw, St. Nicholas’ pastor, said the city granted the church a zoning variance in January 2001 that changed the width of the house’s lot from 50 feet to 40 feet so that the parking lot would be kept intact.

“All the negotiations, the ads and the contract listed it as a 40-foot lot,” Oldershaw said. “There was an error in the closing, and the wrong survey was used.”

After the sale, the church asked the Rodriguezes to release the 10-foot strip of property without compensation, Oldershaw said.

Later in the year, the archdiocese contacted the Rodriguezes about “resolving (the conflict) in an amicable fashion,” said James Dwyer, the director of communications for the organization. The couple’s attorney then sent the archdiocese a letter asking them to delay the dispute until March of this year, Dwyer said.

Then the Rodriguezes built their fence. The church was forced to react, Oldershaw said.

“It was a bit of a surprise on Jan. 30 when this back-loader comes down the alley and starts digging up the parking lot,” Oldershaw said.

The lawsuit claims Marco Rodriguez obtained the permit for the fence using the older, incorrect survey.

Rodriguez said it has become apparent since the conflict began that he and his wife are not welcome in the parish. They no longer consider themselves members of St. Nicholas, he said.

But Rodriguez declined to comment further for this article. He referred The Daily to comments he and his wife made to a Chicago Tribune columnist earlier this month.

In Eric Zorn’s Oct. 3 column, the couple said they are worried that changing the lot’s size could affect their homeowner’s loan, tax liabilities and other expenses.

Dwyer said church officials tried to resolve the issue out of court, but that failed — making the lawsuit necessary. The Rodriguezes were resistant, he said.

“There were overtures from the parish to talk to them,” Dwyer said. “They kept holding us off, and in the meantime they were determined to destroy that part of the parking lot.

“We tried every way and they went running to the Chicago Tribune,” he said.