And another one bites the dust

DLM2000-GW

5 years ago

GLENCOE, IL — With the clock ticking on the potential demolition of an early Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Glencoe, a preservation group is soliciting proposals to relocate the structure in order to save it.

Although its new owners have offered no assurances they will not raze the historic home, at least one North Shore resident has expressed an interest in moving the Sherman Booth Cottage from its current location at 239 Franklin Road.

Wright, the most famous architect in American history and among the 20th century's most influential, designed the home in 1913 as a temporary home for Booth and his family. Booth, a founding member of the Glencoe Park District, was Wright's lawyer and business partner in the development of the the Ravine Bluffs subdivision, now listed on the the National Register of Historic Places. Elizabeth Booth, his wife, was a leading suffragette who helped make Illinois the first state east of the Mississippi to grant voting rights to white women.

After the Booths moved into a completed home at 265 Sylvan Road, their one-story cottage was moved about 300 feet to the south in late 1916 or early 1917, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, which, a century later, is looking for someone interested in moving the house again.

"While a number of modifications were made to the Cottage at the time of the original move, as well as since then, the signature elements of the Cottage's design, elements that tie it to Wright's later Usonian houses, shine through," according to a statement from the group accompanying a request for proposals for potential relocation "These elements include its flat roof, banded windows and strong horizontal lines."

My bolding of text above, and therein lies one of the huge problems for Wright houses in the Chicago area. Listing pictures HERE

Featured Answer

ILoveRed

5 years ago

After looking at the town and location...there’s no way they are not going to tear it down. It’s a darn shame. If they got the property for 0.5 million looking at the size of the lot and the surrounding homes it seems they got ..dare I say..a bargain.

If you zoom in on the area, there is another FLW home very near to this one.

We live in central Illinois and folks are fleeing...and fleeing fast.

can‘t imagine what the property taxes are up there on some of those monster homes. DLM..you were smart to get out when you did.

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Comments (9)

just_janni
5 years ago
It's adorable. And there's no way in heck I'd want a flat roof in Chicago....
new-beginning
5 years ago
a flat roof in Chicago is exactly why my Dad's family moved to Texas!
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Don't give up hope. I had 4 cases of RRD several years in a row, but this year, have had none at all. So good times may be coming yet. Actually, I thought I might have a new case of RRD this year--sinking heart! But somehow it didn't quite look like it. So I did some severe pruning in that area with the affected growth--and everything seems to have grown back normally. Since that rose was on the property line, I'm wondering if my neighbor, who runs a mow and blow service, didn't maybe spray some Round-up next to his garage that has wild weedlike climbers going up it. That garage isn't that far from the property line where the affected rose grows. Kind of suspicious, don't you think? As to the rose, I pruned it rather late in the season, so I probably won't know for sure if it is all right until I see next spring's new growth. Everyone cross your fingers for me and my rose! Kate
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Unless you go big or do something else, it will take several years before there is shade. I did some research on SHADE SAILS, which are professionally installed sculpted high-tension UV durable fabric covers that come with nice variety of poles or ground supports. It could even solve a shade problem as part of your driveway, and allow you to ACTUALLY GROW HOSTA ON YOUR DRIVEWAY. (I throw that in to pacify KEN)..... INstead of that, I've accumulated several patio umbrellas, which are moveable and fit with my pots. In your case, I think the real McCoy is required. It will not be cheap to get a top-notch one, but it can be taken down in offseason, although I cannot say what it requires to do that. Just look it up. You might be very pleased to use this as your redbuds etc grow to full glory. There are several similar products to the one listed below, which is the original top of the line product I think coming from Australia where they are dealing with a rip in the ozone layer, so compare to this product and go from there. They are really beautiful things. Here is a link that might be useful: Shadesails.com
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Yeah, there's some kind of wilt or stem rot at work there. My guess would be bacterial wilt, which likes southern climes and sandy, moist soils. The disease severity and likelihood of plants getting infected is made worse if you have RKN because the damage they do to roots lets the bacterium in. It's unfortunately entirely possible that you have some kind of fungal or bacterial foliage disease AND a wilt. Especially in your growing climate. Brown mites in the soil do not harm the plants. They are primarily composters so are there eating the already rotting/dead tissue. If I were you, I'd definitely get in touch with the county extension office and see what information they have and what resources might be available.
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Rita, I thought callas liked water too, but evidently these did not. I think that when they hybridize plants sometimes they mess them up. I guess they had to create a calla that didn't want to literally live at the edge of a pond or in a rainforest so they could save water growing them in greenhouses or something. But it was probably that the wet winter didn't allow them to take up the water they were getting and use it, because it was too chilly. Who knows? I've always had the theory that if something won't grow for me the first time, I don't grow it again. There are just too many things that are easy to grow. That being said, callas grew like weeds for me in SW FL. Go figure. Sorry about the deer. With me, it's bugs and caterpillars that eat all my plants. It's so frustrating to get a seedling brug growing well, then go out one day and find it completely stripped of leaves.
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Mark Bischak, Architect
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
After looking at the listing images, I think the list of those willing to move the structure would be very short.
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DLM2000-GW
Original Author
5 years ago
ILR you are so right about our timing of leaving - we feel lucky and have several friends who are either stuck or had to accept significantly less than they had counted on for their next phase. Values are tanking fast and high end new construction spec seems to be the worst - I expect a lot of long time builders will go under with the huge carrying costs. There is good reason to flee and honestly it breaks my heart. I will always be a Midwestern fish out of water to some extent here in NC. Taxes are one of the reasons we moved. When we hit 17k we said enough and we weren't at the top end of taxes by any means. That FLW house is in Cook County and New Trier school district so taxes are even higher. I grew up there and just looked at my childhood home online - taxes are 28k and that's not a grand house at all.
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One Devoted Dame
5 years ago
This does not give me confidence in any home's ability to retain intrinsic value, or -- as folks of my generation (GenX) have been told -- increase in value, over the long term. I mean, if a beloved, famous architect's creation is being tossed, valued at $0, that doesn't bode well for anyone else, really.

Hmmm. I guess the sooner I accept that houses aren't financial investments, the better off I'll be, eh? Bummer.
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bpath
5 years ago
This is the problem with architecture as an art form. It isn't portable! And structures especially are subject to environmental factors that can't be controlled.

An amazing MCM house near me is coming down soon. According to the new owners, who actually did want to salvage it, the roof and systems were in too bad of shape. I saw the house at an open house and it did need work, the roof was already known to have problems. But wow, was it gorgeous. The owners are supposedly saving some elements and fixtures to reuse, which makes me happy. And if not, I'm keeping an eye out myself for the demolition sale!
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ILoveRed
5 years ago
DLM...i agree with everything you said. How sad that so many are fleeing our beautiful state because of the taxes and so many other issues. And so many cant afford to keep paid off homes because they can’t pay their real estate taxes. Our taxes downstate aren’t nearly as bad...but who knows what will happen. 28k for a less than grand house! Wow. I know those upstate schools are unreal and top rated. The salaries and pension cost are too. It will all implode eventually....especially with all of the folks like you packing up and moving out. another midwestern girl here. So, I know what you mean about how sad it is.

my sil graduated from New Trier. Great school district. btw.
One Devoted Dame
5 years ago
And so many cant afford to keep paid off homes because they can’t pay their real estate taxes.

Same thing happening where I am... Taxes are soaring, but it's because we're experiencing a huge wave of folks moving in from wealthier states, driving up demand and property values.

Which sounds great and all, but there are quite a few older people on fixed incomes who have owned their homes outright for several years, yet can't afford the taxes. They either move out of the neighborhoods they've lived in -- and loved -- for decades, or they lose their homes to the tax man. It's crazy. :-(
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And another one bites the dust

ILoveRed

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just_janni

new-beginning

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