Ted Hild, deputy director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, has been bombing around Du Page County for three days now, tallying the remains of the county`s architectural heritage.
At each point on his route, he swerves to the side of the road, leaps out and snaps a picture of what is, or is not, there. An office on wheels, his compact car is outfitted with a camera, necessary paperwork and county maps the size of area rugs.
Standing on the corner of Frontenac Road and Illinois Highway 83 in Naperville, Hild is not happy. He`s looking for an 1846 farmhouse, nothing grand but nevertheless the birthplace of Josiah Strong, a person of note in American history. A handsome, charismatic clergyman, Strong caused a national sensation with his books on social reform. Sensation or no, the farmhouse is gone, construction crews are at the ready and soon a subdivision will spring up in its place.
”There`s a tide of townhouses marching across the corn,” said Hild.
”I`m particularly concerned with rural remnants. I don`t think they have much of a future unless people start taking a interest in them locally.”
His survey suggests that Du Page County is losing its rural architectural heritage at an alarming rate. Since 1974, 24 (or 22 percent) historic structures, mostly rural, have been swallowed up by urgent needs for roads, parking, office space and housing. For the survivors, there has been such a drastic change in context that many now look out of place.
Hild first went forth to photograph and catalog existing significant buildings back in 1974. Armed with a camera, comfortable shoes and a few dog- eared histories of Du Page County, he located 110 historic structures; not a complete list but a representative one. His 1990 update was a follow-up on their fate.
Besides the Josiah Strong house, other notable losses since 1974 include Wheaton`s County Home, now the site of the county building complex on County Farm Road; the first schoolhouse in Wheaton, now a parking lot; a string of three 1860 houses in Naperville, now offices; and the Miller farmhouse, an 1870 Italianate building on Hobson Road in Naperville, now the site of multifamily housing.
Most of these went down without much fuss, said Susan E. Stob, director of the Du Page Historical Museum. But this was not the case with the Gary`s Mill schoolhouse in West Chicago, demolished only after arduous efforts to save it.
Sitting on land owned by the Du Page County Forest Preserve District, the building interfered with plans for the property and was a maintenance headache. So several years ago the Forest Preserve District gave the house to the West Chicago Historical Society on condition that they move it within a specified period.
The building was important, said Alice Minaga, president of the historical society during that time, because ”it was pre-West Chicago. There was a whole little settlement of Gary`s Mill that sprung up around the sawmill. Now there`s nothing, not even a remnant. The sawmill washed down the river and we don`t even know where the cemetery is, it might be under a parking lot somewhere. The school was probably the original township school and possibly the first school in the county.”
Despite an extension of the deadline by the Forest Preserve District and generous donations of money and land, the rescue failed. Even excluding the cost of a lot, ”It got to be up to $100,000 to move and restore a building as big as a double trailer,” said Minaga, who mourns the loss even now.
Why are rural buildings in particular at such risk? One obvious reason is that the nature of the area has changed so swiftly from farming to high tech. And unlike Kane County, Du Page has no countywide preservation ordinance; so buildings in unincorporated areas fall into the Swiss cheese of various municipal preservation codes.
There`s more to preservation than lathe and plaster, said Hild, speaking about the buildings that have survived. Many of these have been remodeled beyond recognition, and others look almost fake in their new, glossy surroundings, like they were part of a movie set that fell off a flatbed truck.
”Just like people, buildings are partly defined by their milieu. The more context you can save, the better,” Hild said.
Nancy Wagner, of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, who accompanied Hild on part of the survey, agrees: ”What was troubling was the change in context. You have four- to six-lane highways going by a one-room schoolhouse. If the context is gone, so is some of the character.”
Sandy Williams, president of the Hinsdale Historical Society, fears that in the future our only surviving historic buildings might be in a re-created setting, something like Naper Settlement.
”Before we are confronted with a zoo for historic structures, I hope we try to preserve our endangered structures in their natural settings,”
Williams said.
One example of change in context is a large historic home that used to crown a nice bit of acreage on the corner of Ellis and Franklin Streets in Wheaton. But when Don Knapp bought the house, he put a development smack on the front lawn.
An imposing white house, it now looks cramped, peeking through a field of conventional housing like an oversized outbuilding. The original gracious entry has been replaced with a communal asphalt driveway that snakes between the houses.
By bowing to the probably inevitable development of a choice, in-town parcel, Knapp was able to control the situation and save the house. ”Before I bought the house they wanted to tear it down and build a nursing home, and before that someone wanted to build townhouses. And after I bought it District 200 sent me a letter saying they wanted to build a school on the site.”
Knapp says he took pains with the development. ”The style of the houses is colonial, so there would be continuity. And I could`ve put two more houses in than I did.”
Then there`s the now bleak McDowel house, an 1860s Greek revival farmhouse on River Road between Warrenville and Naperville. ”Sixteen years ago it was an occupied farmhouse. Now it`s abandoned, clearly threatened and surrounded by encroaching subdivisions,” said Hild.
In contrast, historic structures in established residential neighborhoods have fared quite well.
”Twenty years ago we spent a lot of time convincing people that historic buildings were worth saving. That job is pretty much done. Now we need to educate people how to do it,” said Hild.
Many of these buildings, he said, look noticeably better now than they did 16 years ago. ”Glen Ellyn, for instance, now has a national landmark district of very high quality. The homeowners there clearly want to preserve their houses. Bloomingdale`s Old Town is a nicely restored commercial area of 19th Century buildings, and many properties are now the subject of restoration efforts, such as the Benjamin Fuller house in Hinsdale,” Hild said.
And then there are what Hild terms ”surprising resources, areas with potential. For example, it`s kind of hard to find old Warrenville, but it`s there. There`s a nice collection of Greek revival buildings from the 1840s to the 1860s. The survival of buildings of that age is rare, but they are there, well maintained and with no apparent threats. And in West Chicago it seems that the community and city are very interested in developing their Main Street, and it looks like they`re going to do it right.”
Stob says it`s rare for all the ingredients of a successful restoration project to come together: building quality, community interest and financial backing.
”It takes an awful lot,” Stob said. ”There are so many costs and issues such as who`s going to maintain and operate the building. The saving of Beaubien Cemetery on Ogden Avenue in Downers Grove is a good example of a strong network where everyone worked through the system. The public, the county government, and others all worked together.”
The Prince Crossing (Peter Baker) house on North Avenue in West Chicago looks like another such project. Probably the oldest brick house in the county, the Greek revival farmhouse was built by an Irish immigrant in the 1840s and still sits on 26 of its original acres. ”It`s just a wonderful house,” said Hild. ”It shows the marks of great craftsmanship.”
Keith Letsche, an Elmhurst resident and assistant state`s attorney for Du Page County, was instrumental in getting the project going. He had often admired the building on his commute along North Avenue. ”When the stables vacated it, I wondered what was going to happen to it. I found out a developer had bought it and a plat of subdidvision had been filed.”
But the Forest Preserve District had a suit of condemnation pending on the property that was settled in its favor in 1989.
”The Forest Preserve District usually acquires a historic property by chance, not design,” explained Dan Gooch, the district`s director of operations. ”When we do, we let it be known to the public. We ask `Does anyone want to get involved?` Kline Creek is the only property that we have restored entirely on our own.”
In this case, Letsche found plenty of people to rally around the building, including the Conservation Foundation of Du Page County, which was willing to take the building on as a project.
”We take these fledgling groups of volunteers under our wing,” said Jean Connell, executive director of the Conservation Foundation. ”They become eligible for our tax-exempt status and benefit from having our organization and staff behind them.”
With the help of donations and grants, the building has been stabilized against further deterioration, an architect has been hired and a proposal for restoration tentatively has been approved by the Forest Preserve District.
Most preservationists say that some government involvement is often essential in restoration projects. Indeed, the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act mandates a govermental review of the impact of any project upon historical and archeological resources when federal funds are involved.
Exactly how government agencies get involved depends on the property. A first step for many projects is contacting the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which surveys historical and archeological resources, offers grants and provides technical assistance. They can also provide information on various tax incentive programs for which a project might qualify.
Although tax incentive programs have been very popular in Chicago, there have been few takers in Du Page, possibly because many of the buildings have been altered beyond eligibility.
Only two properties have used the tax credit available for commercial historic properties, and only three residential properties have applied for the real estate tax freeze.
”There are still many buildings in Du Page that are candidates for National Registry, like the old Lombard Hotel, and there are programs that could help them,” said Hild.
The preservation easements program of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois is another tool that is well established in Chicago but just beginning to be looked at in Du Page.
An easement is a permanent legal agreement between an individual property owner and a preservation organization that gives the right to protect the historic integrity of the property to the preservation organization. There is usually a fee chargable to whomever donates the easement. Wagner said there have been inquiries into the program from Naperville and Elmhurst.
”We can make a difference, said Hild, ”but not all the difference. Government can`t succeed without a constituency. The two go together. Successful preservation is always local preservation.”
