“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”
Dorothy, to her dog, upon their arrival in Oz
Well, it’s not Oz, either, but it’s a far cry from any other home parade you’re liable to encounter this season. We’re talking about the Gallery of Homes, a tour of “model mansions” that opens Saturday just outside St. Charles.
On view to the public are six custom homes, each lavishly decorated and priced in the vicinity of $1 million. The homes sit on a circular road within Crane Road Estates, a development of acreage-rich lots resplendent with mature trees, ponds, ravines and waterfalls. It will take you. . .oh, three or four seconds to discern that this is not your basic subdivision.
What? You say you’re not in a position to buy a million-dollar home? Even so, just plain browsers are welcome at the Gallery, according to the parade’s sponsors, the Home Builders Association of the Greater Fox Valley.
Visitors will encounter a walk-through slice of the Good Life, an uncommon glimpse into what goes into homes where money is practically no object. Here, the houses bear such names as Tara (and they mean it). Stone mantelpieces weigh a ton–literally. Breakfast rooms have solid-oak-beamed ceilings. One home has nine fireplaces. The smallest house in the group contains 5,125 square feet of space.
Ostentation aside, the houses in the Gallery function as little laboratories to help determine what may lie on the horizon for mainstream housing, as they are filled with amenities, large and small, that just might trickle down. For example, most of the Gallery houses have four-car garages. Though all have the obligatory family room, several have additional spaces for recreation–in effect “second family rooms” for sending the kids to hang out. One home has a hidden “secure room” for eluding home intruders.
Some highlights:
– Rosewood Manor is one of a pair of Gallery houses by Homes by Lynne Marie of Batavia. Builder Lynne Marie Tomich had to have the family room’s huge stone fireplace lifted in by crane. Another fireplace is the focal point of the master suite upstairs. An expanse of windows in the kitchen and family room provide a view of an enormous backyard deck.
– The Innisfree takes its name from a poem by William Butler Yeats, though this edifice is not exactly the small cabin “of clay and wattles made” that Yeats wrote about. Rather, it evokes a European country house overflowing with elaborate woodwork, paneling and stained glass, which was the goal of Maurice McNally and his firm, Avondale Custom Homes of Geneva. The second-floor “bonus room” could be a quarters for in-laws or servants, or it could be decked out as Avondale did, with massive pool table and electronic games.
– At La Maison Rose, builders Rose and Greg Nutt of Southampton Homes in St. Charles found ways to reuse all manner of architectural details salvaged from gracious homes that are no longer among us. The home has a number of practical features, too, such as a pass-through from the garage entry to simplify unloading groceries, a keypad lock system for kids who can’t keep track of their keys and a warming oven in the kitchen for dinner in a hurry.
– You’ll realize why the second offering from Homes by Lynne Marie is called Tara when you see the four enormous columns that grace the front door, each weighing 700 pounds. They had to be installed by “sheer manpower,” according to the builder. Tomich, also an interior designer, created what she calls a “cordial room” just off the dining room, a cozy spot for an after-dinner drink.
– John Hall Homes of St. Charles managed to install a lot of relaxation within the 7,000 square feet of the Renaissance. The master suite contains a “morning bar” for fixing coffee in private before going out to meet the world–or merely the relatives. In addition to the “gathering room,” for hanging out while dinner is being prepared, the enormous finished basement, with its custom-made cherry bar, will be a hub of activity–unless the gang retreats to the bonus room, which, for this event, has been embellished with one gigantic train set.
– If you’re security-minded, a feature in the Jasmine, by Bulear Builders of Plainfield, deserves a second look–if you can find it. Within the master suite, a bookcase swings away to reveal a “hidden room” equipped with telephone, the perfect place to elude banditry. Elsewhere in the house, two-story ceilings abound, highlighted by what must be a record-holder among walls of sheer glass, best viewed from a second-floor balcony/bridge.
The show at a glance
The Gallery of Homes is in Crane Road Estates, which is about two miles north of St. Charles on Crane Road, west of Illinois Highway 31. Be advised that attending the Gallery requires a lot of walking, both from door to door (the lots are at least an acre each) and up and down lots of stairs.
Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, $3 for children ages 4 through 12; free to children 3 and younger. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The parade runs through Sept. 22.
For information, call the Home Builders Association of the Greater Fox Valley, 630-879-8003.
