When Lane Hudson was growing up in northwest suburban Des Plaines, he often played in the back yard of a handsome Dutch Colonial home, which he recently purchased.
“It’s a very sentimental place for me,” said Hudson, 36. “I grew up in this neighborhood. This (house) always had a wooded back yard. I have memories of playing fort in this yard.”
Although Hudson is no longer strategizing childhood battle campaigns from a makeshift fort, he has devised a plan for the future of this home, which he bought as an investment.
Tenants are scheduled to move in August into the five-bedroom home, which Hudson has rehabbed. Constructed in 1916, the home not only has sentimental value, but also is of historic interest. It was manufactured by Sears, Roebuck and Co., which sold ready-to-assemble homes to buyers between 1908 and 1940.
Property owners like Hudson, who have homes or apartments with historic or sentimental value, seek tenants who will appreciate a structure’s unique charm and interesting history as much as they do.
Pay stubs, references from former landlords and credit histories give essential information about potential tenants, but a light in a someone’s eyes when they view the property for the first time is what the owner of a well-loved structure wants to see.
Sense of excitement
“I look for that sense of excitement that they have about the place,” said Paul Hamer, owner of Hamer & Hamer Vintage and Historic Property Management in Oak Park.
“You can tell when they have the attitude that, `This is a place we want to live in and what is it going to take for us to live here?’ ” Hamer added.
His company restores vintage properties throughout Oak Park, including an elegant Victorian Italianate mansion, a Prairie-style four-flat, a Mission bungalow and a coach house designed by none other than the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The three-bedroom coach house stands behind the Nathan Moore House in Oak Park, which is another of Wright’s designs and occasionally is opened to the public for architectural tours.
The coach house features such wonderful details as leaded stained glass windows designed by Wright, a beamed ceiling and a wood-burning fireplace in the living room.
Finding tenants who will appreciate the space is something of a process of natural selection, according to Hamer, who places ads for it in area newspapers under the heading “Frank Lloyd Wright Coach House.”
“It takes someone who knows something (about architecture) to know, `OK, this is an historical building that would be a cool place to live,’ ” Hamer said.
When people tour the coach house, Hamer pays close attention to the questions they ask, whether they notice charming details, and whether they “ooh” and “ahh” over the quirks of the place that he also loves.
“When they pick out the cherub angel engraved on the radiator, I know they are looking hard,” Hamer said.
At $2,400 a month, the rent for the coach house is not inexpensive. Hamer requires a one-month security deposit.
“We hold people to the security deposit if there’s any damage,” Hamer explained. Often, however, the people who rent this unique home recognize it as special and take care of it.
“In this apartment, people call right away if they see something wrong,” Hamer said. “They’ll say, `Oh, there’s a drop of water leaking there. They’re very aware of maintenance.’ “
Maintenance is a concern for Blair Thrush Lele, who is conducting a search for a tenant for the coach house of her home in Evanston.
The one-bedroom coach house stands behind Thrush Lele’s home, which resembles a rambling farmhouse. The home, complete with coach house, was built in 1895 and was once occupied by Charles Dawes, a vice president of the United States under Theodore Roosevelt.
Thrush Lele, who is a residential real estate broker for Rubloff & Co., is taking measures to ensure that the coach house is well cared for by future tenants.
Because the home is close to Northwestern University, Thrush Lele is anticipating that her tenants for the coach house will be graduate students. She may have a weekly cleaning of the unit negotiated as part of any agreement with tenants.
“I’d like to have a cleaning lady come in once a week. For (an additional) $200 a month, she would change the beds, do the (tenants) laundry and clean-up,” Thrush Lele said.
Such an arrangement for the $900-a-month apartment would “ensure that I have control over it (the apartment), that it would not get trashed. I’ll be getting to peek in once in awhile to make sure there aren’t cockroaches invading.”
While taking such precautions, Thrush Lele also is confident that she can find tenants who will appreciate the coach house’s original oak paneling and landmark charm.
Evanston, she noted, is filled with lovely, turn-of-the-century homes, including ones that were designed by prominent architects. Such a rich environment, she believes, spawns a love of architecture.
“I think that people who live in Evanston during their time as students learn to appreciate the housing,” she said. “Some people are drawn to this type of situation (of living in an old, historic home).”
Chris Sullivan and his wife, Heidi, were thrilled to call the Frank Lloyd Wright coach house in Oak Park their home for several months. They relocated to Oak Park from New York in early 1998 and lived in the coach house until June when they purchased a house. Although their stay in the Wright structure was short, they enjoyed residing there.
One of the quirks of living in a home designed by a famous architect that is located in a town celebrated for its architecture is that architecture buffs are drawn to see these homes.
Sullivan, however, did not find sightseers coming from near and far a drawback to living in the coach house.
“It’s kind of amusing,” said Chris Sullivan. “It does tend to get busy (with sightseers) on Saturday afternoon. But people don’t usually come down the alley (to where the coach house is),” he said.
Sullivan, who is an editor for a trade magazine, said he found some simple pleasures in living in the mock Tudor-style coach house, particularly looking at the outside world through the leaded, glass windows designed by Wright.
“They give almost a kaleidoscope effect to what you’re looking at,” he said. “They’re older windows and they turn the (sun)light in different ways.
Overlooking flaws
Owners of homes with historic or sentimental value agreed that the best tenants for their structures are people who can see past minor imperfections to appreciate a home or apartment’s out-of-the-ordinary characteristics.
“There are other homes that are less bother,” acknowledged Lane, the owner of the Des Plaines Sears home.
“We’re looking for someone who will overlook the imperfections of the wood trim that’s a little worn, and can live with floor plans that are a little off,” he added.
A quirky layout of rooms is fair compensation for a home “that’s charming,” he believes. “When you drive up (to the house), you’re going to say, `Oh, isn’t it lovely?’ “
Hamer has already found new tenants who have taken the Sullivans’ place in the Frank Lloyd Wright coach house. They moved in in July.
An added benefit of living in a home with historic features, Hamer said, is that, “it’s at least a couple hours worth of conversation at a dinner party.”
