North Shore House for Sale for $1
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Sept. 9, 2010
Hugh Burnham house, Glenview, Ill.
Credit: Glenview Historic Preservation Commission
An empty Queen Anne-style house in Glenview, Ill., 17 miles north of Chicago, is on the market for $1—if the buyer commits to moving the 1894 residence, which was designed and built by Hugh Burnham, nephew of architect Daniel Burnham.
The house is owned by the New Church, which can't afford taxes or maintenance for the house bequeathed to them decades ago. For the past two years, the church has been seeking a new owner to move the house off its property so it can build condominiums, and new buildings for its school.
"We no longer have a special need for that house. It's past its useful lifespan, without a significant infusion of cash to restore it. That's just not within our wherewithal to be able to do," says Rev. Peter Buss. "We've decided as a congregation that we need to let go of that house, and working with our Historic Preservation Commission, we've decided to give some time to find a person who does have the wherewithal."
Hoping to find a buyer, David Silver, chairman of the Glenview Historic Preservation Commission, placed an ad in Preservation magazine earlier this year.
Despite a few inquiries, no viable offers were submitted, according to both Silver and Buss.
The Burnham house stands in a neighborhood known as the Park, established in the 1890s by the Swedenborgian Church of New Jerusalem, now known as the New Church. Church members built a sanctuary and pond in the center of a 40-acre parcel, reserving adjacent sites for future congregants like the Burnhams.
Because the Park is not protected, its historic properties are at risk, according to Landmarks Illinois, which placed the area on the Chicagoland Watch List in 2008. "The whole neighborhood deserves protection at the local level," says Lisa DiChiera, director of advocacy at Landmarks Illinois.
Silver has made two presentations to Park residents, urging them to work with the Glenview Historic Preservation Commission to establish a local landmark district. One resident has voluntarily landmarked her house, but nothing else has been landmarked, Silver says. "I think the initiative should come from the residents themselves."
Meanwhile, the Burnham house remains for sale, and the church hopes to develop another lot, now occupied by an Arts and Crafts-style house built in the early 1900s by Swain Nelson. The church has not set a date to demolish either structure, according to Pastor Buss.
"There's not a hard and fast deadline," Buss says. "The alternative to having [the Burnham house] moved is to have it demolished, and at some point, that decision needs to come to closure. It can't remain standing."
While relocation is better than demolition, such a move can be complicated and expensive, DiChiera says.
"These things rarely work. To move a house of that size is going to be extremely costly, and then you've got to renovate it," she says. "It would be much better if the church sold it as is and let somebody renovate it in place."
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Comments
Submitted by Bob at: September 17, 2010
The article indicates that the church wishes to have the house relocated so it can "build new condominiums and buildings for its school". Have they not heard of adaptive reuse? From the photo provided, the building looks eminently suited for many alternative uses, including those apparently proposed!
Submitted by Chicago Area Suburbanite at: September 16, 2010
Please inform Margaret Foster and her editor that Glenview is not on the North Shore. It has no shoreline on Lake Michigan. It is a prosperous suburb as the North Shore towns are, but it makes no sense to call every affluent north Chicago suburb North Shore.
Submitted by Igloochic at: September 15, 2010
Lesson for future dead old home lovers....never leave your home to a church. I've yet to see one actually honor the property. God would never go condo on a wonderful property!