From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

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Last-Minute Sale Saves Burnham House


Story by Margaret Foster / Nov. 10, 2005

Talk about a good neighbor.

Last month, a resident of Kenilworth, Ill., rescued a 95-year-old house designed by Daniel Burnham's architectural firm when he bought it from the owner who planned to tear it down.

Cameel Halim bought the Prairie-style Skiff House, built in 1910 for Chicago's Field Museum director Frederick Skiff, from Antoinette Vigilante on Nov. 1 for $2.35 million.

"That was such a crazy day," says Halim's daughter, Nefrette Halim, president of Citizens for Kenilworth. Days after an auction that stripped the house of its original mantel and banister, a crew began removing the windows of the house. "In order for her to get her workmen out, we had to come back with a check."

Vigilante, who bought the two-story stucco house last year for $1.875 million, rejected several offers from buyers who wanted to renovate rather than destroy it. It was scheduled to be demolished on Oct. 27.

Many of Kenilworth's 825 houses, which were designed by elite architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Daniel Burnham, and George Maher, were built on large lots. In the last two years, 22 houses have been demolished for new ones.

"The real problem is that Kenilworth doesn't have anything in place to protect structures like [the Skiff House]," says David Bahlman, executive director of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, who spoke to town officials about preventing teardowns in 1999. "This teardown problem has been on the minds of Kenilworth residents for at least six years, and [officials] just haven't done anything about it."

The town's building-review committee can delay demolitions of architecturally significant houses for six months, but after that, owners can raze any house, despite its historic importance.

Two years ago, the National Trust's Midwest Office formed a coalition of citizens groups to discuss strategies to fight teardowns in the Chicago area, and Kenilworth residents have joined the Chicago Suburban Teardown Alliance.

"If our historically important homes are treasured by our citizens, then the village ordinances need to be changed to reflect those values," says resident Beth Baxter. "We can't depend upon a family to come forward with $2 million plus dollars each time a historic home is endangered."

As for the Skiff House, "My father is going to renovate it with white gloves," Nefrette Halim says. "He's going to take his time with it, and he's going to find a nice family to live in it."

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