The c. 1912 Bingham House is a contributing structure in a National Register Historic District. (City of Highland Park)

The owners of a century-old house designed by Prairie School architect George Maher want to tear it down, but last week the city of Highland Park, Ill., gave the Samuel Bingham House a six-month respite.

Ronald and Jill Garfinkle, who own the c. 1912 Bingham House, requested a demolition permit on Jan. 25. After more than a year on the real-estate market, the six-bedroom, 3,630-square-foot Prairie-style house, priced at $1,164,500, has not sold.

On Mar. 9, the city's historic preservation commission voted to delay demolition for six months. However, the house may not be safe for that long.

"The owners can ask [the commission] to remove that delay if they can show that they made a bona fide effort to find a buyer," says Larry Shure, secretary of the Highland Park Historic Preservation Commission.

One of five houses Maher built as a subdivision in Highland Park, the Bingham House, named for Samuel Bingham, president of Chicago's Barrett Manufacturing Company, is located within a National Register Historic District but is not a local landmark. It may qualify for city landmark status, however, according to the commission's demolition review, issued in February. "The commission realizes that it's a very historic home," Shure says.

Maher (1864-1926), who trained with Frank Lloyd Wright, designed about 300 houses, mostly in the Midwest. About a quarter of Maher's houses have been demolished, according to Don Aucutt, editor of a quarterly newsletter about Maher, who spoke in favor of preserving the house at last week's meeting.

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