Oak Brook's Mayslake Hall may get $720,000 in repairs
DuPage County Forest Preserve commissioners plan to vote Tuesday on spending about $720,000 to repair the exterior of historic Mayslake Hall in Oak Brook.
District officials have said the project is a top priority because it would stop further deterioration of the building's outer shell, which protects areas inside the 39-room mansion that already have been restored.
But the work would have to be paid for without a $215,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources because the money has been suspended - along with other grants - by state lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
"We weren't being picked on," said Robert Lahey, the district's director of community services and education. "They're reviewing all grant awards during the previous 12-month period."
Lahey said state officials haven't given the district any indication as to whether the grant money will be restored.
Still, the district had planned for the repairs to happen during this summer and early fall.
To pay for the work, the district would use a combination of district money and about $96,000 in donations.
"There are several interested parties who would like to see this project proceed and actually are willing to put forward some money," said Lahey, adding that groups donating money are the Mayslake Hall Restoration Society and the Friends of the Forest Preserve District.
Mayslake Hall is a Tudor Revival-style mansion that coal baron Francis Stuyvesant Peabody built between 1919 and 1921. After Peabody's death in 1922, his family sold the estate to the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart Order of Friars Minor, which converted the mansion into a retreat house. The hall is being used as an educational center with architectural tours, lectures and artistic performances.
Through the years, the Franciscans sold sections of the estate. The forest preserve district bought the remaining 88 acres of the Mayslake property in 1993 after taxpayers approved a $17.5 million tax increase. Since then, the Peabody Estate has consumed millions of additional dollars for capital improvements.
If forest commissioners approve the plan, about $515,000 would be spent to restore the exterior of the courtyard at the rear of the mansion.
The work would include removing cement brick mortar, replacing stucco siding and wood timbers, and restoring windows. Copper scuppers and downspouts and terra cotta chimney pots also would be restored.
Another $205,000 would be spent restoring and fixing the breakfast porch, which is an enclosed area near the dining room in the rear of the mansion.
Officials have said exterior work should be done before the district pursues other improvements to the building.