Home back on Mount Prospect tour after new owner found it in 2001

Beth DiPrima found her dream house while attending the Mount Prospect Historical Society's 2001 Holiday Housewalk with a girlfriend while her husband, Dave, was busy at home. A lovely Dutch Colonial-style home, backing up to the Mt. Prospect Golf Club and built in 1940, was featured that year.

Eight years later, after renovating and adding onto another house in Mount Prospect and having that house featured on the annual Housewalk in 2005, the DiPrimas purchased the lovely Dutch Colonial overlooking the golf course that Beth had never forgotten. They have enhanced and added onto it, also.

Now, on Friday, Dec. 4, both the DiPrimas and the Dutch Colonial home will make encore appearances on the Society's Housewalk - together.

The home, located at 420 S. We-Go Trail, was originally designed by Chicago architect Clarence W. Lampe and built by Mount Prospect contractor Emil Sporleder for Philip and Edith Robinson in 1940. It was completed shortly after the end of the Great Depression and more than a year before Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese and the United States entered World War II.

An executive with the General Electric Company, Robinson had the home built with all of the state-of-the-art electric lighting and appliances that his company was developing and marketing at the time. Recessed fluorescent lighting still illuminates the front bay windows, the mantel of the living room fireplace and the shelved niches in the living room. The 1940s kitchen, which was long ago replaced and expanded, even included revolutionary appliances like a refrigerator and a dishwasher.

Because of its many revolutionary design features, this home was actually featured in the May 1944 edition of Better Homes and Gardens, a copy of which remains in the home to this day.

The original home consisted of a living room, dining room, powder room and small kitchen on the first floor and three bedrooms and two baths on the second floor. There was also a winterized porch that extended across the rear of the home and a pine-paneled recreation room in the basement.

In 1993, previous owners removed the porch and added a small office behind the living room, enlarged the kitchen and added an eating area and added a family room with fireplace. Above the addition is a large master suite, which increased the home's bedroom count to four. At some point they also built a wine cellar in the basement.

Since the DiPrimas purchased the home in 2009, they have renovated all three bathrooms, added built-in cabinets and shelves to the family room, covered the exterior of the home with durable Hardie Board and built a new, larger garage. Above the garage they even built a large "bonus" area off the front bedroom that their daughter uses as an artist's studio.

"When I toured this house in 2001 I immediately loved the flow and feel of it. I like the traditional, more closed-off spaces in the original home but I also like the open kitchen and family room in the back and the fact that we, in effect, have three bedroom/bathroom suites upstairs," Beth explained. "And, of course, I love the location and the view of the ninth hole of the Mt. Prospect Golf Course."

"It remained in my memory all those years and I told everyone how much I liked it, even though it was not the home on the walk that year that I had originally been dying to see when I bought my ticket," she admitted.

Now that she has been in the home for six years, Beth said that she is so glad that they made the move because she thoroughly enjoys both the home and the neighborhood. Living on a golf course is also enjoyable, even though she and Dave are only occasional golfers.

As for opening a second home for the Housewalk, she said that it was such a great experience the first time a decade ago that they felt no hesitation in opening this home, too.

Since it began in 1988, the interiors of a total of 138 Mount Prospect homes have been featured on the annual tour, earning over $230,000 for the Society.

But it has certainly not remained static over the years. The holiday housewalk has evolved from a Sunday afternoon driving tour highlighting homes all over the village to a Friday night neighborhood-specific walking tour. And the festivities have begun in such diverse locations as local churches, the Mount Prospect train station, a local bank and heated tents, depending on the neighborhood featured.

This year's tour will begin at the Mt. Prospect Golf Club, 600 S. See-Gwun Ave., where refreshments will be offered and watercolors of the featured houses displayed. Museum store items will also be sold there.

Special this year will be the opportunity to dine within the area of the walk. The Mt. Prospect Golf Club restaurant will be open for three seatings and will be offering a limited menu for $25 per person, inclusive, and a cash bar. To make reservations for a specific time and reserve your meal, call (847) 392-9006. Part of the proceeds will benefit the 1896 one-room Central School restoration effort.

Nonrefundable tickets will be sold for $25 each through Dec. 3 at First Merit Bank, 50 N. Main St.; Mount Prospect State Bank, 299 W. Central Road; Busse Flowers and Gifts, 100 E. Northwest Highway; River Trails' Weiss Center, 1500 E. Euclid Ave.; Lions Park Recreation Center, 411 S. Maple St.; Millie's Hallmark, 1024 S. Elmhurst Road, Dave's Specialty Foods, 105 W. Prospect Ave., and the Dietrich Friedrichs House museum, 101 S. Maple St.

Tickets are also available through PayPal at www.mtphist.org. Those tickets can be picked up at a "will call" desk located at the Golf Club during the walk.

Last-minute decision-makers may also purchase tickets on the day of the walk for $27 each, beginning at 3 p.m. at the Golf Club.

For more information, visit www.mtphist.org, check out the Society's Facebook page or call (847) 392-9006.

Mount Prospect Historical Society's Holiday Housewalk

The interiors of six private homes and the exteriors of two other homes will be featured.

The homes featured this year, both inside and outside, are:

• 514 S. Candota Ave., Travis and Lindsey Phelps

• 708 S. See-Gwun Ave., John and Mary Claire Hunter

• 523 S. We-Go Trail, William and Nancy Foreman

• 420 S. We-Go Trail, Dave and Beth DiPrima

• 405 S. We-Go Trail, Craig and Trish Chuipek

• 320 S. We-Go Trail

Home exteriors will also be highlighted with historical notes featured on lighted outdoor podiums at:

• 702 S. See-Gwun Ave.

• 601 Na-Wa-Ta Ave.

Tour begins: Mt. Prospect Golf Club, 600 S. See-Gwun Ave.

Tickets: $25 through Dec. 3 and $27 on the day of the walk

Details: www.mtphist.org or (847) 392-9006