Editorial: Hopes for a new life for Lakewood buildings
The Lake County Forest Preserve is packing up and soon will be vacating the historic farm site in Lakewood Forest Preserve.
The renowned Curt Teich Postcard Archive will be moved out of Lake County, possibly to Chicago's Newberry Library, emptying a pre-Civil War house that in the 1930s became the country home of gentleman farmer Malcolm Boyle.
The Lake County Discovery Museum will move to an office building in Libertyville this fall, leaving behind a cupola-topped clapboard building that once was a prize bull barn and in 1999 won an award for its museum renovation.
The white-painted buildings clustered off Ivanhoe Road east of Wauconda are the focal point of 2,825-acre Lakewood Forest Preserve.
What will happen to them?
Acquired by the forest preserve district in 1967, the onetime Lakewood Farms buildings look well-kept sitting among the woods and meadows. But the forest preserve board commissioned a study a few years ago that put the cost of maintenance and repairs for continued use of the Lakewood buildings at $3.8 million to $15.4 million.
They will sit empty, for now. The fate of the buildings will depend on a master plan for Lakewood Forest Preserve, which is not yet scheduled.
The buildings were among 11 sites statewide included last month on Landmark Illinois' 2016 Most Endangered Historic Places. Preservationists fear they'll be allowed to deteriorate, then torn down. That would be a shame.
If there's one thing we've learned, it's that such jewels don't come along every day. The former Boyle home appears on an 1861 map of the area, Barrington-area preservationist Nancy Schumm says.
As owner, the Lake County Forest Preserve District is the steward of the buildings and should quickly begin developing options for their future, including costs.
The forest preserve district might not have to work alone. Those interested in the buildings' future are beginning to organize, including creating a "Save Lakewood and the Discovery Museum" Facebook page. Volunteers could help seek leases or partnerships that could take some costs off the taxpayers while still preserving the buildings. Uses suggested by Landmark Illinois include special events, a living history farm or a training or community center.
It's not too difficult to envision another reincarnation for the Lakewood Farms buildings, but the passage of time will not be kind to the vacant buildings. The effort needs to get under way soon.