What makes a building worth preserving?

The National Register of Historic Places includes 80,000 sites across the country.

What is doesn't include is two Hoffman Estates structures whose fates have recently been placed in the hands of local officials.

The 78-year-old Lindbergh schoolhouse on Shoe Factory Road has been the subject of a high-profile, heated preservation struggle for years.

The Freye farmhouse on Freeman Road is about 155 years old but might be best known as the former home of the late mayor Michael O'Malley during the 1990s.

Though there hasn't been much public outcry to save the structure, the farmhouse was spared the wrecking ball when trustees recently turned down a developer's recent request to raze it.

Yet it's likely the same board will vote today to open the door for the schoolhouse's demolition.

If the board agrees to amend the schoolhouse's annexation agreement, it would strip the village of any obligation to the school.

"It could be the last time matter comes forward," said Mayor William McLeod, who does not support saving the building.

Why different ends?

The reasons why one building seems likely to be razed while the other seems to be secure is not that clear-cut.

Although the farmhouse is older, the schoolhouse is arguably more architecturally and historically significant. Its preservation has also had more active advocates in recent years.

Trustee Cary Collins said doesn't see a contradiction in the board's actions with the two buildings. He wants the school gone, saying there's not a realistic plan for the parcel.

"I've heard everything," he said. "Maybe they'll turn it into a spaceship."

But preservationists like Trustee Raymond Kincaid say the one-room school deserves to be on the national register -- though that alone doesn't ensure preservation. If Lindbergh is razed, they argue, the village will lose one of its last reminders of its rural history.

"This will come back as an embarrassment to the village," Kincaid said.

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency spokesman David Blanchette said buildings are historical "if the architecture or design style is prevalent in a particular time period or a good example of what buildings looked like at that time."

But even without the official designation, that "doesn't mean it's not important to the community," he said.

Anyone can nominate a site, they just have to be prepared to go through the application process, which takes about a year. Village historian Pat Barch said she inquired about the registry process earlier this summer, but was advised to focus efforts on protecting the school from demolition.

Barch says the only thing the Freye farmhouse has going historically is the fact the mayor lived there from 1989 until his death in 2000.

Barch, by contrast, raved about the Lindbergh school's Spanish-colonial-revival architecture and rare giraffe-style limestone. While there are other one-room schoolhouses in the state, only one in Batavia shares similarities with Lindbergh, she said.

Lisa DiChera of Landmarks Illinois said, "It's very sad that the rural past of the community should be wiped away."

DiChera has worked with Kincaid and Barch to save the school. DiChera said she's never seen a building as unique, despite complaints from neighbors who see it as an eyesore. She doesn't think the village board hasn't given preservationists a fair chance.

"None of this makes sense to me, and I work with a lot communities within the state of Illinois," she said.

'Impractical' to save

But Collins said the village would simply be better off without the school, which he said has become a nuisance and liability that draws vandals.

"It's really impractical for municipalities to get involved in saving every old building in the village," he said.

Amending the annexation agreement would be a crushing blow for Lindbergh preservationists. The agreement included a $100,000 pledge from developer Terrestris Homes to save the building.

"It's my impression that we really need the village's protective, guiding hand in order to have a substantial conversation about saving the school," Bob Tiballi said.

Tiballi, an Elgin pediatrician, has presented plans to save the school and convert it into a memorial and garden for children who have died. He's promised as much as $1 million for the project, and has Kincaid's backing.

Tiballi said he's met with Terrestris, but no progress was made.

"I've done whatever I can to try to talk with the owner," Tiballi said.

He continues to try, and planned to send another postcard to residents over urging them to lobby trustees to save the school.

Although he wants to save the school, Kincaid voted in favor of tearing down the former O'Malley residence. Kincaid said neighbors didn't want the building.

That logic didn't sit too well with Collins, who voted to keep the O'Malley house but against the Lindbergh school. Collins pointed out the O'Malley house is older.

But age isn't everything.

"It also has to have some sort of significance," Blanchette said, "aside from just being old."