Rare find comes with family history
The White House and Graceland may be better known, but they aren't any prettier than their charming smaller sister, the Kildeer home wallpaper magnate Henry Bosch built for his family in 1929.
And for the first time since 1964, the Bosch home, for which Kildeer's Boschome Drive was named, is on the market, along with the five remaining acres of the Bosch estate that surround it.
Internist Dr. Richard Treanor and his wife, June, became the third owners of the historic house in 1964. They raised their seven children there and in the intervening years it has been home base for the entire Treanor clan, including numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, especially on Christmas mornings.
Although it is almost 80 years old, the home, which is listed for $1,099,000, contains an excellent blend of old and new. Visitors and residents get the feel of a bygone era while enjoying the conveniences of today.
Original light fixtures, radiators, pedestal sinks and window seats coexist with modern features, like a kitchen with granite countertops and state-of-the-art appliances, and a lower-level media room.
Nowhere is the juxtaposition of old and new more apparent than in that media room. At one end is a flat-screen television and at the other is an ornate and massive metal safe door, which guards the entrance to the home's original wine cellar - a tiny, but picturesque room where the Treanors store wine.
The history of this home actually begins in 1897 when Henry Bosch, a Chicago businessman, bought 86 acres along Buffalo Creek at a delinquent tax sale.
In 1929 he built the Georgian home in a wooded area on the property overlooking the creek, and constructed a gravel road from Quentin Road to access it. He also dammed the creek to create a picturesque waterfall. He and his family lived there full-time and he commuted to Chicago to manage his wallpaper factory.
Some of the family's land was farmed while other parts were used to graze cattle. A farm manager handled the farm work.
During the Depression the farm began raising turkeys and a brooder house was constructed.
When Bosch died in 1937, his son, Henry Jr., took over the home and members of the family continued to live there until about 1960. In the mid 1950s much of the farm was subdivided into the Boschome Farms subdivision. The original brooder house and tool shed were converted to homes at that time.
By the time the Treanors moved into the home, it had fallen into disrepair.
June Treanor recalls washing dishes in the first-floor bathtub for many weeks that first year while the original kitchen was modernized. It also took lots of hard work to clean up the pedestal sinks that Bosch had installed in each bedroom to ease demand for the children's bathroom. The Treanors also had to hire a locksmith to unlock the huge safe door that concealed the wine cellar.
Over the years Dick and June have faithfully maintained the lovely vintage appointments like the fanlight transom over the front door, crown molding, wainscoting, cedar closets in every bedroom and built-in bookcases, all of which Bosch included in the house. But they have also added their own touches.
Two years ago they gutted the kitchen and made it state-of-the-art. It now features granite countertops, hand-hewn copper sinks from Mexico, stainless steel Jenn-Air and Thermador appliances and ivory-colored French Country cabinets, complemented by a few strategically placed grayed-green cabinets. A huge island with bar stools on one side dominates the center of the room, allowing June to work on one side while Dick reads the newspaper or keeps her company on the other side.
A bay window with window seat overlooks the dense woods behind the house and a large look-through opening now connects the kitchen with the dining room and its lovely indirect lighting hidden in the crown molding by Bosch's builder 80 years ago.
The Treanors have also added air conditioning; converted the first-floor maid's quarters into an office and her bathroom into a powder room; added a master bath and enlarged the children's bath upstairs; and added a gorgeous second-floor sitting room off the master bedroom and above the first-floor sun room.
In addition, they doubled the size of a screened porch that overlooks a wooded ravine where the creek flows by. Dick says sitting on that porch and watching squirrels play in an 80-year-old ironwood tree that Bosch received as a gift from Joy Morton, founder of both Morton Salt and the Morton Arboretum, is one of his favorite activities these days.
The setting for the couple's retreat is truly reminiscent of an arboretum or park with the dense woods, creek and abundant wildlife. The slope leading down to the creek is terraced into huge steps and the immense ironwood tree is surrounded by a lush shade garden that June planted.
On the other side of the house the Treanors added a 20-by-40-foot in-ground swimming pool, brick patio and walkways, pergola overlooking the pool, large deck with hot tub, storage barn and a three-car garage.
An outside door leading to the large lookout basement with its powder room, laundry room, media room, wine cellar and storage area affords swimmers a convenient place to change without dripping water throughout the house, June said.
The 3,142-square-foot house features four large bedrooms, two full baths, two powder rooms, a large living room with original fireplace and built-in bookcases, sun room with mullioned windows all around, dining room, island kitchen, office, screened porch, second-floor sitting room, lower-level media room, wine cellar and laundry room. The three-car garage is detached.
Hardwood floors run throughout the first and second floors, except in the foyer where there is brick. Some of the hardwood is currently covered by carpet, however.
The home is listed by Leonora "Leo" Burkhart of RE/MAX of Barrington. For more information, contact her at (847) 381-8800 or at leoburkhart@earthlink.net.