Take a peek inside local National Register sites

You can learn a lot about local, privately owned landmark properties on a tour Saturday, Sept. 27, of National Register of Historic Places in the Tri-Cities.

The tour is part of the second annual "Treasures of the Tri-Cities" events offered by Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley.

"I think we all have our favorites," said Lynn Dransoff, director of the Fabyan Villa Museum for Preservation Partners, of the six buildings on this year's tour. She feels there is a good assortment of commercial, residential and multiuse buildings, from a lengthy time span, on the tour.

The main purpose of the weekend is to raise awareness of historical sites in the area, she said. The tour, a Friday-night lecture and a Saturday cocktail reception also help raise money for Preservation Partners, a nonprofit group, "so we can continue to do advocacy for preservation," Dransoff said.

The group runs three historic sites: the Beith House Museum in downtown St. Charles, the Durant House Museum in the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in western St. Charles, and the Fabyan Villa and Museum in the Fabyan Forest Preserve in Geneva.

Tickets for the tour are available up to 1 p.m. Saturday. Participants must drive themselves from site to site.

Hosts at the six sites will explain design features and the architectural integrity and historic significance of the site. They are the Andrew Weisel House (1853) in St. Charles; in Geneva, the Oscar Wilson House (1912) and Riverbank Laboratories Engineering Building (1922); and in Batavia, Bellevue Place/ Batavia Institute (1855), Campana Building (1937), and the Stearns-Wadsworth House (1858).

Tickets are $25. To purchase, call Preservation Partners at (630) 277-6424, or e-mail info@ppfv.org.