Tudor Revivals featured on housewalk
As high school sweethearts, Dave and Bernadette Bushing admired the 1920s-era Tudor-style home with a view of Butler Lake in Libertyville.
"We had to pass this house every day for about four years," said Dave Bushing, whose various businesses deal in vintage items.
They eventually bought their dream house and since 1994 have been working on interior and exterior details to keep it authentic to original construction.
The care and pride poured into the Bushing home, as well as many others, will be on display to the general public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16 during MainStreet Libertyville's 6th annual self-guided walking tour. Guide books will be available at Cook Park for $5.
During the past 15 years, the Bushings have restored the home, built in 1926 for Frank and Irene Wright, to its original integrity. Walls have been replastered, floors hand waxed, crown molding matched and walnut French doors that had been relegated to an attic were reinstalled.
Exterior improvements have been made with materials, such as bluestone and wrought iron fencing, that would have been used at the time it was built.
The emphasis this year is on the Tudor Revival architectural style, an imitation of the rustic character of English cottages. Tudor refers to homes built in England in the 1500s during the Tudor Dynasty. Interpretations of the style in the early 20th Century are known as the Tudor Revival style.
Common features include half timbering, steeply-pitched faux thatched roofs, cross gables, arched doorways, tall, narrow windows and ornamental chimneys.
The exteriors of about 20 homes will be on display, although visitors will be allowed inside a portion of one of the homes. Several gardens also are featured.
"Last year, we had 100 booklets printed initially and we ran out by noon," said Joan Suzio, who chairs MainStreet's design committee and works extensively on the tour details.
She said the interest in history has been rekindled with the stated intention of newly elected Mayor Terry Weppler to reconsider the idled issue of historic preservation.
"This year, we want to do a little more awareness building," she said.
The Bushings' angular home features randomly placed, protruding bricks and keystones above the doors and windows.
"There's not a lot of original English Tudors left in town that I'm aware of," Dave Bushing said. He added that many of the original bungalows - part of the Tudor family - in his Oak Terrace subdivision just southwest of the downtown area, have been torn down.
"There's probably fewer than two dozen bungalows in the village of Libertyville anymore," he said. Should the trend continue, the character of neighborhoods will be lost, he contends.
Here are some examples of other homes on the tour:
• 309 Homewood Drive. Built in 1927 for James H. Swan, owner of the pharmacy at 426 N. Milwaukee Ave., now Petranek's. The house was designed by Chicago architect Frederick B. Schmidt and is still in its original form with no modifications or additions. A saw-toothed shape along the roofline of the sunroom imitated medieval English castles.
• 310 Homewood Drive. Also built in 1927 for the Bechtold family by Mrs. Bechtold's father, Dr. Golding, said to be the first dentist in Libertyville. Charles Bechtold taught political science at Libertyville High School. The landscape has remained true to the original owner's plan and visitors can view the "secret" garden.
• 404 and 412 Laurel Ave., Not quite identical but considered twin homes, the original owners were two sisters and their husbands. The cottage-style faux thatched roof at 404 is unique and the process of steam bending the shingles to simulate thatch is labor intensive.
The windows and fireplace at 412 were shipped from England and there is an urban legend that Marlon Brando, who once lived in Libertyville, got his allergy shots from a Dr. Penny, who had his office there.