Architect's Lake County gem on shaky ground

When a prominent Chicago attorney built an estate in the woods near Mettawa in 1936, there was little chance of his family being disturbed.

Situated between the Des Plaines River and St. Mary's Road, this gentleman's retreat was an early commission for architect Nat Owings, then of Skidmore Owings, predecessor of the firm that would design the John Hancock Center.

Then, as now, the Glen A. Lloyd house remains well off the beaten path and out of the public eye. It has been unused, and nature is closing in.

Because it is too deep in the woods to be of a practical public use and continues to deteriorate, the Lake County Forest Preserve District, which has owned the home since 2005, is facing a dilemma. Spend the money to restore the old house, or cut their losses?

Four sump pumps run continuously. The roof needs to be replaced. There is mold throughout the building. Exterior wood is rotted. The grounds and home are in a flood way and are inundated regularly.

"If we plan on saving the house, we should take action fairly soon," Mike Tully, director of operation and public safety, reported recently to the forest board's facilities committee.

Over the past four years, the district has spent about $24,000 in utility costs "just keeping it in bad shape," he added.

Bringing the home into usable condition would cost from $700,000 to $1.4 million, Tully said, and those were estimates made in 2006.

Is that too high a price? Without some outside help, it appears so.

"There is no money in the proposed budget for the Lloyd house for any of the renovations," said Tom Hahn, executive director.

"No decisions have been made but we're going to take an on-site tour with discussion to follow."

The district has been in contact with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP regarding the possibility of using the site as a retreat, but the firm has no active involvement, according to Katherine Hamilton-Smith, the district's director of cultural resources.

"It's almost unprogrammable for public purposes," she said. "It's a beautiful, rambling house in the forest ... but it's really expensive to keep it up."

Located just south of the Adlai E. Stevenson Historic Home, the Lloyd house and its 167-acre estate became part of the forest preserve district upon the death of Lloyd's widow, Marion Musser Lloyd, a life trustee at the University of Chicago and chair of the Ravinia Festival Association.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency reviewed the property, designed to fit into the cover of oak woodlands, and determined the home could be considered for designation on the National Register of Historic Places as an example of the early work of a master architect.

While of architectural interest, the Lloyd home lacks the extensive historical significance of the Stevenson house, which took several years and millions in grants to open as a public attraction.

"How do we justify keeping a building and putting money into it when it's in a flood way?" forest board President Bonnie Thomson Carter, said during the recent discussion.

"I want us to preserve our buildings when it makes sense. We're having to make tough choices in what we can live without."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=379935">Images of the Glen A. Lloyd House </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>