Renovation of Libertyville home focuses on details

The atmosphere inside the old house at 955 Winchester Road in Libertyville is of easygoing comfort - tea with a neighbor, knitting on the porch, a bay window view of towering pines planted long ago.

Entering through the front door, visitors can't miss the richly colored mahogany handrail on the staircase leading upstairs, or the warm red oak floors - sturdy features that have remained as they were since being installed more than 80 years ago.

There also is a big-screen television above the original slate and fieldstone fireplace in the living room. But that, too, seems to fit just fine as a nod to modern living in an extensive renovation completed just before Christmas.

The thrust was not to start over but work from within to retain the heart and character of its longtime occupant, Lillian (Smith) Pruss. She moved into the home when it was completed in 1931 and enjoyed a long lifetime of memories there.

"She talked about all these things, and that's what we did and a little bit more," Pruss' granddaughter, Diana Barthel, says of the renovation. "Her friends, her family and everybody says grandma would have loved it."

Barthel was raised in this family home and wanted to preserve the feel. Except for a veranda that has been transformed to twin offices and a sitting room, the floor plan of the Tudor-style home, purchased from a catalog, is original.

Barthel and her partner, Hank Clemmensen, knew upgrades and modifications were needed. But gutting the interior or tearing the home down to start from scratch was not considered.

"My grandmother, she built this house to be a family house for generations. There was no way in my mind," said Barthel, who inherited the home in November 2010. Pruss was 103 when she died quietly there in front of a sunny bay window, holding the hands of her granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

The interior renovation incorporates upgrades Pruss herself talked about but didn't pursue, such as a new kitchen; French doors leading to a wraparound back porch with a view of big trees (planted as seedlings by her grandfather) and gardens; and, an attached two-car garage to eliminate the need to trek 50 feet through snow.

And it went further. Three bathrooms were renovated; walls removed to add light and improve the flow between rooms; floors and staircase refinished; and, a gas unit added to the slate stone fireplace.

During the planning process, Barthel discovered a surprising connection to the neighborhood and its past in contractor Glen Gorsline of Gorsline Development. He grew up just down the street on Winchester Road, attended a two-room school nearby and remembers a turkey farm to the west.

Gorsline knew what Barthel had in mind and shared the vision.

"The thing that made this project special, more than anything else, was the history behind it," he added. His grandfather was one of three builders in Libertyville at a time when deals were made on a handshake and high quality work was the norm.

"We've become a disposable type of society. It's easy to take the home and if you've got the money, knock it down instead of keeping the heritage intact," he said.

While in-progress adjustments were made, the bones of the home were sturdy and there were few surprises, save some old newspapers used as insulation found in the walls.

"It was leaving original doors, original door handles, leaving things that were here before," Gorsline said.

The mission was to save what fit and keep changes in character. About 70 percent of the interior, including cast iron radiators that produce hot water heat, mahogany doors and trim, oak staircase, fireplace and reinforced plaster walls and ceilings, were left intact. The original floors and staircase were refinished.

The dated kitchen was replaced to include cottage style cabinets built in a 1930s style. Five-inch wide oak planks were installed to match the original fir flooring. The tile backsplash and a large, farm-style sink add to the traditional style.

French doors in the adjoining dining room were made to match the other mahogany doors elsewhere in the house. A built in nook upstairs is arched to match that in an adjoining room and new floors and fixtures in the renovated bathrooms are of the original style.

"It wasn't so much it (the renovation) was complicated,"Gorsline said. "There was nothing that was etched in stone … it was adding stuff as we went along. It's the fine line between keeping the flavor and getting rid of it altogether."

In those days, he added, every room was considered separate. So during the renovation, walls were removed to provide a more open and contemporary feel, which is why you can now see the television from the dining room table.

"We had it organized around the way we live," Barthel said. "There's not enough room for formal and informal space." The original home of about 1,800 square feet has grown to about 2,200 square feet.

The renovation included a new stucco surface and paint for the home as well as thinning the many pine trees, which opened the view of the front for the first time in 50 years. Without naming the price of this job, Gorsline said such a renovation can be done for between $150,000 and $200,000.

Barthel's tie to this home is stronger than the occasional visit, having lived there as a child raised by her grandmother, and returning after college and other life changes, and finally to care for her grandmother. She didn't want to lose the heart of a treasured place.

<h3 class="breakHead">Early history</h3>

Pruss was born in 1907 and grew up next door on a 25-acre farm with corn fields, a few animals and an orchard. Her father worked the farm and at Fould's macaroni factory in town. Her mother was a housekeeper for affluent families in Lake Forest.

In her 20s, Lillian was introduced to Edgar Pruss, the son of family friends. They married and her parents gave the newlyweds an acre of land next door to build a home.

Recalling the steep roofs built to manage heavy snows and groves of pine trees from Ed's native Germany, the couple chose a Tudor-style plan from those published by Standard Homes Co. of Washington, D.C.

"Those who make The Kennilworth their home will be prompted daily to radiate the sunshine its comforts will bring," reads the description from the catalog.

Construction began in 1927 and lasted four years. The building permit, dated Aug 10, 1931, lists the estimated cost at $5,000.

Lillian had insisted her granddaughters' friends called her 'Gram' and she became the unofficial 'mayor' of the neighborhood when the open fields finally were developed in the 1980s.

Barthel is confident she has preserved the essence of the woman, who kept close ties to neighbors and the community and managed her own affairs until her death.

"A lot of it was my daughter," she said of how the final product came to be. "This will be hers some day."