Tour historic Harvard home during open house fundraiser

Submitted by McHenry County Historical Society

An open house fundraiser to benefit the McHenry County Historical Society will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5, at 201 Garfield St., Harvard. Cost is $7 per person or two for $12.

The William D. Hall house clearly has stood the test of time. Not only does the Prairie-style home remain a focal point in the neighborhood after more than a century, Realtor Jose Rey is hoping it catches a prospective buyer’s eye. He is listing the five-bedroom, 4,245-square-foot house for $315,000.

In an effort to draw attention to the property — as well as raise funds for the nonprofit McHenry County Historical Society, which placed a plaque on the house in 1988 — Rey and the society’s historic sites committee are collaborating to host a wine and cheese open house Jan. 5.

“It was 1997 or 1998, and I was working for Motorola (in Harvard) and driving back and forth from Libertyville and Champaign,” owner Steve Bunch said. “My wife started saying that I was missing my son grow up.”

Bunch and his wife, Susan, stumbled on information about the Hall house while researching properties in Woodstock. And the rest, as they like to say, is history.

“We love old houses, like the one we owned in Champaign. Historical is good because things were really built well in those days,” Bunch said. “We were used to plaster walls and varnished woodwork. And we loved the solidity and fun history of the house.”

The home was commissioned by Woodstock lumber yard owner and one time Harvard mayor William D. Hall. Construction began in 1902, and the house was occupied in 1903 by the Hall family.

The primary architect was Myron Hunt, a partner of Frank Lloyd Wright on LaSalle Street in Chicago. The entrances into several rooms and areas use the Wright signature technique of first lowering the ceiling then opening it back up as one enters to instill a feeling of size and grandeur.

The house also features a wraparound front porch and a sheltered built-in stone bench beside the front door, where visitors who arrived when the residents were out could wait out of the weather.

There is a sitting area off the front foyer with a view of the elegant oak stairwell to the second floor, and a speaking tube between the kitchen and master bedroom.

Bunch, a computer expert and entrepreneur who now lives in Florida, also has the original blueprints.

Visit www.gothistory.org.