A sneak peek at massive Warrenville mansion, grounds before opening

Just because St. James Farm is open to the public, the massive estate's mystery isn't lessened.

Now a DuPage County Forest Preserve property, the district will open the gates to the former home of philanthropist Brooks McCormick on Memorial Day weekend.

It's the first time the public has been able to traipse around much of the 607-acre property that had been in private hands for more than a century. The estate is located off of Winfield Road, just north of the Butterfield Road intersection. The open house runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through May 26.

Many of the matching "Kremlin yellow" farm buildings and horse stables are in various stages of renovation, but visitors will still be able to explore the grounds and most facilities. The property will be closed after the open house and reopen again in the coming months, forest preserve officials said.

The property is a beautifully confusing mix of artistry and industry. Much of the land highlights McCormick's penchant for all things equestrian.

"We're still developing a plan for all of St. James Farm, but certainly looking forward there will be some type of equestrian presence at St. James," said Wayne Zaininger, who served as the property manager for the estate under McCormick since 1981 and remains with the forest preserve as the property's director.

One of the more peculiar architectural features is a wall and archway outside the McCormicks' personal stable that serves as a tribute to the farming equipment companies and factories -- Brooks was chairman of International Harvester -- that generated the family's fortune.

On the east side of the estate where they used to hold riding competitions, an old Burlington Northern Railroad caboose rests amid the various riding pens. Zaininger wasn't sure how the caboose came into McCormick's possession.

"If he didn't volunteer the information, I didn't ask," he said.

Over the years, Zaininger has slowly been readying the property for its conversion to a public-use forest preserve.

Once-manicured lawns have been converted to natural prairie, and wildlife has been welcomed onto the land, as well. But most strikingly, McCormick's personal residence was torn down as stipulated in a $5 million property maintenance endowment.

"Brooks McCormick was always a very private person and he didn't want this land to become a monument to him," Zaininger said.

Some forest preserve commissioners were happy to see it go, as upkeep costs likely would have been thousands of dollars annually.

The district bought the property from McCormick in 2000 for nearly $43 million. He died in August 2006 at 89. The forest preserve officially took possession of the property almost a year later and had already begun creating a historical and architectural documentation study.

The property's indoor riding arena was kept as well as the stable where the McCormicks kept their personal horses and a massive circular stable on the east farm for visiting horses that was modeled after an ancient Roman barn, Zaininger said.

Workers also have been busy creating bike and walking paths that encompass the northern half of the property. The southern half is still being farmed and won't be open to the public for years, forest preserve officials said.

The property is dotted with a variety of fountains and sculptures, some seemingly as randomly placed as the caboose and factory remnants. One such relief sculpture featuring McCormick's granddaughter Fiona and her horse is hiding behind a wall of shrubs along a service road.

Again, Zaininger had no explanation for its odd placement.

"There's certainly a mystique about St. James," he offered.