A reflection of the past

A farm house designed to mimic the iconic Firestone family homestead is under construction on Wing Park Boulevard on Elgin's near-west side.

It marks the first tear-down project on the boulevard, which stretches from Larkin Avenue north to Wing Street and once was hailed as one of the tonier areas of town. The house will reflect the clean, simple lines of the Benjamin and Catherine Firestone home built in 1828 in Ohio. The Firestones raised three children on their farm, including tire maker Harvey Firestone.

Bob Ellison, a semi-retired 34-year resident of Elgin's Eagle Heights neighborhood, saw the house three years ago at Greenfield Village, a 90-acre living history village that is one component of The Henry Ford, an independent nonprofit near Dearborn, Mich. Seven historic districts comprise Greenfield Village, which also contains the Firestone homestead, which was moved from Ohio in the 1980s and is now situated on a re-created working farm.

"I think the home is a great example of American architecture," said Ellison of the home's Colonial design, constructed of red brick and featuring two fireplaces at both ends and a simple front porch. "I took dozens of pictures of the house to document it as best I could."

Ellison became so enamored with the home's design that he decided to replicate the home in the nearby area and move in. After looking at lots in Huntley, Gilberts and throughout Elgin, he settled on 363 Wing Park Blvd. because of its expansive 110-by-145-foot lot, which is roughly the size of two standard-size city lots.

"A lot of the building lots I looked at were on busy streets or were in areas already crowded with houses," said Ellison. "In most of the new areas west of town you have to use the developer's builder. I think the lot I bought is suitable for this style of house."

The only challenge facing Ellison was that a home was already built on the land -- a ranch-style home constructed around 1950.

"I bought the home out of an estate," said Ellison. "It was a fairly large home but wasn't in the best of the shape. There was leakage in the basement and the water had leaked into several of the bedrooms."

Ellison bought the house on Aug. 31 this year and began demolition on Oct. 1. After pushing the home's walls and roof into the basement, a crew using a 10-ton ball smashed up the former home's basement. It took an estimated 30 small trucks to haul away the concrete debris, he said.

Construction on Ellison's new two-story, 2,176 square foot home began this past fall and is scheduled for completion by this summer. When it is complete, more than 100 construction workers will have been through the place recreating what Ellison says is his dream home. He is hoping to mimic all of the Firestone home's details, down to the copper downspouts. A slate roof may have to go, though, given the high expenses he has already incurred.

He said he is looking forward to leaving the 1960s raised ranch home where his kids grew up and taking up residence in a recreated farmhouse. He has already begun collecting old-fashioned light fixtures and furniture from his travels throughout the Midwest. He plans to build a garage at the far eastern end of his new lot -- hardly visible from the street -- and plant a grove of apple and pear trees in the back to reflect the Firestone homestead's rural roots.

"I like Abraham Lincoln's home (in Springfield, Illinois) and other houses like it," he said. "It is a very simple, German-Pennsylvania style."