Lake Forest Hospital project gets boost from John Hughes' family
The extensive expansion and revitalization at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital has received a big assist from one of its most famous residents.
Nancy L. Hughes, widow of writer, director and producer John Hughes, has donated her 11,233-square-foot English Tudor estate and property to Northwestern to be used toward the development of the new hospital scheduled to open in 2017.
John Hughes, who is best known for films such as "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Home Alone," "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," died in 2009 at age 59 after a heart attack while walking in New York City.
"John loved the beauty of Lake Forest; I love Lake Forest," Nancy Hughes said in a statement released Monday by Northwestern. "So when the opportunity to help advance the hospital presented, it was an easy decision to make."
The home and surrounding two-acre landscaped property are a block away from Lake Michigan in the historic district east of Lake Forest. It includes seven bedrooms, six full and four half baths, a library, a garden room, an office suite, six fireplaces, a swimming pool and four bluestone terraces. Proceeds from the eventual sale will benefit the development of the new hospital, described as the largest construction project ever approved in the North Shore community. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held in August.
The 463,000-square-foot hospital has a construction budget of $220 million, and the total cost with landscaping, power plant, equipment and furnishings is $378 million.
"Having a state-of-the-art health care facility close to home for residents and citizens of neighboring towns improves the health of the community and I'm thrilled to be part of that legacy," Nancy Hughes said.
This is not the first gift from the Hughes family, but previous amounts were not disclosed. The fundraising target for the project is $150 million and is nine months ahead of schedule, according to Northwestern.
The estimated value of the home was not immediately known, nor was how Nancy Hughes determined to make the gift. But she has been generous in allowing the public to glimpse the house since her husband's death and in other ways.
In December 2012, tours were offered as part of the annual Winter Wonderwalk & Holiday Boutique benefit for Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart.
Early this year, she agreed to endow the transformation of Lake Forest's Gorton Community Center auditorium into the John and Nancy Hughes Theater. The new theater will include a fresh exterior entrance through a solarium, highlighted by a marquee over the east doors.