Schaumburg house an architectural masterpiece

Hidden behind a nondescript mailbox and down a gravel driveway in Schaumburg is a true architectural masterpiece that is even listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Yet, few people even know that this home at 645 S. Meacham Road exists and even fewer have seen it because it is so well-shielded from the road.

Renowned modernist architect Paul Schweikher was only 34 years old when he designed the flat-roofed redwood, brick and glass home for himself and his family in 1936 while a passenger on a trans-Pacific cruise ship returning from a traveling fellowship in Japan.

As luck would have it, Schweikher had recently been paid in seven acres of land for transforming an unincorporated Roselle barn into a magnificent modernist home, so he had a place to build his house. In addition, he had won a monetary award from General Electric for designing an “industrial building of the future.”

“It was the perfect storm. He had time to design the home while traveling from Japan; he had the land on which to build it; and he had the money for labor and materials,” explained Todd Wenger, executive director of the Schweikher House Preservation Trust.

The one-story avant-garde home with an attached architectural studio, completed in 1938, features an abundance of vertical and horizontal lines, with nary a circle or a curve (except for the round soaking tub which was put in by the subsequent owner). Many who walk in the door immediately think of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style homes and his later Usonian homes.

But Wenger said that Schweikher's home, which he dubbed “South Willow,” only gives a nod to Wright. He was not as devoted to patterns and ornamentation as Wright was. Schweikher got his eye for detail and proportion from his former boss, David Adler; from George Keck, his partner in the design of 33 “Homes of Tomorrow” for the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair; and from his good friend, Mies van der Rohe.

“There was a free flow of thought between the architects of the time and everyone was borrowing from each other, so there are many similarities between the various modernist architects, especially since they were all widely published at the time,” Wenger explained. “But they didn't follow each other's work too closely and as time went on, their work really diverged.”

Schweikher lived and worked in his Schaumburg home (which was at that time in unincorporated Roselle Township) until 1953. During his 15 years in the home, he mentored many draftsman apprentices (including Bertram Goldberg, who designed Chicago's Marina Towers), and he designed a handful of homes that were built in Arizona and the Chicago suburbs. His famous Third Unitarian Church of Evanston was actually designed before he built this home.

The Schaumburg home features four breathtaking Chicago common brick fireplaces that each have their own unique designs but still manage to conform to the home's overarching mood. Built-in benches, shelves, drawers and wardrobes also abound, as do redwood walls and ceilings, brick and teakwood floors and indirect lighting hidden in cantilevers.

There is even an artwork niche in the foyer, a compact and very efficient kitchen featuring open shelving instead of cabinets and a unique radiant heating and passive cooling system that was well ahead of its time and continues to keep the home comfortably cool in the summer and toasty warm in the winter.

All proportions on the outdoor eaves and in the rooms were carefully calculated so that those living in the home would enjoy optimum comfort in terms of temperatures and light, Wenger explained.

In addition, floor-to-ceiling windows in the home portion of the complex successfully blur the lines between inside and outside. In fact, in the living room, brick starts at the ceiling, extends down the fireplace, across the floor and even outside onto the walkway around the semi-enclosed courtyard's Zen garden.

This brings us to the impact Schweikher's visit to Japan had on his work, which is evident in the house: from the Shoji screen sliding door on Paul Jr.'s bedroom, to the exposed nail heads on the exterior redwood siding, to the Japanese soaking tub in the bathroom, the Zen garden and the many Asian-inspired wood wall panels, Wenger said.

The studio, which is attached to the home via an open breezeway, is identical in style. Historic photos show the studio set up with four drafting tables for himself and his draftsmen. Here the windows are higher in the walls, presumably so that no one would be distracted by the wide open farmland, wildlife and the meandering Salt Creek, which they could have seen on a daily basis.

Behind the studio, a conference room was constructed later and Schweikher experimented here with a double cantilever, extending 10 feet beyond the structure's foundation in one direction and five feet over the foundation in a second direction for a fascinating effect. In fact, screened hatches in the floor of the cantilevers could even be opened to allow a breeze to cool the space.

When the Schweikhers left the Schaumburg house in 1953 so that Paul could become the dean of the Yale University School of Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut (and later the dean of the School of Architecture at Carnegie University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), equally impressive residents took over the home.

Manhattan Project nuclear physicist Alexander Langsdorf and his wife, Martyl, a well-regarded abstract landscape artist, left the confines of Hyde Park to live in the home and Martyl set up Schweikher's studio as an art studio for herself. She and Alexander also converted the studio's conference room with its wonderful view of the Salt Creek into their master suite.

The Langsdorfs were famous in their own rights. Alexander was one of 78 scientists who signed a petition asking President Harry Truman not to use the atomic bomb and, in 1947, he helped put out the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which advocated against nuclear warfare. In fact, his fellow scientists asked if Martyl could design a cover for the bulletin, which she did and came up with the infamous “Doomsday Clock” which is today “set” periodically to reflect the world's threat to itself based on not only nuclear annihilation, but now also based on climate change.

During their years in the home, the Langsdorfs were known for throwing lavish parties at which no less than 12 Nobel Laureates were present at various times, according to Wenger.

And they loved the home. So, in the 1970s when the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District began buying up all the land around them, the Langsdorfs quietly worked to register the house with the National Register of Historic Places in order to protect it.

So, a few years later when their fears came true and the MWRD tried to seize the home under eminent domain, the case went to court. The court ruled that the Langsdorfs could remain in the home until they died. Interestingly, the MWRD was ordered to make any necessary capital improvements to the home, such as replacing the leaky roof.

Eventually, the MWRD chose to get out of the “historic home business,” according to Wenger, and in 1999 they sold their interest to the Village of Schaumburg. Alexander had already passed away but Martyl continued to reside in the home until her death at the age of 96 in 2013.

In the two years since her death, the village has been proceeding carefully, putting an advisory council in place; making structural improvements to the plumbing and other systems; offering very limited tours; renting it out to small groups for events; and holding one large public tour each fall (this year it was held Oct. 10) in partnership with Docomomo, a group dedicated to the conservation of modern movement buildings.

“Last year approximately 200 visitors came through the house and we are slowly ramping up to offer additional programming. We are aware that we have a triad of interests — art, science and architecture — converging in this home and that there is lots of potential for tourism,” Wenger said. “But we want to proceed carefully since the home is fragile.”

“In the Schweikher Home we have an important house that was built in the 1930s, remodeled in the 1940s and furnished in the 1960s and we had an architect, a well-known artist and a nuclear physicist all living here. So, we could host anyone from school groups to Fermilab scientists to architects and they would all be fascinated,” explained Jeff Whyte, a Schweikher House Preservation Trust board member.

Currently, the village has applied for tax exempt status for the Schweikher House, which will make them eligible for grants.

Once that designation comes through, improvements like public restrooms, additional parking and possibly an education center will likely be considered, Wenger and Whyte agreed.

To arrange a tour, contact Wenger at (847) 923-3866.

Did you know?

The second residents of the Schweikher home were as impressive as the modernist architect.

Manhattan Project nuclear physicist Alexander Langsdorf and his wife, Martyl, a well-regarded abstract landscape artist, left the confines of Hyde Park to live in the home.

Alexander was one of 78 scientists who signed a petition asking President Harry Truman not to use the atomic bomb and, in 1947, he helped put out the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which advocated against nuclear warfare. His fellow scientists asked if Martyl could design a cover for the bulletin, which she did and came up with the infamous “Doomsday Clock” which is today “set” periodically to reflect the world's threat to itself based on not only nuclear annihilation, but now also based on climate change.