Project returning historic Mayslake Hall in Oak Brook to its former glory

Mayslake Hall has always been an architectural treasure with its spacious rooms, ornate fixtures, beautiful views and hidden spaces. But it also was visibly aging.

Now, the historic 39-room mansion at Mayslake Forest Preserve in Oak Brook is starting to show its past splendor, thanks to its owner, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.

Sixteen months have passed since the forest preserve district started an extensive exterior rehabilitation of the former home of Chicago coal baron Francis Stuyvesant Peabody.

As part of a $6.4 million project, crews have repaired the brick and limestone masonry and replaced old stucco and decayed wood on the facade of the Tudor Revival-style mansion. Other work included replacing tiles on the slate roof and restoring or reproducing doors and windows.

The result has been extraordinary.

Photographs accompanying a story written this month by senior writer Katlyn Smith show how impressive the mansion looks because of the improvements. It's hard to imagine there was a time when some questioned whether such an investment was worth it.

Peabody built the mansion between 1919 and 1921. After he died in 1922, his family sold the estate toa Franciscan order, which converted Mayslake Hall into a retreat house.

Through the years, the order sold sections of the estate. The forest preserve district sought to prevent the loss of more open space by acquiring the remaining 87 acres of the Mayslake property in 1993 after taxpayers approved a $17.5 million tax increase.

At the time, there was talk of repairing the mansion and opening it to the public. But the district struggled to do needed repairs for decades. Part of the reason is because elected officials didn't want to spend tax dollars to restore the building. And efforts to raise money from private donors didn't go as smoothly as planned.

So even though private donations and grants helped pay for restoration projects through the years, none were on the scale of what the district is doing now. The district received a $750,000 museum capital grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to help pay for the current project. But most of the roughly $6.4 million price tag comes from a recent bond issue. Officials have said the district didn't need to raise property taxes to borrow the money.

Despite the cost, it was the right decision to repair the outer shell of the mansion. Structural problems were contributing to water damage and other threats to the home. The district now has the opportunity and the time to focus on interior repairs and explore ways to expand the use of the building.

Smith reported that forest preserve officials are developing long-term plans for using the Peabody residence, an adjacent retreat wing built by the Franciscans in the 1950s, and the surrounding property. We look forward to seeing those plans because it would bring the district closer to offering more programs at Mayslake Hall and having the structure meet its full potential.