Mayslake Peabody Estate to close in May for renovations
The century-old Mayslake Hall at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook is set to close for exterior renovations.
The 1920s Tudor revival-style mansion will largely shutter for a year starting May 31. The DuPage Forest Preserve District has operated Mayslake and its surrounding 89-acre forest preserve since 1993.
According to Forest Preserve District President Daniel Hebreard, repairs will be made to address structural deficiencies and other problems with the roof, masonry, wood, stucco, windows, doors and foundation. Drainage and accessibility issues also will be addressed.
A 2020 comprehensive assessment outlined the building's problems, so Mayslake Hall was added to the district's certified master plan projects.
"Our goal is to ensure these exterior improvements will preserve this historic asset for our residents, their children and their grandchildren," Hebreard said Tuesday at the district's board of commissioners meeting.
Hebreard announced that the district recently received a $750,000 museum capital grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to help pay for the work.
"The district doesn't receive grants without the work of dedicated staff," Hebreard said. "I want to send a shout-out to landscape architect Mark Decker, who led the application."
The grounds of the Mayslake Forest Preserve will remain open during Mayslake Hall renovations. Interior portions of the building will be made available for the 2022-23 season of First Folio Theatre, the professional nonprofit that has been a Mayslake Peabody Estate resident since 1997.
"The First Folio schedule will be altered to fit into the renovation plans during non-building time," Executive Artistic Director David Rice said in a statement. The season will open Nov. 2 and conclude on April 2, 2023; the entire schedule will be announced at the end of March.
First Folio is in rehearsals for a stage adaptation of Jane Austen's "Emma," which is set to run from March 23 to April 24.
Chicago architect Benjamin Marshal started work designing Mayslake Hall in 1919 for the coal baron Francis Stuyvesant Peabody. After Peabody's death in 1922, his family sold the estate to the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Hart in 1926.
Mayslake Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It is one of the last remaining examples of the country estates that dotted DuPage County between 1880 and 1924.