Highland Park Historical Society’s 2011 House Tour Celebrates “Enduring Style”

The Highland Park Historical Society's 16th Annual House Tour, “Celebrating Enduring Style,” will be held Sunday, September 25, from 1:00 p.m. to 5 p.m.  The tour will begin at the Society’s museum located at 326 Central Avenue, just east of downtown, Highland Park, IL.  A shuttle bus will be available for travel from house to house. 

The 2011 House Tour will include five houses from different time periods, in five different styles, ranging in age from 60 to more than 140 years old, and in size from 2,000 to 10,000 square feet.  “Together, these featured homes tell the story from Highland Park's earliest beginnings, to the growth of the summer resort community, and on into the 20th Century,” said Society President Rob Rotering.  “Each one is an architectural treasure.”  The tour will also include the Francis Stupey Log Cabin, the oldest standing structure in the northern suburb and home to one of Highland Park’s original settlers. 

The oldest of the homes, built around 1870, just after the founding of the city, belonged to Cornelius Field, a prominent local banker and second Mayor of Highland Park.  Another is believed to be the oldest Tudor style house in Highland Park, which was built in 1894 for Samuel Myers, and later sold to the son of the city’s eighth mayor, Otho Morgan. 

The newest home, built in 1951 for attorney Robert Harring, was designed by an architect with a rare pedigree.  In his early years, Paul Schweikher worked with prominent Chicago architects David Adler and George Keck and later became dean of architecture, first at Yale University and then at Carnegie-Mellon. 

The influence of noted landscape architect Jens Jensen is evident at a few of the featured homes:  the Oscar Foreman house built in 1899 as part of a storied summer family compound known as Wildwood; a French chateau style home designed in 1929 by Arthur Heun for businessman Allan Loeb; and possibly the aforementioned Myers home. 

Tickets for the 2010 House Tour are $35.00, or $30.00 in advance, and can be purchased during open hours at the Highland Park Historical Society’s museum, at 326 Central Avenue, Wednesdays – Fridays, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sundays, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Payment may be made by cash, check or credit card (Visa or MasterCard accepted).  Tickets are also available by phone at 847-432-7090, by email at hphisorical@sbcglobal.net, or through PayPal at www.highlandparkhistory.com.  Tickets purchased in advance may be picked up at the museum on the day of the event. 

The Highland Park Historical Society was formed in 1966.  Its museum is a 12-room, two-story Italianate Victorian house donated to the Society in 1969 by Jean Butz James.  The Society’s mission is to discover, preserve, provide access to and disseminate the history of Highland Park and its surroundings.

For more information, you are invited to call 847-432-7090, to visit the museum’s website atwww.highlandparkhistory.com and to visit Facebook under Highland Park Historical Society.