'Owning a piece of art'
October 21, 2005
BY CELESTE BUSK Real Estate Reporter
"It's not like owning a home, it's like owning a piece of art that you can walk through. After eight years, I can still walk around and notice something new in the architecture."
That's how Ed Baehrend sums up what; it's like to live in the stunning Arthur Heurtley House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in west suburban Oak Park.
The two-story Prairie style landmark is not just any Wright creation; it's considered by many to be one of the top 10 achievements by the renowned 20th century architect. The home also is important because it marks Wright's early work from shingle-style and Louis Sullivan-styled architectural influences to a pure Prairie School of Architecture residence.
Even Wright himself considered the home a winner. In a 1955 letter to Mrs. Heurtley, Wright wrote, "I see you protecting the newly polished plans of 'our house' -- it is one of my best ..."
"What makes this home unique is Wright's use of light and the ability to bring the outside in," Baehrend said. "When you sit in the living room in the afternoon and the sunlight streams in, it's like going through a spiritual experience. The use of space and light gives the home a feeling of repose, warmth and comfort like I've never felt before.
"Wright also designed the home to feel bigger than it is. It's all about the illusion of space, not the space itself. The home has 4,800 square feet of space; 6,000 if you include the porches. My friends come in here, and when I ask them how big they think it is, they always said more than it actually is," he said.
"The house has a lot of windows, and you can see all the trees and foliage. The light from the windows also plays with the mind and sense of perception. The people who lived around the house used to call it a banker's jewel box. When it's night and all the lights are on, it looks like a jewel box," he said.
The house was built in 1902 for Wright's friend Heurtley, a wealthy banker. He and his wife, Anne, raised two children in the home and sold the residence in 1920 and retired to Iowa.
Ed and Diana Baehrend bought the house in 1997. The couple had planned on moving into the home immediately, but the mansion had deteriorated over the years. "We thought we could live there and do a little at a time," Ed Baehrend said. "But it still had the original electric system and it was a fire hazard. Also, it was more cost effective to do everything at once."
The couple said it took three years of extensive renovation. The renovation was so intense that it was two years before the couple moved in, then they spent another year finishing it. Like the first owners, the Baehrends have raised two children and are selling the home and retiring.
"Although we love this house, it's a large home. If we traveled, we couldn't leave it alone for one or two years at a time," he said. "It's not the kind of home you can leave alone. It needs to be taken care of.
The house is listed for $5.7 million. "It may seem like a lot of money, but for a Frank Lloyd home, that's a steal, considering its importance," said Andrew Hayes, a spokesman for Baird & Warner, the listing agent.
Indeed, the Heurtley House is an architectural and historical jewel. The home is rectangular with a low-hipped cedar roof with broad overhangs, said a report from the National Register of Historic Places. It was placed on the register in 2000.
The Heurtley House is asymmetrical and divided vertically into three unequal bays, punctuated by a wide central chimney, the landmark report said. The home has two colors of slender Roman brick, which are laid in alternating projected and recessed brick pattern. The lighter color is the projected brick, the darker is the recessed. A long band of art glass casement windows on the upper level stretches across the length of the home. On the ground level, a series of four art glass doors and a Romanesque arch are at the front entry. Only the Romanesque arch of the front entry interrupts the sleek architectural design.
"We had seen the house on tours by the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation, and we fell in love with it," Ed Baehrend said. "We decided to buy the home, and negotiated for it for more than a year before we closed."
The Baehrends restored the home to Wright's exacting specifications when he built the house. The 13-room home has 5 bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths and two fireplaces.
"The house had been chopped up and made into two apartments during the Depression," he said. "The gutters had fallen off and the roof had tarpaper on it. Nothing had been done of any significance to the home in the past 50 years.
Every piece of stained glass had to be fixed or replaced with exact reproductions. Other main renovation projects included: new electrical, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning systems; the restoration of the library inglenook and cabinet; and replacement of the roof with a cedar roof.
"The original furniture had been sold off, and we tracked it down and measured and replicated it," Ed Baehrend said. "It was incredibly expensive to buy back. For example, a reclining chair sold for $10,000 about 10 years ago."
Some of the furniture reproductions include: a coffee table based on a Wright library table in the playroom as well as dining tables and chairs based upon Wright's Dana-Thomas House in Springfield.
The couple also had reproductions made of the home's original lighting fixtures. They built a large garage with a studio for Ed to work in. The garage design was based on the 1902 Les Cheneaux Yacht Club designs by Wright for Heurtley.
Chicago Sun-Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/hlife/ho ... ght21.html
SHELTER
What: Heurtley House
Built: 1902
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright
Location: Oak Park
For sale: $5.75 million
Information: Call (708) 697-5900