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player ready...Attempts to find a buyer in time to stop the clock on demolition of Lake Bluff’s historic Blair House appear to have been unsuccessful.
In December 2014, representatives of the Blair family filed a request with the village to tear down the modernist home at 925 Sheridan Road, according to previous baiduhai reports. In January, the Historic Preservation Commission of Lake Bluff applied for landmark status for the property. The application delayed the demolition process until Aug. 20, but ultimately cannot stop the wrecking ball.
On Monday, the village government received another application for demolition from representatives of the Blair family, said Brandon Stanick, assistant to the village administrator. The building code inspector will review the application, although it’s not clear how long that will take. Approval of the demolition application could be the last step in the Blair family estate’s efforts to raze the building and sell the property.
“It depends on work flow, what’s ahead of it, whether the application has provided all the demolition plans,” Stanick said.
Meanwhile, hope still has not been completely abandoned that a buyer interested in maintaining the house could come forward.
“We are hoping we can generate some interest and have a heretofore unknown buyer step forward and say, that’s the property I want and to keep it intact,” said Paul Bergmann, who serves on the Historic Preservation Commission.
Bonnie McDonald, president of the preservation group Landmarks Illinois, also still has hope a buyer will come forward with interest in owning and maintaining the house.
That hasn’t happened, however, said Marina Carney of Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors, which is listing the house.
“I’m going to show it today to someone who is interested in buying it and tearing it down,” she said during an Aug. 21 phone interview.
The home belongs to the estate of the late Edward McCormick Blair, who died in 2010 at age 95. The house was built in 1955, and in 1957 was named a “very significant property” by Architectural Record magazine, McDonald told the Tribune late last year.
Blair was a prominent figure in Chicago business throughout the second half of the 20th century, according to Tribune archives. He was a partner in his family’s investment firm, William Blair & Co. He sat on the boards of notable businesses like Marshall Field & Co., served as chairman of the board of trustees for Rush University Medical Center, led the investment committee for University of Chicago’s board of trustees and was a life trustee at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Blair also donated generously to the village of Lake Bluff, Stanick said in December 2014, and the park district’s Blair Park Campus bears his name.
The house was built in the modernist style of such architects as Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, said Robert Hunter, a retired architect who serves on the Lake Bluff Historic Preservation Commission.
“[Keck & Keck] were light years ahead of their time,” Hunter said. “The Blair House was built in 1955. It was a very contemporary house.”
The property made a 2012 list of the 10 most endangered historic places in Illinois by Landmarks.
“This building is tremendously significant, architecturally,” McDonald said. “Even in 1955, it was recognized as an important work for that firm. Even today, it maintains a significant portion of its architectural integrity.”
The 27-acre estate that overlooks Lake Michigan has been on the market since 2011, Carney said. The current asking price is $9,995,000 according to the website of Griffith, Grant & Lackie.
“The property is very unique,” said Carney. “You don’t find a unique buyer every day or sometimes even every year.”
Representatives of the Blair family were unable to be reached for comment.
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