A demolition request for a landmarked house in Lake Bluff will once again be considered by the village.
Brian and Julie Schmucker reapplied in December for permission to tear down a house at 512 Sunrise Avenue, next door to the Schmuckers current home. The couple wants to demolish the house “to provide more lawn space and open space for the owners,” according to the application.
The Schmuckers had also applied for demolition in April 2015 but later withdrew the application.
“After they withdrew, the owners looked elsewhere for another piece of property,” said Dan Horvat, a landscape architect who spoke on behalf of the couple at a Jan. 11 meeting of the village Historic Preservation Commission. Horvat said the owners had recently renovated their home and couldn’t find another property that matched it.
The house at 512 Sunrise was built in 1928 during an early building boom. It’s a two-story building done in the Arts and Crafts style.
The village government conferred landmark status on the house in May 2006 at the request of its then owners. There were eight reasons to approve landmark status at that time, according to village documents. Those included the house’s status as one of the few remaining examples of a particular architectural style, its position as an exceptional example of a historic and vernacular style and a strong association with the life of a person who significantly contributed to historic events of the village.
The family of George Stone lived at 512 Sunrise from 1952 into the 1990s. Stone was president of Hill & Stone Insurance in Highland Park and was active in village life, serving as clerk of the village board, a trustee and on the Plan Commission. He was also a founder of the Lake Forest Lake Bluff Rotary Club and held the club’s first meeting at the home.
The five members of the Historic Preservation Commission who attended the Jan. 11 meeting were uniformly against demolishing the house.
“When asking for the demolition of a house that’s landmarked, it’s not what we were created to do,” said Janet Nelson, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission.
“I would hate to see that house go down,” said commission member Janie Jerch. “To tear down that house to have more yard space . . . it’s a travesty.”
The landmark ordinance that was approved by the village in February 2001 requires the owner of a landmarked house engage in an “advisory review conference” with the village government. The Historic Preservation Commission can continue that conference up to 120 days. After that, the demolition application gets considered on its own merits by the village, said Village Manager Drew Irvin.
The Historic Preservation Commission voted to continue the advisory review conference until its February meeting.
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Brian Schmucker could not be reached for comment.
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