The large house atop a low rise on Monee Road in Park Forest was finally demolished last week. All that remains of the once majestic home are heaps of broken bricks and construction rubble. A large excavator used to demolish what was left of the building now hovers over the wreckage, appearing to these eyes as if it were a sentry steadfastly guarding a treasure trove of debris.
We told the cheerless story before; of how this was once the home of village founder Philip Klutznick and his large family; of how it stood for more than 70 years overlooking the village he helped create from 1,800 acres of farmland and an underused golf course; of how, when light streamed through its floor to ceiling picture windows and large chandeliers reflected these beams it created what seemed to be a glistening crown for a regal residence.
We wrote of its sudden death and of how four suspicious fires destroyed all memory of its brilliance within six weeks from Nov. 19, 2019 to Jan. 2, 2020. The six bedrooms on the east side of the house went first. A second blaze took out much of the west end of the building. The third fire engulfed what was left of the center and a fourth conflagration completed its destruction.
We stated that the death of house at 33 Monee Road was as methodical as a malignant cancer. We discussed the strange story of the Parr family, who owned the house since 2014. We delved into their financial affairs, including a million dollar judgment against them for not paying guards working for security firms they operated. When the fires started the family was nowhere to be seen and although the State Fire Marshal’s Office has an ongoing investigation into the fires it is still just that, an investigation.
Perhaps the only other thing worth mentioning is that Park Forest used a small portion of a $250,000 grant from the Illinois Housing Development Authority to pay for the demolition under the village’s abandoned property program.
Out of respect for what once was, and barring any further developments, we will say no more about what was once the big house on the hill.
We begin again
There will come a day when everything old will seem new again; when what we lost in the last 20 months of the pandemic may again be taken for granted and what we could not or would not do in our lockdowns can then be filed away in personal memory banks.
Among the more important links we lost was any connection to the arts. Music was unheard, the stage was silent and art was unseen. Without these therapies of the spirit we seemed to be living in the unlit corners of life.
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Yet we soldiered on. Face coverings became part of our everyday wardrobe. We got “vaxxed.” We bumped elbows. Our temperatures were taken from a safe distance. We hunkered down and we waited for the day when live music, drama and all forms of art could be heard, seen or touched.
We are still not in a “back to normal” time, but this Wednesday, the local art scene, in almost all its forms, will be on display as part of Main Street Nights, the annual summer series of free concerts held on Park Forest’s Village Green. That is when, at 6:30 p.m., Southland Arts, an association of arts organizations in the south suburbs, will offer audiences samples of their artistic wares in an effort to remind us of what is available to the eye and the ear.
Then stick around to hear the marvelous sounds of the Southland Jazz Ensemble featuring Ava Logan as they take to the outdoor stage for a solid hour of music making.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.