Artists Book House will no longer occupy Evanston’s Harley Clarke Mansion, operators told city council members this month after failing to meet fundraising goals and talks ended with Jens Jensen Gardens, a local organization focused on restoring gardens.
The organization devoted to creating books and giving authors, readers and artists a space to create was offered a 40-year contract for the building in May 2021 but struggled to meet fundraising goals outlined in the contract. This past fall, Artist Book House Founder Audrey Niffenegger asked the City Council to reconsider the group’s fundraising obligations due to struggles brought forth by the pandemic, noting that people have limited funds to donate to organizations like The Artists Book House — especially when health-focused organizations need funding.
Artists Book House originally planned to sublease the mansion’s coach house to Jens Jensen Gardens, operated by Charles Smith. When discussing the lease, a disagreement between Artists Book House and Jens Jensen Gardens eventually led to the city’s Administration and Public Works Committee getting involved, despite the two organizations being asked to independently draw up leases in October.
The committee decided to take the issue into mediation with an independent third party after Corporation Counsel Nicholas Cummings said the city’s involvement has not been effective when working with the organizations in the past.
Niffenegger, at the Jan. 9 Administration and Public Works Committee meeting, said she tried to come up with an agreement with Jens Jensen Gardens but failed. She said she also offered Smith a spot on the Artists Book House board but he turned it down.
Smith said there was conflict in the lease negotiation processes, alleging that Artist Book House initially changed the contract to a license from a lease before finally saying it was a nonexclusive lease. He also said that Artists Book House wanted to reserve control and make changes in the landscape, which could alter the historic gardens that Jens Jensen Gardens works to preserve.
It has since been agreed upon that Jens Jensen Gardens could explore entering a direct lease with the city for a portion of the grounds.
Once the committee agreed the conflict should go to mediation, Councilmember Claire Kelly said the preference was for Jens Jensen Gardens to have a part of the land, despite Artist Book House’s wishes.
“Removing Jens Jensen Gardens from the project benefits no one,” Community Alliance for Better Government, an organization advocating for governmental transparency and equity, wrote in a call to action email. “Smith’s work has brought together hundreds of Evanston residents, Northwestern students and members of local garden clubs to volunteer with this effort, which has a solid donor support base.”
Smith said there is too much effort to see the site as all encompassing instead of the building and land as separate entities.
“That doesn’t make sense because historically that never happened,” Smith said. “The only thing that would be served by keeping that whole space a big bundle would be if you wanted to do some kind of large scale development there, which the neighborhood is totally opposed to.”
Speaking at the Jan. 23 Administration and Public Works meeting, Smith said the organization considers those who have donated to the grounds as investors who expect a return on their investment.
“You don’t build a landscape and then look back and walk away and go ‘wow that’s nice.’ A landscape is very dynamic and takes a long time to evolve,” he said. “All we ask is that you help us to not disappoint our investors.”
Vice President of Jens Jensen Gardens Bill Brown encouraged the board to approve the lease between the city and Jens Jensen Gardens for the grounds saying that the next mansion tenant wouldn’t have the burden of gathering funds for the grounds.
Councilmember Jonathan Nieuwsma was hesitant to move forward with a lease considering it has only been a few weeks since Artist Book House left the property, saying the bigger picture is that the council is responsible for the lot as a whole and the mansion is the more economically impactful part of the land.
“I don’t want to preclude a potential future participant in this project from bidding on the project or participating in one way shape or form by forcing them to work with a partner that already exists,” he said. “If, in the end, it works out to work with Jens Jensen, that would please me greatly but I don’t think it’s appropriate to jump to that conclusion this evening.”
The history of Harley-Clarke Mansion’s neighborhood impact stretches back to 2018 when residents voted in favor of a referendum preserving the mansion and its land as public property.
Other committee members, such as Councilmember Krissie Harris, said this wouldn’t be a true mediation if the committee is telling the parties what the end result should be, however, Kelly said the mediation would be used to determine the perimeters and other specifics. She also said the mediation doesn’t have to follow the committee’s wishes, but at least it would be documented what the “will of the committee” is.
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Niffenegger informed the city that Artists Book House will no longer occupy the Harley Clarke Mansion three days after the Jan. 9 Administration and Public Works Committee meeting. The lease with Artist Book House has not been formally terminated but Councilmember Eleanor Revelle said it is in the works.
The Administration and Public Works Committee voted for staff to continue negotiations with Jens Jensen and come back with a finalized lease for the Feb. 13 meeting.
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.