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Author Audrey Niffenegger and others had hoped they could write a new chapter for Evanston’s stately lakefront Harley Clarke Mansion but they ultimately found out that in reality happy ending are few and far between.

Now the future of the historic mansion is up in the air as the city works alongside nonprofit historical preservation organization Landmarks Illinois to find interested parties looking to rehab the building for the community.

Evanston's stately Harley Clarke Mansion is currently unoccupied. A non profit group called Artists Book House moved out earlier this year because they couldn't raise the millions of dollars needed to rehab the 96-year-old building.
Evanston’s stately Harley Clarke Mansion is currently unoccupied. A non profit group called Artists Book House moved out earlier this year because they couldn’t raise the millions of dollars needed to rehab the 96-year-old building.

Niffenegger is co-founder of a group called the Artists Book House that was given a long-term lease on the mansion by the city in 2019, and then spent three years making small repairs while trying raise millions of dollars to do a major rehab on the 96-year old building.

The nonprofit group worked with an architect in the hope it could convert the lakefront mansion into a vibrant space where it could offer papermaking classes, writing workshops, open a gallery and a cafe while also promoting literary arts, writing and publishing.

But raising millions of dollars during and after the COVID-19 pandemic was a near impossible challenge, said Niffenegger, best selling author of “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” “Her Fearful Symmetry” and “Raven Girl.”

She also said that without significant funding Artists Book House had no choice but to withdraw from their 40-year lease, packed up and leave the building earlier this year. The mansion is currently unoccupied.

“We were crushed,” she said. “The thing that stymied us was we just couldn’t raise money fast enough.”

Niffenegger said her biggest worry is the city would tear the home down.

“I hope someone will come along with deep pockets who can make the Harley Clarke mansion a real treasure and resource for Evanston, which is what we hoped to do,” she said. “We were just too young of an organization.”

The city has been trying to find a tenant for the stately mansion at 2603 Sheridan Road since the Evanston Arts Center moved out more than a decade ago, said Lara Biggs, bureau chief and capital planning engineer with the city. She said the Artists Book House signed a lease with the city in 2019 and that the city allowed the group to withdraw from the lease last year after it failed to reach a fundraising benchmark of $2 million. It is estimated it will cost $5 to $8 million to totally rehab the building.

“Right now, I think there’s a bit of a pause while the city tries to figure out the best path forward on Harley Clarke,” Biggs said. “Obviously it has a long history and it’s a complex property.”

Construction of the three-story, 16-room, 18,500 square foot limestone mansion was completed in 1928, according to the Landmark Illinois website. It has seven bedrooms, a spacious glass conservatory, ballroom, basement rumpus room, lake views, a spacious coach house, six towering chimneys and a curving stair hall.

The interior of Evanston's stately lakefront Harley Clarke Mansion needs a lot of work and it also needs millions of dollars in other repairs. The city is trying to decide what to do with the building, which is currently unoccupied.
The interior of Evanston’s stately lakefront Harley Clarke Mansion needs a lot of work and it also needs millions of dollars in other repairs. The city is trying to decide what to do with the building, which is currently unoccupied.

The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2016, Landmarks Illinois added it to its list of most endangered historic places in Illinois. It sits on 2.5 acres of lakefront land set back from Sheridan Road behind Evanston’s popular Lighthouse beach and adjacent to Lighthouse Park. The historic English Tudor mansion was purchased by Evanston from the Sigma Chi National Fraternity in 1965.

The grounds include a hemlock-shaded pond with a small waterfall, a council ring, terraces and pathways and some of the original plantings. The mansion has seven bedrooms, a glass conservatory, ballroom, basement rumpus room as well as six towering chimneys and a curving stair hall.

It was home to the Evanston Arts Center for years and after that group moved out the Illinois Department of Natural Resources expressed interest in taking it over. In 2013 the city rejected a proposal to turn the building into a luxury hotel.

“What was being proposed by the Artists Book House was something that a lot of people really supported,” Biggs said. “It’s sad to see it happen but a lot has happened to this community and to the country in the last three years. It’s said to see it on hold because it is such a beautiful property.”

The city and Landmarks Illinois announced the search for rehab partners in September, according to the city’s website.

“The city believes that a rehabilitation model that capitalizes on the property’s unique setting, significant grounds, and irreplaceable physical characteristics has the potential to create a one of a kind amenity while catalyzing long term and community wide economic, social, and cultural benefits for the city and its residents,” read the website for the request for interest by the city.

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Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.