776-778 N. Green Bay Road

Across the street is the entrance to 776-778 N. Green Bay Road

Year of award:

2013

Award category:

Restoration

Original architect:

Howard Van Doren Shaw

Year built:

1910

Restoration architect:

Virgil McDowell

These were the gatehouses to the Walter Brewster estate of 1910. The main house was built on the site of the original 1837 Cole cabin owned by the parents of Mary Swanton/Atteridge who succeeded to the farm after them. Walter Brewster’s wife, Kate Lancaster Brewster, was founder of the Garden Club of Illinois (1912), a predecessor of the Lake Forest Garden Club; of the Garden Club of America (1913); of the Bulletin of the GCA, which she edited and funded; and founder and promoter of the LFGC's Foundations for Architecture and Landscape Architecture (1926-35). The house was sited by the Olmsted organization, west of the existing pond and looking west toward the Skokie River, with gatehouses sited east of the pond on Green Bay Road. Over the years significant changes ooccurred to to the gatehouses and in 1953 they were subdivided into two separate propert. In the 60's the garage was altered with two of the four garage door openings bricked up; the structure was converted to a residence. Significant changes were also made to the Gardener’s Cottage, including a two-story garage addition, a new entry vestibule and removal and replacement of all the original windows with large expanses of thermo-pane glass. The current owners have re-united the two properties, restored the window openings to their original proportions with new single-glazed true divided light windows and recreated much of Shaw’s original design, while also modifying later additions to make them sympathetic to the original.