830 North Green Bay Road

Award category:

Infill Award

Original architect:

David Adler

Year built:

1929-32

Restoration architect:

Adrian Smith 2017-present

Few private preservation efforts have had more impact on whole neighborhoods than has the recent work to return this 1930 David Adler-designed estate to its notable character of nearly a century ago. This over 4 acre site was the original 1830s “old home place” of the Atteridge farm, left out of the farm’s redevelopment plan by Shaw that created estates on the west side, running down to the Skokie River, and West Park with its neighborhood of smaller homes on the east side. By the late 1920s though, development was spreading on west Deerpath around the 1914 estate of Joseph and Jean Morton Cudahy, and they engaged David Adler a second time to create for them a new, down-sized “Innisfail II” across from West Park. The yellow limestone manor house and brick wall, both in the Normandy French manor house tradition, remained with the Cudahys until Mrs. Cudahy’s death in 1953. It was then owned by another down-sizer, Philip D. Armour III, who had sold Tangley Oaks in Lake bluff. By 1970 it was the home of Barbara and W. Clement Stone Jr., who renovated the house with the assistance of Chicago decorator Richard Himmel. Among the many modifications made during his tenure were the replacement of the divided light windows on much of the ground floor. He also excavated the property to locate a very large swimming pool fit for Olympic diving. But his most notable alteration was to the south elevation of the main house where he added a large stone and glass bay and moved the main entrance to the east courtyard from the south, adding a circular fountain and bayed entrance that exists today.

After many years of neglect, the property was purchased by Chicago-based international architect Adrian Smith and his family, and has been restored by them as a studio, garden, pool house, and entertainment setting. The beautiful north garden has been re-discovered, the work originally of Garden Club of America leader and president of the Morton Arboretum Jean Morton Cudahy with Ferruccio Vitale. The greenhouse and winter garden are whole once again. Flowers bloom on the parkway and the very private estate once again presents a cheerful visage to West Park, its neighbors, and to passers-by.