The Hinsdale Historical Society is leading the effort to preserve the home and studio of noted Hinsdale architect R. Harold Zook at 327 S. Oak St., Hinsdale, Illinois, by relocating it to Katherine Legge Memorial Park, 5901 S. County Line Rd., Hinsdale.
The English Cotswold-style house was built in 1924 by Zook, who lived in it until his death in 1949. The house had two other owners, but remained largely originally intact.
In December 2004, it was sold to a local builder, who plans to tear it down and build a new house on the 100 x 234-foot corner lot, in a green, rolling area of Hinsdale with winding, tree-lined streets.
In January 2005, the Society initially approached the builder about saving the garage-studio, which the builder gave to the Society so long as it was moved by early May at the Society's expense.
The Society contacted the Village of Hinsdale for assistance in locating a suitable site for the building, which ultimately was determined to be KLM Park, where a well-known Zook-designed building, "The Lodge", already exists and is owned and managed by the Village's Parks & Recreation department.
At the same time, the Society aggressively pursued efforts to raise awareness about the plight of the Zook home, hoping to find someone interested in buying it from the builder to spare it from demolition, and attracting support for its plan to relocate the garage/studio.
In February, the Zook home was named on the 2005 "Ten Most Endangered Historic Places" list of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. A few days later, the home was featured on "Preservation Online", the Web site of the National Trust for Historic Places.
As news coverage, notices and word-of-mouth about the Zook house spread, a Hinsdale resident contacted the Society and contributed $200,000 toward moving the entire Zook house, garage-studio and distinctive backyard and driveway masonry walls. A few days later, another Hinsdale resident contributed an additional $200,000 for the same purpose.
Both residents wish to remain anonymous for now.
The builder-owner agreed to let the Society have the remaining structures, and a moving date of May 24 was agreed upon. Work began in early April to prepare the structures for the move.
The Society will use the contributions from the two anonymous donors and at least $50,000 of its own funds to move the Zook structures to KLM Park, place them on new foundations in a setting that resembles the original landscape, put them back together and otherwise secure and prepare them for extensive rehabilitation later.
The house, garage-studio and masonry walls, along with the Lodge complex, will form a "Zook campus" that will be available to the public for a variety of uses, including meetings, receptions, presentations, exhibits and temporary offices, as well as a repository for assorted Zook records and artifacts from the Society's collection and other sources.
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