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Stephen J. Beggs House
296 Elm St., Elmhurst
Built 1910
In early May 2002, the
Stephen J. Beggs House in
Elmhurst, was demolished
after a local developer
purchased the lot it sat on
for $460,000.
After subdividing the 100' x
400' lot into two parcels,
the builder tore down the
Griffin-designed house.
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He then advertised plans to sell each lot-complete with a new house-for
$625,000 apiece. The demolished residence had been built in 1910 for an
officer with a patent medicine company. Known as one of America's
preeminent Prairie School architects, Griffin designed more than 50
buildings in the Chicago area before moving to Australia in 1914, when he
won the competition to design the capital city of Canberra.
Elmhurst has no local landmarks ordinance, even though it has two other
Griffin-designed houses, buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der
Rohe, and numerous Victorian-era structures. A draft ordinance was
prepared about five years ago, one local resident notes, "but it didn't go
anywhere." Meanwhile, the number of teardowns continue to mount-from 23 in
1995 to 105 in 2000. Elmhurst (pop. 45,000) is located 15 miles west of
Chicago's Loop.
Ironically, city officials thought they had saved the Beggs House in the
early-1990s, when they approved a lot subdivision that created a rear lot
with a narrow driveway that ran along one property line. Those owners
never followed through, however, and this solution was not pursued by the
new owner-developer who tore down the historic residence.
According to the Walter Burley Griffin Society of America, which is based
in St. Louis, this was the first Griffin house to be demolished in the
U.S. since 1974. But, unfortunately, another one is expected to follow
shortly. Check Chicagoland Watch List, J.S. Marsh House, Winnetka for more
information.
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