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Update
December 2012: Community fundraising efforts to
save artist Alfonso Iannelli’s home and studio from
demolition have earned the city of Park Ridge a 2012
Governor’s Hometown Award.
Read more.
December, 2011: Landmarks Illinois was able to
provide a follow-up technical assistance report for this
site with a grant from the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency.
Click here for report.
July, 2011:
The Kalo Foundation has signed an agreement to purchase the former Iannelli Home and Studio. Read the
Press Release.
Iannelli Home and
Studio
225 N.
Northwest Hwy., Park Ridge
(Cook County)
This pair of late-19th and early-20th century buildings
were the home and studio of famed sculptor Alfonso
Iannelli (1888-1965) for more than 40 years. They are
now for sale and vulnerable to demolition if purchased
by an unsympathetic buyer. At this location, Iannelli
produced innovative sculptures in collaboration with
such architects as Barry Byrne, Purcell & Elmslie, and
Frank Lloyd Wright. The locally based Kalo Foundation
has taken on an advocacy and fundraising campaign to
save the property for what it hopes could be an
Iannelli Studio Heritage Center.
Iannelli and his artist wife Margaret bought the home and former
blacksmith shop in 1919, establishing one of the
region’s most famous—and successful—commercial art
firms. The studio was “the place where Chicago’s
creative architecture found its art,” according to
historian Tim Samuelson, who says the site is integral
to the design roots of American Modernism. In addition
to his work as a sculptor of ornament for many Prairie
School-designed buildings, Iannelli and his studio
assistants, which included Ruth Blackwell, Bruce Goff,
and Edgar Miller, produced a wide range of other
designs, including advertising, architectural interiors,
and industrial products.
In February 2010, the city’s Planning and Zoning
Commission denied a developer’s petition for a zoning
change to build four townhouses on the site. However,
other potential buyers remain interested in clearing the
site for new development. Also in February, the Park
Ridge Historic Preservation Commission voted to
recommend local landmark designation of the property,
but the City Council can not act on that recommendation
without the owner’s consent.
The Kalo Foundation has been offered a challenge grant
to help purchase the pair of threatened buildings. The
anonymous donor has proposed donating up to $200,000—at
a rate of $1 for every $2 that the nonprofit Kalo
Foundation raises. Meanwhile, the Kalo Foundation risks
the inability of raising the funds needed before another
buyer purchases the property.
Additional Links
Press Links
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