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Fox River Country Day
School
1600 Dundee Ave., Elgin
(Kane County)
In a picturesque setting near the Fox River, this
beautiful wooded campus is an important natural
landscape that contains several significant buildings by
noted Prairie School architect John S. Van Bergen. The
low-slung buildings, with their stucco, stone and tile
details, fit organically into Van Bergen’s landscape
design. The school
was founded in Michigan in 1913 and relocated to the
present site in 1923 as the Chicago Junior School.
Forced to close its doors in 2011 due to declining
enrollment, the property is currently for sale and
bank-owned. Although its 53 acres present a prime
development opportunity, the beauty and integrity of the
school buildings and surrounding property are a rare
extant example of the country school campus. The school
deserves protection and careful planning for the future.
The campus has been designated as an Illinois Natural
Heritage Landmark in recognition of its importance as a
conserved environmental area. The varied landscape
includes forest, hillside, open grassland, natural
springs and a wetland and is interspersed with hiking
trails and bucolic vistas. The Chicago Junior School,
originally a boys boarding school, purchased the
property in 1923. The school retained a few agrarian
buildings, including the centrally located grain silo.
The first school building by Rapp & Rapp is no longer
extant. The second building, built in 1928 and designed
by Prairie School architect John S. Van Bergen, set the
architectural tone for the campus. Drawing on his work
at Braeside School in Highland Park, Van Bergen designed
a multi-functional school building that is expertly
integrated into the landscape. The central two-story
section is flanked on either side by long, low wings
that embrace the sloping hillside. His generous use
of native limestone enhances the horizontality of the
structure. Van Bergen also employed his signature square
terra-cotta tiles, textured stucco siding and low,
hipped rooflines. Twenty years later he designed a
dining hall in a similar style. In the intervening years
his work on the campus included a log field house and a
remodeling of the original dining hall. Van Bergen’s
aesthetic was ideally suited to the pastoral nature of
the campus.
Declining enrollment and the economic downturn caused
the school to enter into bankruptcy. The property is
currently in foreclosure, for sale and vulnerable to
demolition and division for new development. It is
important to raise the profile of this idyllic campus in
order to retain its natural features and its beautiful architecture.
What You Can Do
For more information on the property, contact
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