FALL 2021

Preserving the Recent Past

As friends of history and historic preservation, it’s probably safe to say that you, our readers, strongly support the creation of local historic districts and individual landmark designations. You recognize that historic districts and designations help define the sense of place that makes our community unique. Local ordinances are in place to protect architectural heritage. But the ordinances only go so far—unless they are treated a little bit like living, breathing things that need regular health checks.

Let’s look at the recent alterations to the BMO Harris Bank building in St. Charles as a case in point. The Central Historic District (CHD) was created in downtown St. Charles in 1995 and the BMO Harris Bank Building—that iconic mid-century gem right on the river across from the Municipal Building—was no longer a new kid on the block, but a familiar sight to locals. In 1995, however, it had yet to achieve historic significance for the purpose of the district survey and was labeled as “non-contributing.” Preservationists were fine with this. While visually iconic, the building hadn’t yet gained historic significance in its own right.

Fast forward to 2021. The BMO Harris Bank Building was suddenly 61 years old and garnered interest from mid-century architecture fans. Its prominent location right on the river further emphasized its significance. But the Central Historic District documentation still listed it as non-contributing.

By the time the developer who owns the building approached the city about significant renovations, it was too late to change the building’s contributing status to protect the exterior. The developer, who had so far taken good care of its buildings in St. Charles (the Arcada Theater and Morse Block right next to the BMO Harris building are recent examples), understandably fought back when the Historic Preservation Commission considered changing the significance status after their permit application was already under review. The result was that the developer was able to make the changes they wanted to make to the exterior. Preservationists were too late!

So: what can we do? We can revisit our local historic districts on a regular basis to ensure the significance of our more recent buildings are appropriately recorded.

Time changes our perspective and opinions (consider platform shoes of the seventies and “big hair” from the eighties). As our perspectives change, it is in our best interest to revisit policies and ordinances—not just in historic preservation—to ensure their relevance and application.

Local icons like R. Harold Zook’s Municipal Building in St. Charles and Batavia’s Campana Building have been long recognized as valuable historic resources. But what about mid-century or even more recent-past icons? In St. Charles, the discussion happened too late to save the BMO Harris Bank Building from significant alterations, but it doesn’t mean we can’t use that as an impetus to revisit our historic districts. Ever onward!

FALL 2019

Why is Historic Preservation Important?

Few deny the importance of history.  Famous scholars, artists, and historic figures as far back as Voltaire (and beyond) have remarked upon it. Winston Churchill famously stated, “History is written by the victors,” and Karl Marx was a little less glib about it: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”  Even those who aren’t fans of history generally understand, in grand terms at least, why it’s worth acknowledging. 

But what is recognized as “worth acknowledging?”  The American Revolution, the Black Plague, the fall of the Roman Empire, the breakup of Pangea?  Sure.  We all get those.  But what about the little things?  The tool marks left by a man, 150 years ago, cutting stone at a quarry?  The energy and artistry that went into building windows that have withstood hundreds of icy winters?

This is where historic preservation comes in.

Advocates against preservation have many arguing points: “You can’t tell me what to do with my building!” “I don’t need another level of bureaucratic oversight.” “I know what’s best for my building.” “My building isn’t associated with anybody famous, so it’s not worth saving.” “Historic structures aren’t energy efficient.” “Historic buildings are a maintenance nightmare! It’s more cost-effective to knock them down and replace them.”

We all must understand our place within history. We are each a very small portion of our world’s story, likely to be forgotten by most sooner than later. No one likes to think about that, but it’s a fact of life. What that means is that we are not owners of anything: we are stewards of all that we have. Someone will “own” our buildings after us if we don’t destroy them for the future. Having that mindset towards our historic structures is imperative; if we feel we have the right to do whatever we want to do with something that has been there before us and will be there long after we’re gone, we can do irreparable damage to our tangible history. Our window of impact on life is small—what will that impact be?

Historic preservation in our communities is a sort of insurance policy against the ownership mindset. An “owner” of a landmarked property has the peace of mind knowing that the improvements they make to that property are in keeping with the historic nature and character of the building. And they know that those changes will be preserved for the future, regardless of the number of subsequent “owners.” Historic preservation ordinances ensure that our historic structures, our tangible link to our shared heritage, are not lost as our cities grow and change.

So, what do we do? We must educate; talk to our neighbors, friends, children, grandchildren, and absolute strangers about stewardship. We need to change the conversation from individual ownership to stewardship. We need to continue to be vocal about the importance of historic preservation. And we need to remind our city councils to uphold our preservation ordinances.

In the immediate future, there’s one thing we can do: we can be vocal about the preservation of the Mill Race building in Geneva, the modest little stone building on State Street, along the river. There will be a series of design meetings for new development on that corner in the coming months. Having a group of organized, polite, passionate advocates for the preservation of that building show up for meetings and make their voices heard is essential. To keep up-to-date on the project email millracedevelopment@gmail.com to be included in email updates.

Historic preservation is important simply because it preserves for the future a record of our past. It goes beyond just you and me, us and them, to transcend generations. It is our insurance policy against the ownership mindset, against the short-sighted nature of humanity. What will our legacy be? What will we leave for our great-grandchildren? Historic preservation provides us with the means to leave something very special, something irreplaceable, for the future. It allows us to preserve our very identity for future generations to understand and learn from… and to build upon.

America In Bloom Symposium, St. Charles

Some of you may have heard about a national contest St. Charles has participated in over the last few years, hosted by an organization called America in Bloom (AIB).  AIB is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote nationwide beautification through education and community involvement by encouraging the use of flowers, plants, trees, and other environmental and lifestyle enhancements. These enhancements include parks, environmental efforts, the celebration of heritage, and more. 

After receiving top marks in the last few years, St. Charles was invited to host America in Bloom’s annual symposium here at Pheasant Run at the beginning of October.  The symposium drew hundreds of people from all over the U.S. to celebrate the country’s remarkable communities and included a walking tour of downtown St. Charles.  One of the stops on the tour was our very own Beith House!  Approximately 160 symposium attendees came through the house in about 2.5 hours to learn about our site, our mission, and our impact on the community.  The visitors were delightful and asked very insightful questions.  We are so very honored to have been included in this symposium and would like to thank the St. Charles America In Bloom committee for inviting us to participate!

Smashing Attendance Records at the Fabyan Estate

 2019 marked one of our busiest summers yet! The Villa saw 2500 visitors from May to October and the Japanese Garden had over 5700 individual guests.  We had well over 1000 visitors for private tours, double what we did last year! This means we saw a whopping 9,000 guests during our open season, over 1000 more than 2018.  These numbers are continuing to climb as the public gains notice of the Fabyan Villa and interest in the Fabyans’ legacy.

Different factors influenced these rising numbers. One of the biggest is public interest in the Fabyan Estate. Following the release of the book The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies by Jason Fagone, interest in Elizebeth Friedman has increased exponentially in the last two years. A number of local book clubs and special interest groups have read this novel and are interested in exploring the Fabyan estate where so much of the action occurred. In the last year, Fabyan has been featured in a radio interview, filming for a documentary, and a TV feature slot on WGN with Larry Potash.

Handling the sheer volume of visitors would not be possible without our volunteers. At Fabyan, our team of 22 volunteer docents have donated a fantastic 452 hours of public education. Our all-stars, Chip Tieche, Janet Zohorsky, and Sue Lichtenwalter, each spent over sixty hours! All of our volunteers show amazing dedication to local history, preservation, and education and we absolutely couldn’t do it without them.

Keep in touch to learn more!

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