The City of Geneva landmarked the 1899 Henry Bond Fargo House, also known as Elizabeth Place, at 316 Elizabeth Place in 2006. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Henry Bond Fargo was a prominent real estate broker in Geneva. He served as Geneva's mayor (1903-1904 and 1907-1910) and as an Illinois State Representative (1912-1914). Fargo was responsible for attracting many industries to Geneva from the 1890s until his death in 1932.
One example of Fargo’s influence is his connection to the Elburn Forest Preserve. In 1928 he bought the land that would become the preserve to develop it as a tourist site and campground on the new Lincoln Highway. When he learned the Forest Preserve District of Kane County was interested in it, he instead sold it to them for the price he paid for it.
Fargo's impressive mansion on a bluff above the Fox River just south of Geneva is approximately 10,000 sq. ft. Its Mission Style architecture is notable because very few of this style was built in the Fox Valley, most being Italiante or Romanesque in the late 1890s. Owners Gerard Keating, a former president of Preservation Partners, and his wife Janet applied for the landmark in 2006 which was granted by the city.
Remarkably, the house is currently on the market! The 125-year-old historic 1.6-acre property, 5 bed, 5.5 bath, house, and coach house is on sale for $2 million. See the listing here.
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SOURCES: "Elizabeth Place," National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service, April 2, 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20140109183414/http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/164668.pdf; "County Takes Option on 90 Acre Wooded Tract Near Elburn," Geneva Republican, August 13, 1928; "Landmark Challenge for 2007," Advocate (Winter/Spring 2007): 1; Bob Goldsborough, "Geneva Mansion on National Register of Historic Places Listed for $2.3M," Chicago Tribune, July 30, 2024, https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/07/29/geneva-mansion-on-national-register-of-historic-places-listed-for-2-3m/.