INTRODUCTION TO THE FABYAN ESTATE—RIVERBANK
In 1905, Colonel George and Nelle Fabyan purchased a an L-shaped farmhouse built in the 1870s or 1880s on a ten-acre plot about one mile south of downtown Geneva, Illinois. This “villa” was to be a vacation retreat from their home on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.
Two years later, in 1907, the Colonel’s father passed away and the Fabyans inherited a reported $10M (over $300M today). Later that year, the Fabyans hired architect Frank Lloyd Wright to enlarge and remodel the farmhouse into a modern home. Wright transformed the L-shaped farmhouse into a cruciform shape adding his signature Prairie Style with earth tone colors, extended eaves, verandas, geometric-shaped windows, and built-in furniture.
Soon thereafter, the Fabyans chose to make Geneva their permanent home and eventually amassed a 300-plus acre estate straddling the Fox River they named “Riverbank.” Riverbank soon became a lavish and bustling estate complete with farms, fountains, gardens, a Roman-style swimming pool, a Dutch-style windmill, a private zoo, a working lighthouse, a boathouse, greenhouses, tennis courts, laboratories, and more employing as many as 100 employees. The Fabyans pursued varied interests on their estate, including horticulture, animal husbandry, diplomacy, and scientific research.
After the Fabyans passed way—the Colonel in 1936 and Nelle in 1939—the contents of their home and their land were sold at auction since they had no children or heirs. The Forest Preserve District of Kane County purchased approximately 235 acres of Riverbank creating the Fabyan Forest Preserve. The Fabyans’ Villa then served as living quarters for park rangers on the second floor and as a natural history museum on the first floor.
In the 1980s, the Villa was transformed into a house museum, as it is today, to tell the uniquely fascinating story of the Fabyans and highlight the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1995, the Forest Preserve District of Kane County contracted with us, Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley, to operate the Fabyan Villa Museum, a collaboration that exists to this day.
