For the past few weeks preservationists have been frantically working the phones, trying to raise the estimated $5 million it will take to buy the Farnsworth House at a December 12 auction. They say it’s one of the preservation movement’s finest hours, with hundreds of citizens signing up to protect one of Illinois’ most valued architectural jewels. “The support’s been encouraging,” says David Bahlman, executive director of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, one of the advocacy groups leading the fund-raising charge. “It shows people are committed to preservation.”
When it landmarks property the state generally restricts its use–Tree Studios, for instance, can’t be demolished to make way for a high-rise. That limits the amount of money an owner can make by selling a property, which has created lots of pressure from owners and developers to keep buildings off the register. According to an audit of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency by the state’s auditor general, “The agency has not added any new properties to the Illinois Register since 1989.” The agency is apparently planning to ask the General Assembly to abolish the register, so that Illinois can officially get out of the business of landmarking valuable buildings and property.
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But again the agency overturned the council’s recommendation, effectively giving the university the green light to destroy the neighborhood. The area’s now home to an innocuous collection of brick condos and apartment complexes. Two of the members of the agency’s oversight board were Julie Cellini and Carol Stein, whose husbands, William Cellini and Richard Stein, were developers working with the university on the expansion project, but agency officials have repeatedly insisted that neither the Cellinis nor the Steins had any hand in blocking the designation.
“Here’s what happened,” says one insider. “Jim Ryan was mad at George Ryan because he, Jim, felt that George had undercut his race for governor. All of a sudden Jim announced that he was going to review all of George’s major real estate expenditures.”
Out of deference to Palumbo, says the insider, the group decided not to seek landmark status: “Listen, Peter did a great job as steward–he stayed with this deal through all the delays. He deserves some consideration.” Many preservationists believe an underlying motive was a reluctance to encourage the state to interfere with the rights of a property owner.
