The property would be the first Wright-designed home to be destroyed in over a decade
A cottage designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright is on track for a date with the wrecking ball in suburban Glencoe, Illinois. The property’s new owners, who bought the property just weeks ago for $555,000, filed a permit application to tear down the 1913 structure, Landmarks Illinois announced in an online alert on Wednesday.
According to the nonprofit advocacy group, the demolition application is currently incomplete. When finished, it will start a 180-day delay period triggered by the home’s “honorary landmark” status with the Village—a designation that carries no legal protection against demolition.
Known as the Booth Cottage, the modest 1,700-square-foot residence first served as temporary housing for Wright’s attorney Sherman Booth while the architect completed the larger—and more famous—Booth House nearby.
The property’s dated interior and large, desirable lot make it especially vulnerable to demolition. Earlier this month, Landmarks Illinois named the Booth Cottage to its list of the state’s most endangered architectural sites.
If torn down, the Booth Cottage would be the first Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home to be destroyed since the W.S. Carr House in Grand Beach, Michigan, met its demise in 2004. The most recent loss of a non-residential Wright building occurred last year with the demolition of the Lockridge Medical Center in Whitefish, Montana.
Landmarks Illinois vows to continue working with the Village of Glencoe, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, and local advocates to save the historic North Shore cottage. One solution could include relocation. The home already experienced a similar move when it was relocated from the Ravine Bluffs subdivision to its current location at 239 Franklin Road.
