Charles H. Wacker |
The next stop on our tour of the mansions of
Geneva Lake from the late 19th Century and early 20th
Century is a lovely Dutch Colonial that was built by Charles H. Wacker. If you have spent any time in the Chicago loop, you have probably heard of Wacker Drive. Wacker was a member, and later chairman, of the Chicago Plan Commission which
had a hand in making Chicago emerge into the well-organized and centralized
city that it is today.
Before becoming involved on the Plan Commission, Wacker
and his father established the malting firm, F. Wacker and Sons, which later
became Wacker and Birk Brewing Company. Just as busy Chicagoans today who work hard
all week seek respite at nearby Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on the weekends,
Wacker was no different back in the early 1890s when he purchased a large
property on the south shore of Geneva lake.
Fair Lawn as it Looked When First Built |
He commissioned Jens Jensen to
design a beautiful landscape to complement the home he was planning to build. A stickler for details, he bragged at one time that he
had inspected every single board before it was used to construct the home that
included Tuscan columns made of cypress wood, a wraparound porch and a central
spiral staircase that was topped with a Tiffany dome.
Wacker died at Fair Lawn a few days after the stock
market crash in 1929.
The home stayed in the Wacker family until it was sold in
1975 to the next-door neighbors, Chicago
television personality, Lee Phillip, and her husband, Bill Bell, one of the creators
and producers of the soap opera, The
Young and the Restless. They did not want to tear down the antique building,
which was the popular choice of many who purchased the old mansions back then. Instead, they used the home as a guest house. They only owned the home for five years
before they sold it to Chicago attorney Robert Cooney who assured them they
would restore the property and not tear it down. Cooney’s wife was a
professional interior designer and she was able to incorporate a lot of the
antiques the home still had in her designs. It is unclear of the home is still owned by the Cooney family.
Fair Lawn as It Appears Today |
The home still holds a commanding presence on the
shoreline and is occupied and enjoyed by the current family who lives
there. You can see it for yourself by walking the public path that circles the
lake at the shoreline or by taking an excursion boat ride that embarks daily
from the public docks in the town of Lake Geneva. I think Charles Wacker would
be very pleased to see how his home has endured and been preserved to be
enjoyed many years after he passed.
Credits:
Treasure at Fairlawn; Lisa Skolnik, Chicago Tribune, June 30, 2002
Charles Wacker and The Elegance of Fair Lawn, At The Lake Magazine, August 2015
Lake Geneva, Newport of the West, Ann Wolfmeyers & Betsy Gage, 1976
Photo of Fair Lawn in the past: Picturesque Photo Book of Lake Geneva, 1926
Photo of Fair Lawn today: LakeGenevaEstates.com
Having grown up in Elgin, I remember Lake Geneva well. I also remember Lee Phillips as a Chicago personality before her soap opera days. She was so pretty. She had a lunchtime show. ( she passed on the pretty genes to her daughter!)
ReplyDeleteI was also in an all 6th grade orchestra. I was First Violin.. The girl next to me was Linda Wacker! I remember her telling me about her relatives that were named for Wacker Drive in Chicago. I'm 68 now, so thanks for dredging up those memories. I am enjoying your bits of history of Lake Geneva. Our Church took youth groups there back in the late '60's. One of our members had a spot on the lake.
Paula, having grown up in Elgin you may be interested in the Elgin Club on Geneva Lake's north shore. It was called that because two men from Elgin initially bought the property and then subdivided it and sold the parcels to others from Elgin who built summer homes on their land. My hero in Surprised by Love in Lake Geneva (formerly called Love Finds You in Lake Geneva) lives at the Elgin Club and I've sprinkled some of that history into the storyline. It's set in 1933.
DeleteWalking the path to see Fair Lawn would be wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI lived at fair lawn 1976 to 1981 I miss it very much. I was just look I g at photos. Great memories do you have any pictures of the inside of the house?
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