Glanworth Gardens – Historical Beauty Restored and Revisited

 by Pamela S. Meyers

Wadsworth Hall in 1906 when it was built.

I was raised in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a small town in southeastern Wisconsin that sits next to beautiful spring-fed Geneva Lake. Back in October of 1871, the Great Chicago Fire displaced a lot of people—rich and poor alike. Many of the rich moved their families to the virgin shores of Geneva Lake and built large mansions for their families to live in while the city was being rebuilt. It didn’t take long for other wealthy bankers and industrialists to hear about the pristine lake and its shoreline that could be had for a “song.” 

Today, many of those 19th Century homes have either burned down or been torn down to be replaced by something more modern. Those that remain and are restored to their original design offer a peek into the lifestyles of the rich and famous of another era. 

Back in 2015, I wrote a blog post here about Wadsworth Hall (now named Glanworth Gardens), a beautiful mansion that closely resembles Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Recently, the home's most recent owner, Richard Driehaus, founder, and chairman of Driehaus Capital Management, passed away, and I thought this beautiful estate deserved to be revisited 

  Glanworth Gardens Today

Resource: At The Lake Magazine

 At The Lake Magazine's editor, Anne Morrisey, penned a feature article on Glanworth Gardens in its May 2018, issue and much of what I share here has been gleaned from her detailed report. 

The estate was commissioned and built in 1906, by Norman Wait Harris, founder of what is now known as BMO Harris Bank. Thirteen years later, after the passing of both Mr. and Mrs. Harris, their daughter, Pearl, sold the property to Walden W. Shaw, co-founder of Chicago’s Yellow Cab Company. 

View of Glanworth from a boat

(Note the people walking the lakeshore path, which

is open access to the public all around the lake.)

Photo by Pamela Meyers

Shaw changed the name of the estate to The Stenning after his grandfather’s
home in Great Britain. He eventually relocated to California and his daughter, Bessie, and her husband, Daniel Peterkin, Jr. an executive at Morton Salt, moved into the estate. After Bessie passed away, Daniel remarried and eventually willed the estate to his second wife, Dorothy. By then, costs to keep up the large home were overwhelming and not always attended to as they should be. The exterior of the home has remained the same all these years, but the interior suffered from the effects of wear and tear. 

Looking at the side portico with the lake in the background

Source: At The Lake Magazine

When Dorothy died in 1997, the property was put on the market and Mr. Driehaus, appreciating the mansion's “good bones,” purchased it. Acquiring the home satisfied his desire for a summer home for his family. He spent two years bringing the interior back to its former glory, often flying up to Lake Geneva from Chicago on a helicopter to inspect the ongoing work and make decisions. 

Interior Photos

Resource At The Lake Magazine

After the work was complete, he hosted a New Year’s Eve party to celebrate-- the first of many parties he would have there. In recent years, on his July 27th birthday, he would host a large themed party, complete with a celebrity performer. The evening always included a firework display that the public could also enjoy, from boats, piers, and land. 

Entrance to the Estate from Snake Road

Photo Resource: LizzyFay.com

Driehaus passed away on March 9, 2021, and on July 24, 2021, his family held a party in his memory that included the firework display he so enjoyed. Many boats gathered in the waters around the estate, while others watched from piers and the shoreline. It’s unknown if the firework display will continue in the coming years, but whether it does or not, Mr. Driehaus has left his mark, not only by restoring his beautiful home but also by his many philanthropic donations to the city, including a fountain that now sits in front of the Riviera boat landing and ballroom. 

Resources: 

At the Lake Magazine; July 2018, Morrisey and reprinted in the Summer 2021   edition. 

Newport of the West, 1976, Wadsworth Hall, p. 54-56, Ann Wolfmeyer & Mary   Burns Gage

Entrance to Estate Photo: How to Plan a Perfect Lake Geneva Getaway,   www.lizzyfay.com

Pamela S. Meyers lives in northern Illinois with her two rescue cats, but her heart will always remain in her hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where she can often be found nosing around for new story ideas. She writes historical romances set right there and you can read about them at www.pamelasmeyers.com.

Villa Patina - A Home Whose Gardens Became Legendary

By Pamela S. Meyers

The October stop on our tour of the late 19^th/early 20^th Century homes on the shores of Geneva Lake in southeastern Wisconsin is Villa Palatina, a bit of a distance along the shore from our last stop. We had to pass by several of the many camps that sprouted up at the same time the shoreline began to be populated by private mansions.

The home was built in 1893 by George Weiss. The land itself before then was called Forest Glen Park which included a public resort with a hotel, cottages and camping facilities. The property included a pretty stream that originated from a spring. The stream flowed down to the shore and fed into the lake. (Geneva Lake is fed by several springs at the west end of the lake). When Weiss purchased a portion of the resort property, he chose the part that included the stream. The camp buildings were sold off and moved elsewhere. Weiss improved the gardens around the stream, but his future plans for the property were cut short when he became ill and had to sell the property to Edward G. Uihlein, whose family owned the Schlitz Brewing Company in Milwaukee. The brewery had established a location in Chicago and E.G. Uihlein was assigned to oversee that operation. Geneva Lake sits almost halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, making the lake property a good place for the Uihlein extended family to gather.

Uihlein's Gardens

Uihlein, who changed the name of the estate to Forest Glen, focused a great deal on the land around the stream, developing it even more than Weiss had done. He hired landscape architect, Jens Jensen, to design the property which included rustic dams and bridges. He brought in plants and trees that were not usually seen in the area, along with those which were indigenous to Wisconsin. Once completed, he invited the public to come and enjoy his park-like setting. Many residents from the nearby village of Fontana took advantage of his offer, which continued for several decades.

Uihlein died in 1921 and a year later the home burned to the ground and nothing of value was salvaged. A short time later the property was sold to a developer who subdivided the land and called it The Gardens. Today when you

drive along Lake Shore Drive between Fontana and Williams Bay, you pass through the area known as the upper and lower gardens. If you Google Lower Gardens, Fontana WI, you can see the modest homes (by comparison to many of the much larger homes on the lakeshore) that are currently for sale.

Home of Herman Uihlein in Whitefish Bay, WI

On a personal note, I’ve been aware of the Uihlein family for years because of their presence in Milwaukee.  Some of the magnificent homes that other Uihlein family members built at the same time as the Geneva Lake mansion, have been destroyed, but one still stands in Whitefish Bay, WI, a Milwaukee suburb. It also faces a lake—Lake Michigan.

Next month we'll move over to the south shore of the lake and visit the Oaks.

Resource: Lake Geneva; Newport of the West, 1976; Wolfmeyer & Gage

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Love is All We Need (the sequel to Thyme for Love) will release soon, and Second Chance Love from Bling!, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, will release in January 2017. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.

A Man’s Home Is His Castle…At Least for This Man

By Pamela S. Meyers

It's time for another stop on our tour of the mansions of old along the shores of Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. So many beautiful 19^th century homes were built on the shoreline, many of which were either destroyed by fire or have been victims of “teardowns." Situated only a couple hours train ride from Chicago, most of the homes were vacation homes for the movers and shakers of the city during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. And even today, you will recognize many family names from the list of current owners.

While I was growing up in the town of Lake Geneva, I never heard of E.B. Meatyard, although he was a very influential man during his time. Also known as Major Meatyard, a designation that harkened back to his serving in the Civil War with the 27^th Illinois unit, Meatyard aggressively bought available land, up to approximately 730 acres. One plot included property along Geneva Lake’s south shore up to Cedar Point, and running north of the lake, across what became known as Highway 50, to a much smaller body of water called Lake Como. He also purchased 240 acres near Walworth, WI, which is located a few miles off shore at the west end of the lake. Meatyard also held land in Shipman, Illinois where a large mine was located.

 

19th Century yachts meeting the train at Wms. Bay.

E.B. Meatyard was mostly known for being an inventor of sorts, holding many patents on ideas for improving the design of railroad cars. His interest in railroading carried over to his being instrumental in getting the train track that ran from Chicago to Lake Geneva, five miles to the east, extended to Williams Bay, the small village located on the bay of the same name. With the train depot located directly across the road from the lake, the inlet provided a perfect location for the lakeshore residents to meet their private yachts after deboarding the train from Chicago. In the postcard pictured here, Meatyard's property included most of the land on the east shore of the bay, which is in the background. That land today is Cedar Point Park subdivision.

Meatyard's home design was unique thanks to its castle-like “topper” on the roof, which earned it the term “castellated villa.” The descriptive term was well known in the 19^th century because many large homes were being built to look like castles. However, Meatyard preferred the more refined title of Lawn Glen for his dream home. In the picture, you can see how a castle-like design was applied to the top floor, while the rest of the home appears to be of a more traditional design. Stories also circulated that a moat circled the home, but in this picture there doesn’t appear to be one.

Sadly, his days of enjoying the fruits of his labors didn't last. His Shipman IL mines never made a profit and before long, they were closed down. Meatyard was forced into bankruptcy and his Wisconsin properties were sold off to pay the mine's bills. He died penniless within a year.

The expansive property was then divided up between several purchasers. The purchaser Meatyard's Lawn Glen didn’t share the same taste in home design with Meatyard and built his own residence on the western end of the property, calling it Alpine Villa. He assigned the “castle” to his property superintendent. The “castle” burned down two years later and it isn't known where the employee lived after that.

Some years later, the the plots of land that once made up the entire Meatyard estate were once again brought back together to form the Cedar Point Park subdivision that occupies the whole eastern shore of Williams Bay. It remains today a very desirable place to live with homes that are individual and updated, some directly on the lake and others sharing a green space that opens out to the lakeshore. 

If you take one of the excursion boat tours you will hear the announcer mention a home once owned by the Schwinn family (think bicycles). Along with the name Cedar Point Park, you can enjoy knowing about the original owner of the property who once built a castellated villa there. And maybe it really did have a moat. After all, a story has been handed down that while excavating for a new building on the property an old foundation was uncovered that appeared to have a moat around it. 

Have you ever seen a castellated home? 

Resource: Lake Geneva, Newport of the West, Volume 1; Ann Wolfmeyer & Betsy Burns Gage.

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, which has recently been rereleased on Amazon and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Her newest novel, Second Chance Love, is scheduled to release January 2017. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.