Vintage Evanston House To Be Relocated To New Spot
(CBS) -- A house designed by a Frank Lloyd Wright associate that at several points was days away from being torn down will be moved from a supermarket parking lot to its new home in northwest Evanston Thursday.
The move of the 1928-vintage, John Van Bergen-designed Irving House will begin at 6 a.m. and will go south on Green Bay Road, west on Central Street, and then north on Crawford Avenue to its new home.
Architect Christopher Enck, a historical preservationist, bought the home for $10 last year, climaxing more than two years of uncertainty about the home's future. He said Wednesday he has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in moving the house. It is being moved in three pieces.
Enck said the nearly five months in pieces in the lot of the former Dominick's at 2748 Green Bay Rd., in Evanston, has not done much to harm it. Giant blue tarps placed over the openings to each section has helped minimize the damage, he said.
He said once completed, the restoration of the house will be "mostly Van Bergen," with updated kitchen and bathrooms.
The route the house will travel is a tow zone until the house has passed, and the CTA is rerouting its 201/Central and 206/Evanston Circulator bus routes. Enck said that by starting at 6 a.m., they hope to be clear of the north Evanston Central Street business district by 7 a.m.
The home will travel at a speed of one mile an hour. The route is far from direct, but it affords wide streets with a minimum of obstructions.
One home has been built and the walls of a second new house are already going up at the former site of the Irving House, at 1318 Isabella St., in Wilmette.