Repair Work Begins At Historic Woman's Club Of Wilmette Four Months After Fire
WILMETTE, Ill. (CBS) -- More than four months after fire ravaged the historic Woman's Club of Wilmette, work began Tuesday to repair it.
Woman's Club President Barbara Bischoff gasped as she watched the giant Heneghan wrecking crane lift the charred remnants of the club's 75-year-old Steinway grand piano out of the gutted auditorium area of the building, at 930 Greenleaf Av.,. and drop it into a dumpster.
"It's bittersweet," she said. "As you can well expect, the smell of (the fire) is in the air, but this is the beginning of getting the cleanup done and really being able to get in the building to see what it looks like and what needs to be done."
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Bischoff called it "exciting."
As the crane dumped ductwork from the old air conditioning system into a waiting dumpster, architect Tim Martin arrived, drawings in hand. He said his goal is to put a new roof into place and repair its windows by December, while planning continues on interior renovation.
The service club was founded in 1890; portions of the structure were built in 1912 and 1929. Martin grew up two blocks from the building, said he had "chills" when he first approached and feared it would not be restorable. He said the extensive use of concrete, particularly in the 1929 addition, made it salvageable.
Among those items that survived the fire are two bas relief sculptures commissioned for the club's 50th anniversary by artist and club member Jean Miner Coburn. The artist's granddaughter, Helen Coburn Meier, has funded preservation of the sculptures. Sculptor Eric Stephenson is creating bronze castings of the sculptures.
Through the years, the Woman's Club has been home base for many community groups and New Trier Extension classes and has hosted countless meetings, weddings, bar mitzvahs and business luncheons. Those have been relocated temporarily although Bischoff said she continues to get calls asking when the renovated facility will be ready. She said all will figure in determining how the space inside is reallocated.
