Where's the house? The Harley Clarke Mansion - 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois
Thank you Renee for the ID!
The original Harley Clarke Mansion landscape design was by Jens Jensen, a pioneer in Midwest landscape design during the turn of the century. Jensen’s naturalistic design style, use of native plants, and trademark “council ring” and water feature is evident and presumed original to the design. Also the limestone grotto is original to Jensen's work.
Harley L. Clarke was a 1920s electric utility executive who fell on financial hard times during the depression. He once donated $300,000 to form an ill-fated Chicago Civic Shakespeare Society,
When he hired architect Richard Powers to design a lakefront home in Evanston, it was probably the last of the 1920s big mansions in Evanston before the stock market crashed.
The three-story brick mansion, is just north of the Grosse Point Lighthouse. The 37,700-square-foot estate's features include a conservatory, coach house, two apartments and a three-car garage. The mansion was valued at $500,000 in 1938.
As recounted by the Chicago Tribune, he built the house at 2603 Sheridan Road in 1927, but was forced to step down as president of the Utilities Power and Light Corp. in 1936. A stock certificate from Utilities Power & Light has Harley L. Clarke's signature as president. The company went bankrupt in 1939.
With a fortune at one time estimated at up to $60 million, he also dabbled in the motion picture and real estate businesses.
After struggling against creditors to hang onto the mansion, he and his wife sold it in 1949 to the Sigma Chi fraternity for its national headquarters.
In the 1960s Sigma Chi sold the property to the city. It now sits empty.
Where's the house? The Harley Clarke Mansion - 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois
Thank you Renee for the ID!
The original Harley Clarke Mansion landscape design was by Jens Jensen, a pioneer in Midwest landscape design during the turn of the century. Jensen’s naturalistic design style, use of native plants, and trademark “council ring” and water feature is evident and presumed original to the design. Also the limestone grotto is original to Jensen's work.
Harley L. Clarke was a 1920s electric utility executive who fell on financial hard times during the depression. He once donated $300,000 to form an ill-fated Chicago Civic Shakespeare Society,
When he hired architect Richard Powers to design a lakefront home in Evanston, it was probably the last of the 1920s big mansions in Evanston before the stock market crashed.
The three-story brick mansion, is just north of the Grosse Point Lighthouse. The 37,700-square-foot estate's features include a conservatory, coach house, two apartments and a three-car garage. The mansion was valued at $500,000 in 1938.
As recounted by the Chicago Tribune, he built the house at 2603 Sheridan Road in 1927, but was forced to step down as president of the Utilities Power and Light Corp. in 1936. A stock certificate from Utilities Power & Light has Harley L. Clarke's signature as president. The company went bankrupt in 1939.
With a fortune at one time estimated at up to $60 million, he also dabbled in the motion picture and real estate businesses.
After struggling against creditors to hang onto the mansion, he and his wife sold it in 1949 to the Sigma Chi fraternity for its national headquarters.
In the 1960s Sigma Chi sold the property to the city. It now sits empty.