Preservationists are rallying to protect a century-old Park Ridge house that was the center of the Arts Crafts movement in America. Founded in the early 20th century by Chicago art entrepreneur Clara Barck Welles, the Kalo Arts Crafts Community trained and employed dozens of now-famous artists, designers, leather workers, potters, crafts workers, silversmiths and jewelry makers in "the Big House" at 322 Grant Place. Surviving for more than a century with most of its original features intact, the sprawling house might be sold this week, and "mowed down like everything else in Park Ridge," said Park Ridge resident Betsy Foxwell, executive director of Chicago Area Problem Solving Inc.
Since the 1940s, the house had been owned by the late James Bornhoeft, a former Park Ridge resident and employee of Commonwealth Edison for 43 years. Bornhoeft was intensely proud of the house, and well-versed on its unique history. During an interview and tour several years ago, he noted that "American Gothic" artist Grant Wood worked as a metalsmith in the house, and was part of the artisan community that trained and mentored hundreds of aspiring artists -- particularly women -- for meaningful and profitable careers in the arts.
Private collectors and museums have made the handwrought silver accessories and jewelry produced in the house and sold at the Kalo Shop retail facility in Chicago among the most collectible Arts Crafts items today. Many important pieces are included in the Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago History Museum collections, as well as in museums around the world. Clara B.
Welles (1868 to 1965), founder of the Kalo Shop, exerted pivotal influence on the American Arts Crafts movement as she trained and encouraged dozens of employees to start their own art companies. Welles played a key role in progressive politics, including securing the right to vote for Illinois women in 1913, the first state east of the Mississippi to do so. Bornhoeft, 95, died on Oct.
30. Several weeks earlier, Foxwell and Nancy Frimark, wife of Park Ridge Mayor Howard P. Frimark, co-founded the Park Ridge Kalo Foundation with a group of residents to raise funds to buy and preserve the facility as an interactive museum and community house for future generations.
"We need to celebrate our heritage," said Frimark. "Park Ridge served as an inspiration for this creative experiment, and we need to preserve that legacy." Kalo Foundation board members hope to save the Kalo house, but fear that time is running out.
Bornhoeft bequeathed the house to three of his four children, who initially said that they would work with the foundation to purchase and preserve it, according to Foxwell, "because it was their father's dying wish." "But then Chuck Bornhoeft called in December, and said we only had until Jan. 17 to buy it for $1.
22 million" or it would be sold on the open market, said Foxwell. "Where are we going to get that kind of money so quickly?" Chuck Bornhoeft did not return repeated calls for comment.
Kalo Foundation board members hope to find a white knight to buy the house and hold onto it until they can raise funds to purchase and renovate the place as a living museum. The house currently is divided into four or five apartments that generate income. Eiliesh Tuffy, director of preservation programs for the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, offered assistance to the foundation last week.
"We can work with the owner to understand and apply for tax incentives to maintain the property, which can include a 12-year tax freeze for owner-occupied units," Tuffy said. Burton Olsson and Stephen Randahl, son and grandson of two Kalo silversmiths who worked in Park Ridge, are members of the Kalo Foundation board, and have come to appreciate their heritage. "I never really understood the whole movement and the role my grandfather played in creating this new art industry until recently," said Randahl, a pen-and-ink artisan from Cary.
"Now I know it is critical to preserve the Kalo house before it is too late, or we will lose part of our [national] heritage." Darcy Evon is a Chicago historian who is working on a book about the Chicago Arts Crafts movement. She can be reached at darcyevon@sbcglobal.
net. The Kalo Shop flourished in the Chicago area from 1900 to 1970, where artisans produced beautiful handwrought jewelry, sterling silver hollowware and utensils, and copper bowls and table ware. From 1906 through 1914, the Kalo Arts Crafts Community House in Park Ridge, which featured "a school within a workshop," was one of a handful of industrial artist colonies in the country.
Today, handwrought Kalo silver and jewelry command the highest prices among collectors, but there are still some bargains on eBay. A pair of serving utensils or a silver brooch can sell for $250 to $400. Early Park Ridge jewelry or serving bowls and creamers and sugars can go for $450 to $1,200.
Large pitchers, tea sets and early gold jewelry can go for $850-$7,500 on eBay; dealer prices are roughly double and sometimes triple.
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