Thursday, January 3, 2013

'House-in-the-Woods'

'House-in-the-Woods', the Mrs. Cyrus H. McCormick (Nancy Fowler McCormick) residence designed by Dwight H. Perkins of Perkins, Fellows & Hamilton c. 1916 in Lake Forest, Illinois.  McCormick was the widow of Cyrus Hall McCormick, inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company.  She died in 1923 and the house was inherited by her daughter Anita McCormick Blaine, widow of Emmons Blaine.  Click HERE for the wikipedia page on the McCormick family.  Click HERE to see 'House-in-the-Woods' on bing.





Photos from Architectural Record, 1918.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks as if the house may indeed be gone.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/July-2010/McCormicks-Lake-Forest-Teahouse/

Glen said...

The house was demolished in 1955. Sad. It was a great house with a unique floor plan and some very interesting elements. Love the concept of walking by the formal garden/pool on the way to the front door.

Anonymous said...

Edith Rockefeller McCormick's "Villa Turicum" was
next door on the south..designed by Charles Platt
BT

ChipSF said...

Zach, Glen , et al -
This house is extant. You can see it on Bing - put in address of 900 Ringwood Rd. The house that was demolished in 1955 was Walden an 1896 shingle style house adjacent to Villa Turicam. House in the Woods was a later house (1916). The tea house was a different house on the Walden property.

Anonymous said...

would have preferred to see villa turicum surviving as a museum.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Anita McCormick Blaine's husband, Emmons, was the son of former Secretary of State James G. Blaine, who was defeated for the Presidency in 1884 by Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland with the campaign slogan 'Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, continental liar from the State of Maine'.

1895 Social columns find Harold Fowler McCormick staying at Bar Harbor with sister Anita Blaine, and Miss Edith Rockefeller staying with her friend Miss Garland, amidst reports that there is 'qutie an attachment' between the two, with the possibility of uniting two of America's large fortunes.

And thus sparks turn into a conflagration.

Anonymous said...

The tea house still exists see these links.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/July-2010/McCormicks-Lake-Forest-Teahouse/


http://wikimapia.org/15180797/Japanese-Tea-House-from-Walden