In 2015 the Conservancy joined with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Landmarks Illinois and local preservation organizations to prevent utility company ComEd and the Kane County Forest Preserve District from implementing a plan that would route new 140-foot electric line towers through preserve land and within 400 feet of the Wright-designed Muirhead Farmhouse (1950) in Plato Township, Illinois. A member of the Muirhead family still owns the Usonian house,…

In 2012 the world almost lost a highly personal and unique work of architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright—the David and Gladys Wright House (1950-52). Wright designed the Phoenix, Arizona, house for his son David and David’s wife Gladys. David died in 1997 at the age of 102. Gladys continued to live in the house until her death in 2008 at the age of 104. David’s only son predeceased his father…

The Ennis House project is an extraordinary example of how the Conservancy initiated the cooperation between several prominent preservation organizations and highly influential individuals to accomplish a near-miracle. The Charles and Mabel Ennis House (1923) was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the owners of a Los Angeles men’s clothier. The main house and a second structure connected by a wide bridge and incorporating the garage, chauffeur’s quarters and service…

A rather unusual and widely publicized save involved the Avery Coonley Garage and Stables, also known as the Coach House (1911) in Riverside, Illinois. In 2005 the house was still owned by its owner of 52 years, an elderly woman who wished to remain in the house. Her property was managed by the Public Guardian of Cook County. The house attracted attention when the guardian sought to make much-needed but architecturally…

In the fall of 2003 the Conservancy was notified that upon the death of the original client-owner of the Duncan House (1957) in Lisle, Illinois, a developer had a right of first refusal to purchase the property. The plan was to demolish the house and complete the subdivision that had grown up around the little three-bedroom, one-story house with the type of large, multi-story houses that had by then all…