Lake Bluff Structure is Beyond Saving

David Brunjes, the son of the owners of the Lake Bluff residence at 400 E. Center St., is responding to an article that indicates the residence has civil war ties. The home is under consideration for demolition.

Here are some reasons Brunjes shares as to why the home should be sold to the developer and demolished.

1. The house is a mess. The floor plan does not work for today’s families. It cannot be straightened out because the house is a compilation of one addition after another. The floor plan and room dimensions are all wrong. Bedrooms are as small as 8 feet x 12 feet with a 2 foot x 3 foot closet. The living room (which nobody wants or uses in today’s lifestyle) is HUGE - probably 20 feet x 35 feet and is located where it cannot reasonably be used as a family room. Bathrooms are old and dated, but too small to realistically update. The “family room” is maybe 14 feet x 18 feet but you need to walk through it, one end to the other to get from the kitchen hallway to the stairs leading upstairs or the front entry hall. There is no way to fix this traffic pattern. The kitchen is too small and cannot be expanded. The electrical and plumbing systems need major upgrades. Numerous building code violations would all have to be corrected if anyone wanted to pursue bringing this house up to date. The basement is a another horror story altogether. Sometimes, these things just can’t be fixed.

2. James Sexton? Has anyone ever heard of him? There are certain names we remember because people accomplished certain memorable things while living in Lake Bluff. They usually end up on plaques in the park or on a building, street names, etc... Over the past 47 years, nobody has ever mentioned James Sexton, much less in relation to this property. Do you know that James Sexton NEVER EVEN LIVED IN THIS HOUSE? How can the Lake Bluff Historic Preservation Commission realistically tie this person to the house when he never even lived in it? Take this test. Google Colonel James Sexton and see how weak the responses are. Take all the time you want. There is hardly a paragraph of total data regarding James Sexton. He is hardly “a significant public figure.”

READ: Lake Bluff Home with Civil War Ties in Jeopardy

3. Do a search on Lake Bluff’s widely recognized Lake Bluff Vliet History Museum. I was unable to find a single reference to “Sexton.”

4. The 1998 Illinois Urban Architectural & Historical Survey did not the the subject residence as historically significant.

5. As best as anyone can determine, the house was built in 1893. The oldest picture of the house that has been located so far is from the late 1960’s! As previously mentioned, the house is a collection of addition after addition. No one knows what the house looked like in 1893, early 1900’s etc... but it is safe to say that the original structure does not look anything like it does today.

6. Several Commission members mentioned that they like the way the house looks today. Their desire to maintain the appearance of the neighborhood is not their mission. If this is their desire, they should be on the Architectural Board of Review. That is the appropriate venue for maintaining the appearance of the neighborhood. Their is no historical significance to the house.

7. I personally reached out to the ancestors of James Sexton to see if they had any comments or interest in the home. There was no response.

8. The owners of this home spent 47 wonderful years there. They are 88 and 89 years old. They have recently moved into an assisted care living facility. They want the money from the house to pay for expenses in their declining years. They have an offer from a contractor that negotiated in good faith and have accepted. Knowing the problems a potential buyer would have to purchase and remodel the home, they believe that the best value remains in the property, not the structure upon it. The Lake Bluff Historic Preservation Commission is not allowing them close on the deal so that they can have this money available to them to do as they see fit. How dare they. If the Preservation Committee is so interested in saving the property, they should put up their own money to purchase the home.

9. The Lake Bluff Historic Preservation Commission should be land marking homes BEFORE they are available for sale - not after. It is downright un-American for the Commission to do what it is doing in the way they are doing it.

10. Ultimately, the house will be torn down - everyone knows this. According to Brandon Stanick, Assistant to the Village Administrator to the Village of Lake Bluff, if the owners do not want Landmark Designation, after numerous meetings, delays, filings, etc... the house demolition permit will be approved. This process will be complete late summer 2015 at the latest. This house costs $24,000 a year is real estate taxes alone to maintain. There will be costs associated with landscaping, security, utilities, etc... The house is currently unoccupied. Why can’t the owners sell a house they have owned and paid taxes on for 47 years? Why put the owners through this process? Why deprive them of money they need today. They may not even be around when the contract with the contractor closes escrow. Is this what Americans do to each other today? How can anyone defend this as the right thing to do? Try to save a house in the name of someone that no one knows about? Nobody but certain Commission members care.

And who am I? I am the son of the owners. I am 60 years old. I also know this house. It is, and always will be, home. At age 14, I moved into this house with my family. I went to LF High School and the University of Illinois. My first home was in Lake Bluff. Career moves took me away from living in Lake Bluff, but I was able to move back to the area my wife grew up in - Lake Forest. My 4 children, the owners’ grandchildren, know this home as Nana and Bumpa’s home. Family birthday’s, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other memorable family time in this home will be with them their whole lives.

But it is time to say goodbye to a structure that is beyond saving. No one in their right mind would pay more for this property than the contractor who sees value in the land. Even if someone were willing to pay as much as the contractor is, they would be facing hundreds of thousands of additional investment to straighten out the problems with the house. Even then the house would not be worth much more than the contractor is offering.

David Brunjes

Lake Bluff