1896 Jarvis Hunt Golf Cottage

The Roosevelt Road Rezoning Project has returned. Back in the summer of 2019, there was an intense community interest in this proposed Comprehensive Plan/Market Study/Zoning Ordinance Update which could potentially commercialize Roosevelt Road from the Wheaton/Glen Ellyn border west to Carlton/the Prairie Path. In the August 12, 2019 Wheaton City Council Planning session, there was a lively public response involving numerous citizens about this proposed rezoning project for Roosevelt Road. Consultants Camiros and Valerie Kretchner & Associates presented their recommendations at this meeting but it became clear that the issue of preservation of historic buildings on Roosevelt Road had not been addressed. There are 26 buildings 90 years and older involved in the Roosevelt Road Rezoning Project, one of which is the 173 year old Warren L. Wheaton (co-founder of Wheaton) home at Naperville and Roosevelt (now Bauer Dentistry and Orthodontics). Of these 26 historic buildings, 23 are in the western half of the Roosevelt Road Rezoning Project. The section of Roosevelt Road from West Street/Warrenville Road west to Carlton/Prairie Path has been designated an Illinois Opportunity Area (IOA) administered by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) which offers significant financial advantages for building development of multifamily housing in Opportunity Areas. There is no provision in the Roosevelt Road Rezoning Project recommendations to evaluate and possibly preserve historically significant buildings that could be critically impacted by developers wishing to take advantage of the IOA program.

534 W. Roosevelt stands at the end of the far west section of the project’s Roosevelt Road area in the IOA zone. This lovely home, now used as a law office, was built in 1896 as one of the Chicago Golf Club summer cottages that became known as the Wheaton Golf Colony. It was designed by well-known architect, Jarvis Hunt, and rented to various Chicago Golf Club members. Its occupants included Harry Wilmerding, president of the Chicago Arc Light and Power Company/Commonwealth Edison and Samuel H. Graves, president of the White Pass and Yukon Railway in Alaska. In July 1917 the Golf Lane Theater was built behind 534 W. Roosevelt in the garden. Performances were held that at times had audiences numbered in the hundreds. The 1896 Jarvis Hunt golf cottage at 534 W. Roosevelt is a historically significant part of Wheaton’s history. While it is laudable that the City Council is looking for ways to improve Wheaton’s economy, it is important to hold dear Wheaton’s past. The interest of the Wheaton Historic Commission in the Roosevelt Road Rezoning Project is to insure the protection and preservation of 534 W. Roosevelt. Hopefully the citizens of Wheaton share this interest and passion and will let the City Council know that the historic buildings on Roosevelt Road such as the Warren L. Wheaton home, the 1896 Jarvis Hunt golf cottage, and others need to be protected or we could lose a part of what makes Wheaton unique and valuable.

(Contact the Wheaton Historic Commission at wheatonhistoriccommission@gmail.com )