Adlai E. Stevenson II Farm
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Adlai E. Stevenson II Farm
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| Location | 25200 N. Saint Mary's Rd., Mettawa, Illinois |
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| Coordinates | 42°13′44″N 87°55′50″W / 42.22889°N 87.93056°WCoordinates: 42°13′44″N 87°55′50″W / 42.22889°N 87.93056°W |
| NRHP Reference # | 03000918 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 14, 2003 |
| Designated NHL | April 23, 2014 |
The Adlai E. Stevenson II Farm, also known as Adlai E. Stevenson Historic Home is a historic property located on St. Mary's Road in Mettawa, Illinois. Between 1936 and his death it was the home of Adlai Stevenson II (1900-1965), a Democratic politician who was the governor of Illinois between 1949 and 1953, was twice the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the 1950s and served as the US ambassador to the United Nations during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has also been designated a National Historic Landmark. The property is located in the northern suburbs of Chicago, in the Captain Daniel Wright Woods Forest Preserve. It currently functions as a museum.
Stevenson and his wife bought the 44 acres (18 ha) farm in 1935. Later they purchased another 30 acres (12 ha), of which 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) is currently part of the property. Their first house was built in 1936, while the house currently standing on the property was built in 1938. Stevenson and his wife, Ellen Borden, divorced in 1949, and Stevenson died in 1965 when he was in London. In 1969, most of the farm was sold to Edison Dick, a Stevenson friend. The estate was then donated to the Lake County Forest Preserve District in 1974. Between 1982 and 2000, the estate served as a day center for the Lake County Health Department. On September 14, 2003, the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2005 and 2007, the house and the service area were rehabilitated.
The estate is owned by the Lake County Forest Preserve District and contains the main house (1938), the service building (1937/39), the tennis court (after 1945), and the barn (1958). The farm landscape is also protected as a separate element of the property.
The house, designed by the firm of Perkins, Wheeler and Will, incorporates elements of 1920's European avant-garde architecture: It is composed of block-like elements with no or little exterior ornamental design. The hip roof is shallow and broadly overhanging, which produces a reminiscence of the American Prairie School. The house is oriented in the meridional direction, with the dimensions of 106 feet (32 m) to 37 feet (11 m). It was originally painted yellow, but was repainted white during Stevenson's lifetime. In the center, there is a two-floor block, with two one-floor blocks at the sides.
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