Oak Park is the kind of town where history and architecture are inextricably entwined, and it’s not unusual to find an interesting story attached to a house in the village. When it comes to famous former inhabitants, though, it’s hard to beat Ernest Hemingway. The literary lion called several houses home during his youth in Oak Park, and the story of what is known as the “Hemingway Interim House” is, literally, moving.
Built around 1870, the Gothic Revival-style home was originally located on Grove Avenue, just north of Lake Street. In June 1993, the Oak Park Public Library purchased the home to make room for expansion, placing the home in the path of demolition. At the time, it was called one of the oldest homes in Oak Park. Concerned preservationists sought to save the house.
The Hemingway connection
Early records of the home show that Rev. George Huntington lived in the home with his wife in the 1870s. In 1880, the home was occupied by Albert Butz, founder of Honeywell and inventor of the automatic temperature controller. Cook County records show that Butz borrowed money from Ernest Hemingway’s paternal grandfather, Anson, to purchase the house in 1890.
It became one of three homes in Oak Park that Ernest Hemingway lived in as a child. In 1905, Grace and Clarence Hemingway rented the house while waiting for their new home on Kenilworth Avenue to be constructed. Local lore has it that Ernest developed a lifelong love of reading when he and his sister Marcelline visited the nearby library (aka the Scoville Institute) daily during their year of living in the interim house.
Moving experience
To make way for the current version of the Oak Park Public Library, the home was put up for auction in April 1999 with the idea that an interested buyer could move it to a new location. Though highly unusual in modern times, house moving has numerous precedents, according to Frank Lipo, executive director of the Oak Park-River Forest Historical Society.
“I actually did a master’s essay on moving historic buildings in Oak Park,” Lipo said. “It was fairly common before the train viaducts and electric lines were built. I have examples of a couple of dozen houses that moved.”
By 1999, the practical considerations involved in moving the home deterred most prospective buyers, and no one purchased the home at the auction. The library approached numerous organizations about purchasing and moving the home but couldn’t find any takers. Members of the village’s Historic Preservation Committee drove around Oak Park looking for suitable lots that could house the home. Local preservationist John Thorpe found a lot at the northwest corner of Elmwood and Chicago avenues that would be perfect, but the ideal buyer could not be found.
Then Scott Sterenberg, an insurance broker manager heard a story on National Public Radio about the house failing to sell at auction. He and his wife Stacy called the library and purchased the home in May of 1999. For the bargain price of $1, they became the new owners of a home that came with quite a few stipulations. They had to move the structure to a new location, remove the aluminum siding, tear off and replace the roof, and tear off a late addition to the home.
The actual moving of the house took place in October 1999, and the occasion took on something of a festival air. The Village Forestry Department, police and fire departments, Lyons Pinner Electric, ComEd, and Davis Tree Care and Landscape helped prepare a safe pathway up Ridgeland Avenue. By 8:30 a.m. the day of the move, the streets were lined with residents and school children, with news helicopters hovering overhead. Progress was slow, but by 7:45 p.m., the home had been hoisted over the curb. By 8:30, it was parked at the edge of the lot.
The Hemingway connection II
The Sterenbergs estimated they would spend $300,000 on their restoration efforts, including $45,000 for moving the home and $110,500 for the purchase of the plot of land. Sensing the scope of the restoration project, Stacy Sterenberg wrote to Renovation Style Magazine asking for help. Then-editor-in-chief Ann Omvig Maine said the magazine received many such requests but this one stood out because of the Hemingway connection and the fact that the home was a traditional farmhouse style, indigenous to Illinois.
The magazine provided interior design advice, and the Sterenbergs tackled a wealth of projects. In addition to the structural work required by the move, they added central air, new leaded-glass windows, new copper gutters, new chimneys and a new cedar-shake roof. The remodeled kitchen included a mix of stained and painted cabinetry to give it the look of an earlier era. Even the refrigerator was paneled to look like a cabinet. Glass-paneled pocket doors opened to the dining room.
Changing owners
The Sterenbergs enjoyed the fruits of their labors for three years until Scott was transferred out of state for work. Michael and Katie Garner purchased the home and lived there for about nine years, receiving a Cavalcade of Pride Award from the village in 2010 for their work on landscaping.
The Garners recently sold the house, and their real estate agent, Greer Haseman of Gagliardo Realty, noted that most significant homes in historic districts attract a lot of attention. She thinks it’s possible the Hemingway connection helped seal the deal.
“It’s a privilege to represent any of the named homes in the area, and anything associated with Hemingway certainly has another layer to it that people appreciate,” Haseman said.
“The nice thing about these named structures is that they are normal family homes with interesting historic connections. The home sold very quickly, and I actually think there was more interest in it due to the fact that Hemingway lived here.”