“Proud heritage, bright future” has been River Forest’s motto for years. It’s found on stone markers as drivers enter town; it’s affixed on the letterhead of the village’s stationery.
But some residents find that motto ironic, as River Forest — a town that boasts diverse historic architecture and a lush suburban setting with mature trees and expansive lawns — could lose another valued piece of its cultural legacy.
In 1997, it was Washington School. In 2009, it was 839 Park Ave., an architecturally significant home designed by William Drummond.
The next may be 930 Ashland Ave., a grand estate that sits on a 35,880-square-foot parcel of land. For years the home has been known as the Mars Mansion, the former home of the family that brought to the world Milky Way, Snickers and Three Musketeers candy bars.
The 96-year-old home is on the Historic Preservation Commission’s list of 298 significant properties in the village, and is situated in River Forest’s only historic district. But that might not be anywhere near enough to keep a new owner from razing it.
The village board in May voted to allow the new owner, Avra Properties, a Chicago-based real estate private equity firm, to subdivide the nearly 1-acre piece of property.
And at 7 p.m., July 23, the Historic Preservation Commission will vote up or down on an application for a certificate of appropriateness. Owners of historic homes who want to renovate them in any way must get a certificate if more than 20 percent of any individual street façade or window replacement of a street façade undergoes repair, rehabilitation, reconstruction, according to village code.
A certificate is also necessary for demolition. The commission’s decision would only be advisory. Homeowners have discretion over what they do with their property, village officials said.
The new owners, in documents they filed with the village to request the subdividing of the property, say the existing single-family detached home and accessory structure will remain on Lot 1 with no change in use.
But neighbors and historic preservationists fear the owners will demolish the nearly 100-year-old structure.
If that happens, one neighbor expressed concerns that this may eventually become a new paradigm in town — the tearing down old homes and building two in their place.
Old and gracious ladies in hooped skirts is how Nancy Smiley describes the houses in the neighborhood.
“They were built to be big, and they needed land to set them off like a frame of a picture,” she said. “Without it, the neighborhood will be framed differently. I have to wonder what the block would look like with two homes,” said Smiley who lives at the southwest corner of Ashland and Iowa.
The area where the home is situated is as storied as the house itself. It was part of the exclusive Northwoods subdivision, a 100-acre tract that extended from Chicago Avenue to Division Street between Thatcher and Lathrop avenues.
A former apple orchard, the tract was purchased by River Forest pioneer and business leader Edward C. Waller in the 1880s as a private sylvan retreat and investment, according to the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.
A contest in 1912 to name the exclusive new subdivision drew nearly 1,000 entries. A high school student won $100 in gold for the “Northwoods” moniker, according to the historical society.
In 1919, Harry Franklin Robinson, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, was commissioned by Paul Victor, the founder and treasurer of the Victor Gasket Co., to build the fourth home in the Northwoods subdivision.
The house is included in A Guidebook to the Architecture of River Forest by Jeanette Fields. A River Forest resident, Fields advocated for historic preservation of homes in Oak Park and River Forest and helped establish the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
In the late 1920s, Franklin and Ethel Mars, perhaps the house’s most prominent tenants, moved in. The Mars family were on the area’s Social Register. Franklin Mars was known not only for creating candy bars but also for inventing the “Mars lights,” which are affixed on the top of police cars to grab drivers’ attention.
In the 1930s, Ethel and Franklin Mars bought a 2,800-acre property in Tennessee and built the Milky Way Farm. The thoroughbred racing stable at one time was one of the most profitable in the country, producing Gallahadion, the winner of the 1940 Kentucky Derby, according to the Milky Way Farm’s website.
Franklin Mars died in the 1934; Ethel in 1945. In 1946 the house was sold, and it has been bought and sold a few times until the present day.
The home now appears to need some tender loving care. The steps leading up to the house are cracked and worn. Cobwebs have formed around the front door; and the house appears in need of a painting. It appears to be vacant, and it is uncertain when or if the former owner moved out. Avra properties bought the house on Dec. 8, 2014 for $2 million, according to the Cook County Recorder of Deeds.
Commission member Brian Prestes said that while there is concern over the future of the house, no one should pre-decide the issue under consideration.
“The commission understands the issue and certainly there is concern,” Prestes said. “River Forest is an historic community and the commission exists in part to try to contribute to that historic legacy. We all believe that the homes that are here in River Forest, like the Mars Mansion, are what make our community a special place to live.”
Laura Myntti, who lives across the street from the Mars Mansion, fears the new owners will put up what she described as homes with an ugly architectural design.
“[The Mars Mansion] is an oasis,” said Myntti, who is getting ready to move; she sold her home to a family who will not tear it down. “There’s a lot of open space. It’s going to be a challenge to find something as stately as that house.”
Efforts to reach representatives with Avra Properties were unsuccessful.
