Although it is a large building, the house is not a mansion. It is a family home, built in the Modern and Art Deco style, influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. It sort of looks like a big boathouse to me. There is a picture on the forest preserve district website. This was not a country place. It was the family’s full time residence. It has several porches, on the ground floor and off the second floor. They look out to the open space with beautiful views. Stevenson’s study has his desk and books and small accessories, including his precursor to the Roladex. Do you remember those small rectangular desk accessories that you wrote phone numbers in and they had a sliding tab to open to the page you wanted? He had one of those. The FPDLC people compiled a list of his names and phone numbers. Everyone from the White House with extension to Betty (Lauren) Bacall to Marlene Dietrich to all the politicians to Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a frequent house guest. The farm caretaker who worked there for 30+ years remembered seeing her walking around the property. (When Stevenson was the UN ambassador in NY, the house was rented to Marshall Field who was building a house up the road. When the Fields moved to their new house, the Stevenson’s caretaker went with them, He had a family and needed more living space. When the Stevensons came back and found out why their longtime caretaker left, Adlai built a larger apartment for the family and they came back.)
The house has four bedrooms upstairs (the master with a fireplace) with two bathrooms (one the size of a bedroom), a guest bedroom down stairs with its own bathroom, and two smallish bedrooms for the hired help off the kitchen. Living room with fireplace, study with fireplace, smallish dining room, not too large kitchen with what I call a butler’s pantry, although they did not have a butler. Wood parquet floors which are mostly original and lots of wood paneling. Closets and built in storage everywhere. And windows galore. Most rooms had French doors leading out to screened in or open porches or decks. The family had three sons, including Adlai E III, the oldest. He also was a Senator. His son, Adlai E IV always said that he was Adlai the Last. But now there is Adlai V, who was born in 1995. He says he is Adlai the Last.
My friend and I love to visit old houses. They always seem to have a lot of furnishings like those that I grew up with. Talk about feeling old. Tomorrow we are going to Cantigny in Wheaton IL which was the estate of Colonel McCormick who started the Chicago Tribune. More to follow.