The Mrs. Isaac D. Adler House is a property in

Libertyville, Illinois Libertyville is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and a northern suburb of Chicago. It is located west of Lake Michigan on the Des Plaines River. The 2020 census population was 20,579. It is part of Libertyville Township, Lake ...

, United States designed by architect David Adler for his mother Therese Hyman Adler.

History

The original house on this lot in

was built in 1914, when the Miller and Austin Subdivision was created. In 1930, Therese Hyman Adler, the widow of clothing wholesaler Isaac D. Adler and mother of architect David Adler, purchased this lot from Oscar D. and Anne F. Stern. The property was adjacent to her son's estate. Mrs. Adler had been living in Chicago since 1925, when her husband died in a car accident. She may have lived in David Adler's apartment at 1240 North State Street. David Adler treated his mother's property as part of the estate, building a road between the two houses and coordinating a matching landscape.Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
/ref> David Adler extensively remodeled the house for his mother starting in January 1931. The original building was probably a

Dutch Colonial Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Rev ...

. To this, Adler added a second porch on the west, adjusted window

fenestration Fenestration may refer to: * Fenestration (architecture), the design, construction, or presence of openings in a building * Used in relation to fenestra in anatomy, medicine and biology * Fenestration, holes in the rudder of a ship to reduce the w ...

s, added a front pediment, and third-story

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

s. The interior was left largely intact, although Adler did install a historic French fireplace and replaced the floors & staircase. The finished product was still largely Dutch Colonial, but showed heavy

American Colonial American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian. T ...

influence. The house closely resembled a

Sears Catalog Home Sears Modern Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American retailer. From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in North America, by the company's count. Sears Mo ...

design. Adler also extensively remodeled the garage/barn structure at the front of the property. He built a three-room apartment on the top floor and added a cupola. The final work on the property was completed in April 1934, when it was landscaped. Mrs. Adler died in 1939 and the house passed to David. When David Adler died in 1949, the house was bequeathed to his sister,

Frances Elkins Frances Adler Elkins (7 November 1888 – 26 August 1953), was one of the twentieth century's most prominent interior designers. According to one magazine editor, she was "the first great California decorator". According to ''The New York Times'', ...

. However, Elkins had a successful interior design practice in California and had little interest in the Illinois property. She let the Village of Libertyville use the property for recreational purposes, but the village struggled to maintain the costly property. The house was sold to William Wittort, who had been renting the property, in 1954. Subsequent owners have made few changes to the house. The road linking the house to her son's was expanded to Milwaukee Avenue in the 1970s and was opened to the public as Parkview Drive. The property was recognized by the National Park Service with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 2002. It was listed as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

with four contributing properties: the house, the garage/barn, and two octagonal small buildings (a pump house and a tool shed).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Mrs. Isaac D., House National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Illinois Colonial Revival architecture in Illinois Houses completed in 1933 Libertyville, Illinois David Adler buildings Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Houses in Lake County, Illinois Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois 1933 establishments in Illinois