You’d think Marty Hackl would be happy. The River Forest Women’s Club–a green-stained, board-and-batten 1913 building designed by Prairie School architect William Drummond–is under contract to be sold to a private buyer with the money needed for its restoration. The structure, on the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois’ ten-most-endangered list for the last two years, is now safe from the wrecking ball. It won’t be sold to developers eager to build on its double lot.
This April, when word of a potential sale came out, Hackl kicked into high gear, e-mailing friends and acquaintances and gathering some 91 pledges to join the club (male members have been accepted since the 80s). Their dues would help raise needed funds, he reasoned, and their number could help pressure the club to keep the facility open for public use. The response was a form letter dated May 23. “Membership in the RFWC is subject to its bylaws, which include sponsorship for membership by two members,” it said. “The RFWC does not meet during the summer but will resume its meetings in October 2005, at which time new membership will certainly be considered by the membership committee.” By then, of course, the building will have been sold.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Hackl became interested in Prairie School architecture and its preservation largely through his research into the life and career of John S. Van Bergen, an architect who worked in Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio for a little less than a year, just before Wright fled to Europe with his mistress in 1909, effectively closing up the shop. In 1994 Hackl and his family bought a 1914 Oak Park home designed by Van Bergen, one of three built for a local florist. Then a jobbing musician who did some small contracting on the side, Hackl was impressed by Van Bergen’s solid workmanship and attention to detail. He started to catalog and study the architect’s work.
Van Bergen’s work throughout his career showed Prairie School influences, especially in his roofs, with their overhanging eaves, wooden trim, and horizontal lines. He paid meticulous attention to his clients’ needs and to the structures’ natural settings. Even the simplest houses of his early career, built on a square plan, flow organically and use natural materials like stone and cedar. Living rooms open up into surprisingly grand spaces, with vaulted ceilings, large fireplaces, and lovely views. Van Bergen got to know the eminent landscape architect Jens Jensen when they both lived in Highland Park, and Jensen almost certainly influenced his work. His later buildings in California diverge from the Prairie style–long, low structures that are simpler but also more refined. The natural setting became even more important, to the point that Van Bergen would match colors, textures, and materials to the native soil and greenery. He was also known for his naturally cooling “ponded” roofs, which flooded in summer.
A few months ago Hackl sold his own Van Bergen home and moved himself, his wife, Eva, and their teenage daughter into a modest condo in River Forest. He has his eye on another Van Bergen, this one in Lake Zurich. The house, situated on a huge secluded lot, is a prime example of Van Bergen’s subtle style, with a round hearth fireplace, built-in cabinetry, an elegant screened veranda, and expert siting.
The position Hackl has appointed himself to isn’t for someone who wants to be liked. “It’s hard to get a lot of public support behind you unless there’s a crisis,” he says. But he believes he’s learned what heralds one–the death of an organization or spouse, rising taxes or land values, the deployment of certain key words like firetrap or outdated. “Almost everyone who deals in preservation knows what those signals are, and you can’t wait until they’re alarming to do anything,” he says. “At the same time, you’re questioning yourself–am I being alarmist, am I imagining this?
