Daily Herald opinion: A ‘road map to the future’: DuPage forest preserve makes the right move to plan for renovations at Peabody estate
It has taken decades, but the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County finally has a “road map” to improve the inside of historic Mayslake Hall in Oak Brook.
Forest preserve commissioners voted earlier this month to approve a plan for the Tudor Revival-style mansion. The move comes after the district returned the exterior of the more-than-a-century-old building to its former splendor.
“This plan is multiyear and will not be completed in short order,” Forest Preserve President Daniel Hebreard said. “However, it does provide a road map for the future that will help the district address short-term needs to ensure the building is protected for years to come.”
Those remarks were good to hear. While it could be years before Mayslake Hall can meet its full potential, at least the forest preserve district has a guide to make it happen.
Of course, it has been a long wait for DuPage voters. They sought to preserve open space and history when they gave the district permission in 1992 to borrow $17.5 million to buy the Mayslake Peabody Estate.
The property, now known as Mayslake Forest Preserve, had once been home to Chicago coal baron Francis Stuyvesant Peabody and later belonged to a Franciscan order. In addition to the mansion, the 90-acre site has a chapel and a former retreat building.
When the district took ownership of the land in 1993, there was talk of repairing the mansion and opening it to the public. But the district long struggled to do repairs. Part of the reason is that elected officials did not want to spend tax dollars to restore the building. And efforts to raise money from private donors did not go as planned.
So, while private donations and grants helped pay for restoration projects through the years, none were on a large scale.
That changed in 2022 when the forest preserve district launched its extensive exterior renovation of the mansion. As part of a roughly $6 million project, crews repaired the brick and limestone masonry and replaced old stucco and decayed wood on the facade.
Restoring the exterior of Mayslake Hall was the right decision, because it stabilized the outer shell of the building. The district can now focus on interior repairs and explore additional ways to use the mansion.
In a story published Sunday, senior writer Katlyn Smith described how the district uses the property for architecture tours, book clubs, art classes and photography exhibits.
She reported that a consultant proposed that future work on the mansion happen in multiple phases. As part of the first phase, the improvement plan recommends critical repairs and building systems improvements at an estimated cost of more than $7.8 million.
The price tag for that first phase alone is a lot of money, and it is unclear where the funding will come from. We also acknowledge that not everything in the plan will happen. But at least district officials know what they someday hope to accomplish with Mayslake Hall.