Restoration Work Underway At The Givins Castle

CHICAGO — Restoration work has begun on the Givins Castle at 103rd and Longwood in the Beverly neighborhood and is expected to be completed by the fall. Jean Robinson, a member of The Castle restoration task force at the Beverly Unitarian Church, said work on the castle's three turrets began on May 29 and the roof and parapets will also be repaired by late September or early October.

"We need to praise Mark 1 Restoration, a wonderful historic preservation company we are contracting with," Robinson said. "Behind the scaffolding and fenced-in areas, all the stones are labeled and well organized. Every stone is identified and laid out, so they can evaluate which stones are damaged and can't be used, but most stones can."

The project to complete the repairs will cost about $1 million, Robinson said. Most of it has been funded through a $240,000 grant from the city of Chicago's Adopt-A-Landmark fund, $400,000 from the members of the Beverly Unitarian Church that use the castle building and about $100,000 from the Beverly/Morgan Park community.

Funding from the city has come in reliably, Robinson said, and that officials there have been consistent in ensuring the project is one of a historic renovation "and not a remodeling."

Another $300,000 was anticipated to have come from the state of Illinois' Rebuild Illinois fund, but financial problems at the state level have led the Castle task force to be unsure on if that money will come in "1, 2, 3 or even 4 years down the road," Robinson said.

"We would be home free" on paying for the restoration if those funds came in, she said.

So instead, the task force is reaching out to see if the final amount needed to pay for the restoration could come from the community. Donations can be made online here or via a check in the mail to the Givins Castle, 10244 S. Longwood Drive Chicago, IL 60643.

"It has been a process.... but really satisfying," Robinson said. "We've had a major donor from the greater Chicagoland area, but most of our support has come from Beverly and Morgan Park."