Hinsdale Church Caught In Preservation Dispute

HINSDALE, IL – A Hinsdale church priced a historic house too high, leading to its likely demolition, a preservation official said last week.

A church leader spoke out in defense.

They were talking about the proposal to tear down the house at 142 E. First St., which appeared in a Hallmark commercial in 1970.

The request to tear down the nearly 160-year-old house and replace it was before the village's Historic Preservation Commission.

Robert Cimala, president of Legacy Homes Cimala, said preserving the 2½-story house would cost too much.

Among the problems, he said, were a crumbling foundation, sloped walls, uneven floors and a 6-foot-high basement ceiling.

"Just to try to lift up the house to put a new foundation in would cost $390,000, so I made the determination at that point that I wasn't going to try to remodel it. I would try to demolish it," Cimala said.

He said the real estate agent told him 74 people contacted her and that nobody was interested in saving the house. Rather, they wanted to tear it down, he said.

For three decades, the neighboring Grace Episcopal Church has owned the house. It was listed for $2.3 million.

"Had that house been priced as a rehab, it might have been a rehab project for somebody," said John Bohnen, the commission's chairman. "But the church decided they wanted to maximize their yield on the asset."

He said the village has fought hard for preservation, including keeping condos out of downtown.

"We're the only suburb on the west side that is not inundated with condos in downtown," Bohnen said. "We don't want transit-oriented development, where people come out, sleep in their box, turn around and go back to the city."

He said it hurts whenever Hinsdale loses a piece of its heritage.

"If you do away with all of your traditions, you're just another town," Bohnen said.

Sarah Tims, the church's senior warden, said the church was told by four real estate agents that the house was a teardown. Those agents included Courtney Bohnen Stach, Bohnen's daughter.

Tims said the church took the average of the agents' recommended prices. At the same time, she said, some in the village suggested the church take a steep price concession.

But she said no one could give an assurance that the new owner would not turn around and demolish the house, making a quick profit on the church's back.

"As an elected fiduciary of the church, that's not something I could tolerate," Tims said. "So I did not make that price concession."

Tims also took exception to Bohnen's argument about being just another town.

"A town that loses its churches is worse than just another town," she said. "A thriving church, a safe, stable, thriving preschool will attract more families to Hinsdale and will do better for Hinsdale than any historic house that we have."

Bohnen said the commission must still give its "sermonette" about preservation because that is its mission.

"I'm not casting any aspersions on the Realtors, one being my daughter," he said.

The commission voted unanimously against the demolition and the proposed new house, which some members said was too bulky for the neighborhood.

The commission's decisions are only advisory; now the issues go to the elected Village Board.

The board's decisions in such matters are nonbinding, meaning the owners can proceed as long as they comply with the village code.