Hinsdale's Terra Cotta House
The suburb of Hinsdale has been labelled “the teardown capital” of the Chicagoland area, which isn’t helped by the fact that last year they decided not to impose a temporary moratorium on demolitions. Yet surprisingly some historic homes do survive here, although who knows for how long? There are twenty local historic landmarks in the town, but the home at 134 North Lincoln Street is not one of them.
In 1894 William Day Gates, the founder and owner of the American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Company, one of the Midwest’s “big four” terra cotta producers, had this eighteen-room mansion built to showcase terra cotta, which had become the latest craze after the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
Gates hired the architectural firm of Jenney & Mundie to design the chateauesque-style residence, which became known as “The Terra Cotta House,” at the southwest corner of Walnut and Lincoln. There is a disputed story the home was actually built for the world’s fair, then dismantled and brought out to Hinsdale on flatbed cars and rebuilt.1 Whatever the truth, the walls of the house are double brick covered in terra cotta, a clay surface embellishment that can be glazed and molded into rich ornament. Gates used the unglazed version on the home’s exterior to show off his product.
Gates and his family lived here for just over a decade, selling it to Thomas R. Weddell, the insurance editor of the Chicago Record-Herald and later editor of The Insurance Post, in 1906. Thomas and his wife Mary lived here with their six children until his death in 1934. The Weddells decorated the home with William Morris wallpaper from Marshall Field’s and daughter Iris painted garden murals in the dining room.2
Their son Thomas “Mac” Weddell was the 1st casualty of the 380 local citizens who enlisted from Hinsdale to die in World War I, which resulted in the family becoming involved in financing the town’s Memorial Building.
When the original owner of the home, William Day Gates, retired in 1925, he constructed what would be his last residence, “Trail’s End,” near his company in Crystal Lake with the name symbolizing the end of his involvement with the business he had started in McHenry County in 1887. The entrance to his home, located on Terra Cotta Road, is guarded by two lions and still exists, although in need of restoration.
Back in 1881 Gates had bought clay beds north of what is now Crystal Lake, near the hamlet of Nunda. With steam pipes, kilns, kiln sheds, and an engine house, Gates initially manufactured drain tile and pipes but then went on to produce architectural terra cotta, glazed tiles, and Teco pottery, which became associated with Prairie School architecture.3 Kristian Schneider, American Terra Cotta's chief designer, was personal friends with architect Louis Sullivan, helping to create the ornament for a number of his buildings. The factory employed hundreds of local men, many of whom were immigrants like Schneider, with some living near the factory in kit homes sold by Sears and other companies.4 Other homes built for the workmen survive off Highway 31 and Old Squaw Creek Road.5 Today the company is known as TC Industries, after transitioning from clay to steel production, with the new firm located on the same site where Gates began his operation in Crystal Lake in 1881.6 Today a museum in Crystal Lake helps tell the story of this company, which survives in fragments and buildings all across Chicagoland.
https://hinsdaletest.wordpress.com/134-n-lincoln-ave/
https://hinsdaletest.wordpress.com/134-n-lincoln-ave/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-22-9311280490-story.html
https://mchenrycountyhistory.org/sears-home-map-crystal-lake
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-22-9311280490-story.html
https://toomeyco.com/visiting-the-american-terra-cotta-museum/