I’m fully aware this substack is supposed to be about the architecture of Chicagoland. But if there is such a thing as a Chicago “North,” then it would have to be the shores of Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. Once called the “Newport of the West,” Geneva was first connected to Chicago starting in 1856 with daily trains on the Wisconsin Central Railroad. It took off as a vacation spot for wealthy Chicagoans beginning in the 1870s with early travelers stepping right off the rail platform to boat docks. Dozens of elegant yachts and steamers would take families with names like Wacker, Selfridge, and Seipp directly to their lakeshore residences. While many of those old mansions disappeared along the shoreline through the decades, there are a handful that have survived. Villa Hortensia, a twenty plus acre property that came with over 500 feet of lake frontage, was one of them until its demolition in early March.
The Destruction of Villa Hortensia
The Destruction of Villa Hortensia
The Destruction of Villa Hortensia
I’m fully aware this substack is supposed to be about the architecture of Chicagoland. But if there is such a thing as a Chicago “North,” then it would have to be the shores of Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. Once called the “Newport of the West,” Geneva was first connected to Chicago starting in 1856 with daily trains on the Wisconsin Central Railroad. It took off as a vacation spot for wealthy Chicagoans beginning in the 1870s with early travelers stepping right off the rail platform to boat docks. Dozens of elegant yachts and steamers would take families with names like Wacker, Selfridge, and Seipp directly to their lakeshore residences. While many of those old mansions disappeared along the shoreline through the decades, there are a handful that have survived. Villa Hortensia, a twenty plus acre property that came with over 500 feet of lake frontage, was one of them until its demolition in early March.