Hard to believe this charming cottage is a solar home, but it is one of dozens of solar powered homes and businesses on view Oct. 3 during the annual Solar Tour.
Want to snoop around inside cool, prestigious and historic houses?
Solar-powered homes, the glass house in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” snazzy bungalows in Oak Park and posh residences in the prestigious Hinsdale area will be open for viewing during the busiest weekend of the year for home tours.
Got your walkin’ shoes? Here’s the lineup:
Joel Pace uses rays from the sun to get hot water in his house in northwest suburban Park Ridge.
“I’ve always been interested in alternative energy,” he said. “Since the State of Illinois had a 50 percent co-payment program at the time I had it installed, it was a financially ideal time to get our solar water heater.
“And with three daughters in the house — the added incentive of abundant hot water was very attractive,” he said.
His residence will be one of dozens of homes — heated, cooled and powered by renewable sources — on the upcoming Solar Home Tour. The event includes about 100 stops all over the Chicago area.
Most of the homes (and some businesses) on the tour feature solar energy, though the event also includes technology for wind and geothermal energy.
Here are a few more stops on the event:
†Beth and Harry Drucker have solar hot water and solar electric in their Wilmette house.
“We heat all of our water for half of the year, and at least half our water for the other half of the year from solar,” he said. “The combination of our PV panels and switching to CFL bulbs reduced the electricity we purchase from the utility by two-thirds. Plus, seeing the PV panels serves as a constant reminder to turn off the lights!”
†Michelle Antonelli wants to set a good example for energy usage with solar hot water and solar space heating in her Batavia home. “I am an ecology teacher and an environmentalist,” she said.
†Mark Stellmach, also of Batavia, uses solar hot water and solar space heating. “This is a heat and hot water system that also helps to heat the pool,” he said.
†Ted Lowe of Wheaton installed his solar electric system six years ago. “I also drive an electric car, which can be up to 50 percent solar energy charged,” he said.
Solar Tour: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Admission: Free. Info: IllinoisSolar.org.‘Ferris Bueller’ house
Remember the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” when sneaky teens crashed a Ferrari through the wall of a house? That glass home will be among seven residences open for viewing during the Highland Park Historical Society annual housewalk.
†The Morris Kurtzon House, featuring a Jens Jensen landscape, has had only three owners since the time it was built around 1923.
“The kitchen has been redone, but otherwise everything is as it was the day it was built. Usually, woodwork gets painted, light fixtures get changed and garages are added, but that’s not the case here,” said Elliott Miller, president of the Highland Park Historical Society.
†The Reisler-Feingold House was designed in 1958 by Arthur Dennis Stevens, the youngest apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. Stevens served with the legendary architect at the Wisconsin studio in Taliesin from 1948 until 1953.
The home is surrounded by wooded land, so that in summer it’s difficult to see from the street.
Highland Park housewalk: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets, $35, or $30 in advance. Call the Highland Park Historical Society at (847) 432-7090, or e-mail hphisorical@sbcglobal.net.
Oak Park bungalows
Six vintage residences will showcase the variety, craftsmanship and economy of a classic home style during the Beautiful Bungalows tour in Oak Park.
† A large bungalow (80 by 39 feet) was built in 1922.
“Just behind the entry is a small library room, with stairs to the second floor — the maid’s room and a bath,” said Peg Zak, a researcher for the Pleasant Home Museum, the sponsor of the event. When the current owners bought the home, the fireplace didn’t work. But they found a gas pipe behind the logs, and the fireplace has been repaired.
One radiator has a cover made out of concrete, and three feet of the dining room floor are concrete. “Not sure why,” said Zak.
† Noted architect E.E. Roberts designed a bungalow 99 years ago. “Two elderly sisters owned the house and probably lived on the first floor only,” said Zak.
The bathroom and the kitchen have been updated.
“No permit was found to indicate when the back porch might have been enclosed, but there is a permit on file for a chicken house to be built in 1920,” said Zak. A window was covered over when the porch was redone.
Windows were so important for homes in those days, before air conditioning and fans.
The cost to build the home was $15,000, but a more modest home on the tour was built for $7,000.
†The owner on the building permit for a 1908 bungalow is listed as Mrs. A.R. Hemingway. “There is no documentation that she ever lived there,” said Zak.
“The Hemingway brothers — uncles of [author] Ernest Hemingway — were Realtors. They built many speculative houses in Oak Park.” †In 1917, a venture began to transform Kenilworth Avenue into a double-drive boulevard from Division Street to North Avenue.
The developers, Salinger and Hubbard, advertised it would be a grand boulevard with pergola, sundials, fountains, sunken gardens and flower beds. The 50-foot parkway remains, but the other decorative elements are gone. A Kenilworth Avenue bungalow on the tour was built in 1927.
Beautiful Bungalows: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Tours begin at 217 Home Ave. in Oak Park. Tickets: $35, or $40 on the day of the event. Call (708) 383-2654, or visit http://www.pleasanthome.org/.
Hinsdale
†An English Arts and Crafts home was built in 2005. A log cabin on the property is a replica of one original to the property.
†Over the last 20 years, a master bedroom, two bathrooms and a family room have been added to a 1949 house. The owners display items collected from trips to South America, Europe and the Far East.
Hinsdale housewalk: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $40, or $35 in advance at the Hinsdale Community House, 8th and Madison (where the tour also begins). Call (630) 532-4481.
