The current owners of the Bradley House hope a nonprofit group buys the residence as a public site for education and history purposes.
Harley Bradley went to Kankakee when his grandfather moved a growing farming equipment company from Chicago to North Kankakee. The people of North Kankakee were so pleased to have the new business, they renamed the town Bradley.
In 1900, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house in Kankakee for Harley Bradley and his wife, Anna. The Bradley Home, set along the Kankakee River, will be open for touring on Saturday.
The Bradleys lived in the house until about 1913, notes the Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley.
The next long-term owner was Joseph Dodson, who resided there for 34 years until his death in 1949. Dodson was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade for two decades. He also was a bird enthusiast. At one time, he was president of the National Audubon Society.
A few years later, Marvin Hammack and Raymond Schimel, who had been cooks in the U.S. Navy, bought the house -- and turned it into a restaurant, calling it Yesteryear. It operated from 1953 to 1983. It was then sold to continue as a restaurant, but the new owners had financial problems and the restaurant closed.
Then, Steve and Nancy Small, members of a prominent Kankakee family, purchased the home in order to restore it to its original condition. Most of the furnishings and architectural elements (such as art-glass windows, art-glass cabinet doors and light-screens above the dining room table) had been sold by this time.
The restoration was under way when Steve Small was killed in a botched kidnapping in 1987. The kidnappers were caught, and one was sentenced to death. The Smiths were neighbors to former Gov. George Ryan.
In 2005, Gaines and Sharon Hall bought the property in order to save the stable from demolition, and they moved into the home. It was the first time the house had served as a residence in many years. They restored the stable to its original configuration and opened it as a gift shop in November 2005. Then they began restoring the house.
"From our 'private owner' perspective, the restoration work within our means is complete," Gaines Hall said. The Halls would like for a nonprofit entity to acquire the property as a public site for education and history purposes.
"That was always our hope," Hall said. "Grants are available to nonprofits for that kind of effort but not for private owners.
"We have lived here the entire time except living in temporary quarters for a year due to a fire that was not related to construction in progress," he said. "There were surprises [during the restoration], but mostly learning differences in the original plans and original construction that were made along the way by Mr. Wright or the Bradleys."
Residing in a Wright home means appreciating architectural history. "Living here has made us aware of how 'livable' a Wright-designed house is," he said. It is too large for two people, and it should have live-in servants as designed for, but it is still a delight to live in."
The property is in its best condition in many years, notes the Community Foundation of the Kankakee River Valley. Floors have been refinished. Bathrooms have new fixtures and fittings. Woodwork has been refinished (or replaced). There are new interior wood-framed screens/storm windows on nearly 100 windows. The house has six zones of heating and cooling. A dining table and chair replicate originals designed by Wright.
Tom Knicklebine of Knicklebine Construction handled repairing, restoring and replicating the woodwork. He also reproduced molding patterns, doors, windows and cabinets.
The Halls have added a pool table of Prairie design in quartersawn oak to match the woodwork in the house. A billiards table was not an original item of the house, but it was a must-have for the Halls, who added it mostly for their grandchildren.
"I have taught my grandson, now 10, too well," Hall said. "He seems to win more often all the time."
