Craig Quackenbush remembers the first time he laid eyes on 51 S. Mayflower Road in Lake Forest more than 30 years ago. “I wasn’t quite sure what my wife Eva was thinking,” he remembers. “She loved this house. She always had. She had a vision for it that I did not. And she was right. She’s always right.”
The home Craig is referring to is the stunning David Adler that was built in 1928, as the coach house to the Alfred Hamill estate known as “Centaurs,” which is still located on East Illinois Road. This 6,700 square-foot house is most known for its 75-foot-tall tower that provides breathtaking views from its rooftop terrace and is currently on the market.
“As the stories go, Hamill was quite a character,” recalls Craig. “He loved Italy. And in Italy, the guy with the tallest tower had the most money.”
As only the fourth owners of the home, Craig and Eva truly transformed this five bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom home from an iconic symbol of the 1920s to a fully functioning modern home.
“When we moved into this house, the kitchen was on the second floor,” Craig says. “Can you even imagine living in a house where the kitchen was upstairs?”
Rethinking the home’s floor plan was at the cornerstone of the changes the Quackenbushes made to the Mayflower house. It was nothing for them to call on concrete experts to blast through the solid walls of the home’s structure. “I remember watching them enter Al Capone’s vault in Chicago and thinking ‘those are the guys who were at my house today.’” Indeed, the same crew that opened up the legendary mobster’s vault blew through walls of Craig’s first floor to create a more open flow for its living space.
Italianate in design, this home features a red-tiled roof, whitewashed brick, and a façade of elegant arches. Guests are welcomed into the home through a lovely front door acquired at the Chicago Botanic Garden Antique Sale; inside, you can hear beautiful music (French on the day of our visit) piped through the home’s sound system. The foyer is light and airy and leads into the masculine office that features a wall of bookcases complete with rolling ladder.
The formal living room enjoys grand windows that were once garage bays, brick floors, and a fireplace. The dining room features an archway leading to the butler’s pantry with antique carved woodwork imported from Afghanistan. The Quackenbushes have a matching doorway at their home in France—treasures they acquired through a friend who is an antique dealer.
The updated chef’s kitchen features granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. There is a Wolf six-burner gas range with double oven, and Sub-Zero refrigerator and separate Sub-Zero freezer with drawers, a Viking wine fridge and trash compacter, and a Bosch dishwasher. Through brick archways, the kitchen connects to a delightful sun room—a breakfast room with a brick floor and peaceful views of the property that reminds the Quackenbushes of their beloved Paris.
The tower is 101 steps to the top. The stairwell that ascends the tower wraps around the perimeter with charming windows along the way to provide beautiful views in all directions and at all levels.
The fourth level of the tower is a magnificent study with a vaulted ceiling and a wood burning fireplace. The carved wood doors echo the front façade of the home and the walls feature Byzantine murals painted by Russian artist Nikolai Remisoff (1887-1975). Alfred Hamill, who was the President of the Lake Forest Library at the time, commissioned Nikolai to paint murals at the library as well.
“It’s in this room where you see the home’s age,” says Craig of the cracks in the Byzantine mural, in spite of the room’s 21st century conveniences of air conditioning and a gas-starting fireplace. “We arrested the inevitable toll time takes on fresco and have maintained the room in its original 1928 conception.” A surprise awaits on the fifth level with a bedroom, bathroom, and a sitting room. The final ascent to the sixth level brings you to the roof-top patio with spectacular views in every direction.
When asked if Craig will be sad to leave this Adler masterpiece, he is slow to answer. “This has been a wonderful house for us, our children, and our grandchildren, but 30 years is a long time to be anywhere. It’s time for us to move on.”
For more information about 51 S. Mayflower in Lake Forest, visit 51mayflower.info.
– Ann Marie Scheidler // Photography by Jim Prisching
