Historic Home Reportedly Collapses During Renovation

A 123-year-old, Queen Anne-style home that was the center of a teardown controversy earlier this year reportedly collapsed while it was undergoing renovation early Friday evening, according to the seller of the property.

The house at 206 N. Washington that was built by a Civil War veteran in 1890, received a reprieve by the Hinsdale Village Board in January, after several members of the Hinsdale Village Board expressed disappointment that the home was slated for demolition.

Brian Hickey, the seller of the property and founder of Clarendon Hills-based teardowns.com, a website that connects sellers of property with redevelopment potential with interested buyers, told Hinsdale trustees in 2013 that such interior features as a hidden-in-the-back chef’s kitchen and a master bedroom without a closet or bathroom, made the home undesirable to modern buyers.

After two fruitless years on the market without an offer -- the house at 203 N. Washington St. had been listed as high at $2.2 million -- Hickey said he was able to sell the home in four days as a potential redevelopment at $1.1 million in 2013.

In January, the Hinsdale Village Board granted zoning variances that would have allowed the current owners to add new construction to the north and west sides of the house, while keeping many of the Queen Anne features on the facade. An attached garage was also to be added.

The house was assigned no historic designation, other than that it was over 100 years old.

The architect for the project was Culligan Abraham Architecture in Clarendon Hills. The builder was Mark Hickman Homes, of Hinsdale.

By Friday evening, the historic home was a pile of rubble. A neighbor said the house was leaning around 5 p.m.

Hinsdale Deputy Police Chief Mark Wodka said in an email he could only confirm that the home had been “demolitioned” sometime Friday evening.

The architect and builder could not be immediately reached for comment.