Meeting on McKee House Restoration Efforts Set for Aug. 21

The status of and potential restoration efforts for the McKee House will be shared during a public meeting related to the Churchill Woods Forest Preserve’s McKee House. The meeting will be held Wed., Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Lake Ellyn Boathouse in Glen Ellyn.

Residents and community members are invited to attend the meeting, which will feature an update from an architect with AltusWorks Inc., an architectural design firm that specializes in historic structures and which  the Forest Preserve District’s Board of Commissioners contracted with to study the McKee House, according to a news release from the district.

During the program, the current status of the structure and the design firm’s initial findings concerning potential restoration efforts will be shared. Staff from the district’s office of planning and Commissioner Tim Whelan will be in attendance during the meeting.

The Churchill Woods buildings have been subject to a vocal preservation campaign since the District first announced its intentions to tear them down back in 2006, a campaign led by the Citizens for Glen Ellyn Preservation and McKee’s granddaughter, Barbara Plumer. Glen Ellyn Patch reported on the issue in March 2013.

The McKee House was built in the 1930s and served as a residence for Forest Preserve District superintendents, according to the Forest Preserve District. Until 1996 the property was used as a home and was then transitioned into a guardhouse. In Feb. 2013, the District’s Board of Commissioners allocated funds for an architectural study of the McKee House — currently underway — to determine the best course of action for the building. Information about the building can be found on the McKee House at Churchill Woods page on the District’s website, under “Forest Preserve News” and “Plans and Projects.”

For more information about the meeting, call Jessica Ortega in the District’s Office of Planning at 630-871-6404.