MR. and Mrs. Robert Platt, who have a taste for the antique and the spacious, have purchased the homestead at 10820 Drew Street, which is one of the oldest pieces of architecture in Morgan Park, having been built in 1873 by an Englishman named Hopkinson. The home, which originally faced south on Prospect Avenue and was surrounded by several acres of wooded ground, was subdivided several years ago. But Mr. and Mrs. Platt, in purchasing the huge old home, which has an unusual tradition for hospitality, saved a large portion of the old estate.
An ingenious shifting of the entrance from the south to the east now makes it face on Drew Street, on which the site has a long frontage. Most of the grounds, however, are now at the rear, or west side, and are beautifully wooded. One of the oak trees, seven hundred years old, is considered the oldest in Cook County, and another huge oak is 500 years old. Tradition has it that no less than three weddings were held under the older oak, with its wide branches for a canopy.
The house itself, built in the English manner of the last century, and built to last, contains ten rooms, a sleeping porch, an enclosed porch and a wide veranda. The original scroll work that decorated the gables has been removed. The exterior has been completely redecorated, the weather boarding removed and white stucco applied, the last coat being cement, so that it can be washed. The wide eaves and wood trim have been painted green. The effect thus produced incorporates the spaciousness of the old with the more simple and pleasing aspect of the modern.
The entrance hall, on the southeast corner, opens to a large living room on the southwest corner and to the dining room on the east. The lower floor also contains a library and a study on the west, with the kitchen and rear porch on the north. The ceilings are very high, the windows, arched at the top, very tall, and the wood trim is golden oak, imported from England when the house was first built. The fixtures, of antique brass design, originally for gas, have been preserved and wired for electricity. There are fireplaces in both the living and dining rooms.
The upper floor contains five bedrooms, the bath and the sleeping porch, and over this is a large attic. The master bedroom occupies a position over the living room and the lower hall, and is very large. An addition, which has been built on the west side, provides the sleeping porch on this floor and an enclosed porch below. The remodeling of the home has been with the view of making the west side, with its views of the beautiful grounds at the rear, the living side. An oil heating plant has been installed.
The picture reproduced above was taken from the west side.
Original Article
