The RHS Facebook page is a rich archive of history-related posts by Carol Flynn, RHS Facebook admin and writer until mid-2025. Carol prolifically wrote a wide variety of meticulously researched local history articles for RHS. She continues to write for the Beverly Review and other media sources with articles particularly focused on local Ridge history.
November 2022
There are still seats open for this Friday evening's program at the Ridge Historical Society on photographing architecture. The event starts at 7 p.m., at RHS, 10621 S. Seeley Avenue. The cost is $10 for RHS members and $15 for non-members.
The program presenter is Mati Maldre. Mati, an Emeritus Professor of Art/Photography at Chicago State University, taught photography there and at the Beverly
Art Center for 35 years. His photographs have been widely published, placed in collections, and exhibited in the United States and abroad in/with significant organizations such as The Art Institute of Chicago, The International Venice Architecture Biennial and The
Chicago Architecture Biennial. Mati has photographed for The Encyclopedia Britannica, the U.S. Dept. of the Interior’s Historic
American Building Survey and Chicago’s Landmarks Commission. Maldre is the co-author with Paul Kruty and photographer for
Walter Burley Griffin in America and The Chicago Bungalow. He also provided 100 photographs for The Griffins in Australia and India,
and the Beverly chapter for The AIA Guide to Chicago Architecture. Mati has received numerous commissions, awards and honors including two Individual Graham Foundation Grants and a Graham Foundation Grant for his book, Walter Burley Griffin in America.
He has also earned a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, a Chicago Architecture Foundation Grant, an Illinois Humanities Council Grant and an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship. Currently Mati is the Chair of the RHS Historic Buildings Committee.
Reservations may be made through Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/RHSlectureshttps://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eventbrite.com%2F…%2Fhetherington-architectural%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1sDKyO-emN20Sqhxl4lsbvzCA9tSDLeFmnzq7aV6BOqlljcT8j0msaAb2A5LjbJyWRM5EtSmkn15HuVF0zBYynOjt9ruxufwdCPtvNgFI9Qw6eNicDfOr1oErpLuxCFvcCWa3kpSRW4MGnVBv3mlypThGYPhaKZ2-MdPYS0Kizx&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT0efWfxIG8avS9F_q8WDUQLsNJcm-uPRKyPjbp8OM6hwE_ufRdAviDygHio9Vmrg69RmJwtjVMrMJPXOn9lpHGxEtDV4LhVzEUatx5BWyGwiBKNgndUV0MPuXA83btDceDjb6u1cC_kKHgZOjFkRH7dCH9SRfzT9kXBedmJWhrkRlIULGbZk1PK8XULkjHfpDVge0TEM8bo
The Ridge Historical Society
The History of the Graver-Driscoll House – Part 4: Design of the Graver-Driscoll House
By Carol Flynn, research contributors Linda Lamberty, RHS Historian, and Tim Blackburn
Herbert and Anna Spencer bought the property at 10616 S. Longwood Drive on the Blue Island Ridge on February 14, 1921. They engaged architect John Todd Hetherington to design a house for their growing family. Their only child, Herbert Spencer Graver, Jr., was born on April 26, 1921.
Hetherington designed the Graver-Driscoll House as a Tudor Revival-style manor house. Built of brick and stone with a slate roof, the house has four levels including a full basement and attic, and an attached two-car garage. The walk-out terraces on the Longwood Drive side, nestled into the Ridge, blend the house into the natural terrain.
The building permit for the house was dated October 6, 1921, so actual construction began around then. The contractor was D. A. Van Etten. The final inspection report was dated June 7, 1922, where the final cost of the house was given as $30,000.
Originally, the only entrance to the property was up the steep driveway from Longwood Drive, around the south side of the house, to the entrance door and garage on the west side of the house. The driveway on the Seeley Avenue, or west, side of the house, with the address 10621 S. Seeley Avenue, was added in the 1940s by the second owner of the house, the Fenn Family.
The Fenn family shared with RHS the brochure on the house that was produced when the Graver family put the house on the market in 1940. It is not known if the Gravers altered the house from the original design during their years living there.
The contents of the 1940 brochure are shared here.
Next post: The Graver Family and Graver Tank Works
The Ridge Historical Society
The History of the Graver-Driscoll House – Part 3: Architect John Todd Hetherington
By Carol Flynn, research contributors Linda Lamberty, RHS Historian, and Tim Blackburn
Herbert and Anna Graver purchased the land at 10616 Longwood on February 14, 1921, and chose architect John Todd Hetherington, a Beverly resident, to design their home. Hetherington had designed many fine homes in the Beverly/Morgan Park community by this time, as well as Ridge Park at 96th Street and Longwood.
Hetherington was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1858 where his parents, Henry Duncan Hetherington and Jessie Todd Hetherington, both from Scotland, owned a drug store. When his father died in 1862, his mother returned to Scotland with John and his three brothers.
Hetherington received his architectural training in Scotland and worked for a short time in Edinburgh. He came to the U.S. in 1881 and began his career in Chicago as a draftsman with Treat and Foltz architectural firm.
He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1886. In 1888, he and Jane C. Welsh, from the same village in Scotland where Hetherington spent his youth, were married in Chicago. Their children were Grace, who died in infancy, Alec, Murray, and Jean.
After eight years with Treat and Foltz, Hetherington started practice as an architect. He partnered with other architects for several years and eventually started an independent practice around 1910. He was involved in projects for hotels, apartment buildings, churches, and banks in addition to many fine residences in many locales.
Hetherington moved to Beverly around 1901. The family lived in an existing house at 9616 S. Prospect Avenue. In 1906, he designed and built a home for the family at 9236 S. Winchester Avenue. Around 1920, he bought an existing house at 9122 S. Longwood and converted it into a three-flat apartment building and the family lived in one of the apartments.
Hetherington served as a member of the Ridge Park Board of Commissioners from 1911 to 1913. Although he recommended another local architect for the project, in 1912 the other board members asked Hetherington to design Ridge Park. Hetherington created an original plan including a small field house, outdoor swimming pool, wading pool, and a running track, which was implemented in 1913.
In 1919, his son Murray Douglas joined him as Hetherington and Son. Murray was a 1914 graduate of the Chicago School of Architecture, a joint program of the Art Institute and the Armour Institute of Technology.
Daughter Jean graduated from the Art Institute Normal Program in 1917 and began a career as a “draftswoman.” Considered a “man’s field,” there were only two women architects in the city at the time. Jean created actual miniature models of buildings, which were likely valuable marketing tools for her father's business.
Son Alec started as an electrician, then served in the U.S. Army during World War I. After the war, he went into farming, then eventually into airplane mechanics.
John Todd and Murray Hetherington are credited with designing over sixty buildings in the Ridge communities. They were known for the quality of their designs and solidly constructed buildings. Neither of them developed a totally unique or distinctive style of his own. They showed versatility by designing in several different architecture styles.
By 1929, the community had outgrown the Ridge Park field house. John Todd and Murray Hetherington were commissioned to design a larger one. Part of the old fieldhouse became the auditorium, and an addition was built around the outdoor swimming pool. A gymnasium and club rooms were added, as well as a wing to house the John H. Vanderpoel Art Gallery.
John Todd Hetherington died in 1936, attributed to injuries from an auto accident the year before. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
Murray Hetherington continued the family dynasty of architects. He and Mildred Lyon, a local artist, married in 1924. Their daughter Mary died young, and their son John “Jack” Murray also became an architect. Murray designed the house at 8918 S. Hamilton Avenue for his family, but they lost that house during the Great Depression, and moved into Mildred’s family’s house at 10153 S. Prospect Avenue. Today, fourth generation John Lawrence Hetherington practices as an architect.
Next: The design of the Graver-Driscoll House
There's still time to sign up for Friday evening's program on researching the history of your home. There are a few seats left.
The program will be held at RHS, 10621 South Seeley Avenue. The cost for each program is $10 for RHS members and $15 for non-members. A reception will follow each program. Parking is on Seeley Avenue. Entrance to the house is wheel-chair accessible but the restroom facilities are not.
Register through Eventbrite at: https://www.eventbrite.com/…/hetherington-architectural…
For questions, contact RHS at 773-881-1675 or ridgehistory@hotmail.com.
The Friday Evening Hetherington Architectural Lecture Series begins this week. Here are the three upcoming programs.
The programs will be held at RHS, 10621 South Seeley Avenue. The cost for each program is $10 for RHS members and $15 for non-members. A reception will follow each program. Parking is on Seeley Avenue. Entrance to the house is wheel-chair accessible but the restroom facilities are not.
Register through Eventbrite at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hetherington-architectural-lecture-series-tickets-443264575277
For questions, contact RHS at 773-881-1675 or ridgehistory@hotmail.com.