Anita Willets Burnham Log House, Illinois, United States
5.0 (1 review) Spent Ranking #4 in Winnetka Historic Sites
Once the longest occupied house in northern Illinois
The Anita Willets Burnham Log House, located at 1140 Willow Road in the Crow Island Woods of Winnetka, Illinois, was built in 1836 and was the longest occupied home in northern Illinois until the daughter of artist and author Anita Willets Burnham gifted it to the Winnetka Historical Society in 2001. The log house, which is 2 1/2 stories tall and made of hand-hewn squared oak logs, was built on a farmstead in south central Winnetka. In 1917, Willets Burnham purchased the house and moved it to 1401 Tower Road in northwest Winnetka. A prominent painter whose work was based on Impressionism and Realism and a writer who authored "Round the World on a Penny," an account of her travels in the 1920s, she lived in the house until her death in 1956. After her death, her two daughters lived in the home until their deaths in 1978 and 2000. At that time, the Winnetka Historical Society inherited the home and relocated it to its current address in Crow Island Woods. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and opened to the public in 2006. The house's history dates to the 1800s, when Pete Schmidt's family became the first documented residents from 1841 to 1870. Originally, it was part of a German immigrant settlement on Ridge Road near the present-day Indian Hill Club. The house has undergone many changes over the years. But thanks to restoration efforts by the Winnetka Historical Society, today the exterior looks much like it did in the early 20th century. In fact, 1836 axe cut marks are still visible on the square-cut logs on the original part of the house. And the Burnhams' 1917 addition on the back of the house remains intact.
Address
1140 Willow Rd Crow Island Woods, Winnetka, IL 60093-3645
Current local date and time now
Monday, May 13, 2024, 20:26
User Ratings
5.0 based on (1 review)
