Former Highland Park Mayor Designed This Restored 1892 Queen Anne

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — One of the few surviving designs by a leading Chicago architect of the 19th Century — one of Highland Park's most prominent early residents — sold this month for nearly $2.5 million.

Designed by two-term Highland Park Mayor William Boyington, the seven-bedroom Queen Anne design was originally built for businessman Palmer Montgomery nearly 130 years ago. The 8,700-square-foot home now sits on a 1.41-acre lot across the road from Moraine Park.

Boyington, who served as mayor of Highland Park from 1875 to 1877, designed the Chicago Water Tower, the Joliet Prison, Highland Park's Exmoor Country Club, the entrance to Rosehill Cemetery and several since-demolished Chicago luxury hotels, as well as the original Chicago Board of Trade and University of Chicago buildings.

After starting his career in the building industry in Massachusetts, Boyington twice lost his offices to fires before going on to serve in the New York state legislature and moving to Chicago in 1853, according to Julia Johnas, author of "Highland Park: Settlement to the 1920s."

Boyington is recognized with a commemorative plaque for the city's sesquicentennial, which notes his role in local civic improvements, including the Laurel Avenue viaduct, a water main system, and — unsurprisingly given how many times his offices burned down — improved fire protection services.

Before the Great Fire of 1871, Boyington developed a reputation for designing the largest and grandest buildings in Chicago. He would lose everything in that fire, and then again in another blaze three years later. But as the first president of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects, his firm went on to capture the most lucrative collection of rebuilding contracts, Johnas said in a 2008 lecture about Boyington.

In 1873, he built the Highland Park House, a prominent 125-room summer hotel at St. Johns Avenue and Ravine Drive. Completed a few years after the city's incorporation, Boyington and the building put the suburb on the map. The luxury building was built in the French style, with one contemporary observer describing it as having "all sorts of queer devices ornamenting the roof," Johnas said.

Six years after Highland Park's incorporation, Boyington was elected as mayor unanimously after having been nominated without his knowledge, according to Johnas, who She noted he began his inaugural address, "You have conferred upon me the honor of the highest position in your city government. This you have done in my absence from the city and without my previous solicitation."

From 1884 to 1887, Boyington was brought in to complete the design of the Illinois State Capitol, whose construction was stalled due to construction problems and possible corruption. Around the same time, he built two additional homes on land he had purchased in the area and moved into one of them.

---

The 1892-built Palmer A. Montgomery House originally had the address of 184 Moraine Road. According to real estate broker Kelly Rynes, who represented the sellers, the front door was shifted east about 20 years ago, giving the house a Sheridan Road address and getting rid of an in-ground swimming pool that would have been in the front yard.

The home was saved from possible demolition after its $1.2 million purchase in October 2007 by developer Dale Pinkert. His Northbrook-based firm spent $4 million renovating the property before listing it for $5.5 million in 2009, according to reports at the time.

In August 2014, Aaron Rasty purchased the property for $2.24 million through a corporate entity and added more interior upgrades to the restored mansion. It first returned to the market in March 2017 with a $3.65 million asking price.

Rynes, the most recent sellers' agent, took over the listing earlier this year. More than a half-dozen potential buyers toured the home, and the sellers accepted an offer three weeks the house hit the market in March. She told Highland Park Patch the property's privacy, with a ravine on one side and street on the other two, location across the street from a lakeside park, and move-in ready nature of the finishes all helped close the deal.

"We just have such a robust market," Rynes said. "Inventory, even at the luxury bracket, is lower than normal and demand is higher than normal. And so, using those parameters, we had a higher interest."

---

The home includes an elevator connecting its four floors, a mahogany-paneled library, a floor-to-ceiling windows on its rotunda, an eat-in kitchen with marble countertops, a grand staircase and spacious master suite.

Built in a mix of the Free Classic and half-timber subtypes of the Queen Anne style, Johnas said. According to its listing, it now includes energy saving and "smart home" technology, Tesla plugs, new electrical systems, two generators, pre-wired surround sound and a six-zone HVAC and more.

At least two other Boyington homes still stand in Highland Park. The home that later served as his personal residence at the corner of Sheridan Road and Edgecliff Drive sold in August 2020 for $730,000.

---

The year after building the recently sold home at Sheridan and Moraine roads, Boyington built the historic Sylvester Millard House, the historic log cabin on Sylvester Place at Millard Park. The home was last listed at nearly $3 million but is no longer on the market.

---

The new owners of Montgomery House are not yet identified in public records. According to the Lake County assessor's office, the home's estimated market value was $1.61 million last year for taxing purposes. Its annual property tax bill was about $44,700.

---

• Address: 2480 Sheridan Road, Highland Park, Illinois
• Built: 1892
• Lot Size: 1.41 acres
• Square Feet: 8,682
• Bedrooms: 7
• Bathrooms: 7 full, 3 half
• Last Sold: $2.24 million in August 2014
• First Listed: $3.65 million in March 2017
• Closing Price: $2.46 million on May 14

Listing information originally appeared on realtor.com. For more information and photos, click here.