A few years back, no one gave the two mansions at Granville Avenue on North Sheridan Road much chance for survival, stuck as they were on a thoroughfare lined with high rises.
It will offer classes in portrait painting, puppetry, poetry, watercolors, improvisational theater, basic drawing, photography, and Chinese cooking, and at relatively low tuition (with scholarships available). There will be seminars on art, film, and poetry, as well as special programs for children and senior citizens. The rooms that offer the building’s most magnificent view of Lake Michigan can be rented for weddings and other functions; community groups can hold meetings there.
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It was from start to finish a textbook example of neighborhood cooperation. The center’s backers somehow or other united the often rival factions of 49th and 48th ward aldermen David Orr and Kathy Osterman, won Park District approval, and then raised about a half-million dollars to cover construction and operation costs.
“The Viatorians stayed here all those years when Sheridan Road was changing,” says Jack O’Callaghan, a member of the center’s board of directors. “Why did the high rises come? Simple enough–money. The developers made tremendous offers. You could sell your home for thousands and thousands of dollars. Of course people sold; wouldn’t you? People won’t do anything for money, but they will do some things.
“They decided that it was too expensive for them,” says Mazer. “They wanted to be closer to their school, which they had moved to Arlington Heights. The community was nervous because we figured every developer in town was going to be after the land. Estimations of the land’s value ran in the millions. You can understand why–it was the last lakefront parcel waiting to be developed.”
So now ECC–led by Robert Remer, its president at the time–directed their protests against the Park District. They held a series of protest marches (which were well covered by the local paper), including one in which they erected a cross on the Thorndale Street beach that was supposed to symbolize the “death of Lake Michigan.”
“We had all sorts of fund-raising ideas, including ‘buy-a-brick.’ That was my idea. I got it from Portland, Oregon, where an entire square was paved over with bricks-bought by donors. We couldn’t use bricks, so we settled on small plaques with the donors named on them. You could get your name on the plaque as a donor for $25. Buy-a-brick raised $20,000.”
