Milton Schwartz House
Route 1, Stop 1
Description by Conor Libit
Address: 450 Signal Hill Road, North Barrington
Architect: Milton Schwartz
5 Bedrooms, 4.5 Bathrooms
Built: 1962
Architect Milton Schwartz is an incredibly prolific architect having designed more than 2,900 homes, buildings, and schools all around Chicago and its suburbs. As a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright he followed the design principle of prioritizing nature and natural materials into his designs. The house at 450 Signal Hill Road was designed for Schwartz’s family and is a fantastic example of these design principles. As you arrive at the house you are funneled between the detached garage which is joined to the house by beams that stretch over the entryway through the living room sunken family room and then out the far wall forming a roof over the porch. This bit of compression and release in addition to the overhead beams draw your views from the front entrance straight through to the unobstructed views of Honey Lake. The property the house sits on was originally part of The Oaks Farm, a stable of prized and prize-winning Arabian horses. Owned by the family of Patricia Mervis who was married to Milton Schwartz. The 200 acre property was divided up upon Patricia’s fathers death in 1959 unintentionally allowing the creation of many mid century homes in North Barrington.
The house has changed hands throughout the years and furniture and finishes have been changed however much of the structural character remains and its easy to get a feel for Schawrtz’s original vision.
Can't Miss:
The cedar and cypress exposed beams and ceilings throughout the house.
The magnificent views from every room in the house. Milton Schwartz Bio
Milton Schwartz Bio
By Barbara L. Benson
Born in Chicago in 1924, Milton M. Schwartz, at age 20 received degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Civil Engineering and Aeronautics. In 1948 he completed graduate studies in architecture and graphics from the Institute of Design in Chicago.
During the Second World War he worked with Chance Vought Aircraft Company performing aerodynamic research and development, and human analysis of pilot spaces for experimental aircraft. From 1945 to 1947 he was a structural engineer with Barnes and Reineke of Chicago, and from 1947 to 1952 he worked at Sears Roebuck and Company planning and designing domestic and foreign stores.
For the next five decades he designed more than 2,915 houses, buildings and schools throughout the Chicago suburbs, the United States and 17 foreign countries. His architectural innovation and style attracted widespread publicity in magazines, newspapers and trade journals.
In 1952, he married Patricia Mervis, the daughter of Jack Mervis, owner of the well known Oaks Arabian Stables at Honey Lake in Barrington. As the 300-acre property was gradually dispersed, his children kept some of the parcels. Pat and Milton Schwartz retained the parcel that is now 450 Signal Hill Road. Here Milton designed a conversion of an Oaks stable as residence for Pat and himself. The 300 acres, gradually sold, became Oaksbury of North Barrington.
The Schwartzes moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in the 1990s, where he was named Adjunct Professor to the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico. His class “Architecture for Extreme Environments” brought students from diverse nationalities and academic disciplines together with world renowned astronauts, scientists and engineers.
At his death in July, 1997 an extensive Obituary in the Barrington Courier Review detailed the extent of his remarkable career and achievements.