Charles H. Patten House-SOLD!

photo by G. LeTourneau

The most quintessentially Victorian house in my neighborhood just sold after being on the market for several years. We are all so happy! We thought it's fate would be grim, as other large Victorian homes on large lots have been sold to developers who tear them down to build condos. When the last owner died in 2004, the family held an estate sale on the property. I got to see inside the house, and purchased a few mementos (see below). The Patten House is only one block from our house, so one of these days, I can hopefully meet our new neighbors.

The house was built in 1898 for Charles H. Patten, a banker and former mayor of Palatine. Its design is Chateauesque/Queen Anne. The house remained in the Patten family until now. It became listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The first floor consists of a sitting room, parlor, library, dining room, kitchen and small bathroom. The second floor contains 5 bedrooms and one bath. The third floor has a billiard room, maid's quarters with a makeshift bathroom, and a sewing room.

The village originally thought it might purchase the house and use it for public functions. The citizens voted overwhelmingly on a 2007 referendum that would allow the village to spend $1.75 million to purchase the house. But our wishes were ignored as some council members decided against the purchase. We were outraged as the house sat there over the last few years, with various realtor signs up on the front lawn. The Patten House image, which was even on our village seal, was promptly removed.

The new owners are a young family with five children, who plan on raising them here. What a thrill to know that the Patten House will survive and be loved for another generation!

Below are the original floor plans of the house.

Here are some of the items I purchased at the estate sale at the Patten House. The Record Book was originally filled with names of Chicago companies, addresses, contact names and dates. I believe it may have been somebody's record of job-hunting because of the dates listed with each company. These entries date from after 1932.

The second batch of entries are a record of the books that were in the library of the house. These records are from sometime after 1947 (going by the dates of some of the books). The person who wrote these entries started to cross out the previous job-hunting entries, but stopped doing so after the first couple pages.

I also got a copy of "Rubaiyat" by Omar Khayyam and "Ninety-Three" by Victor Hugo. The Hugo novel is listed in the Record book, but Rubaiyat is not. Both books belonged to Jessie M. Lord from Dixon, Illinois. I have not been able to find out who she was.

Finally, I got this cup and saucer set. It's unmarked and I don't know whether it's old.

To learn more and see more of the Patten House, visit these links:

Charles H. Patten House on Wikipedia

Journal & Topics article

Trib Local article

nice Flickr Set by ChicagoGeek of the Patten House