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Harriet Rees House Braves Rain for Three-Day Journey to New Home

By Mauricio Peña | November 11, 2014 11:07am
 The historical mansion is being relocated to make way for new McCormick event center.
Rees House Moving
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SOUTH LOOP Inch by inch, movers carefully maneuvered the historic Harriet Rees House atop a metal bed with 232 tires from the spot where it's stood since 1888 Tuesday morning.

The mansion move started promptly at 8 a.m., but was temporarily halted at 9:21 a.m. on the corner of 21st Street and South Prairie Avenue as rain began to fall.

"The house, including all the equipment and the beams, this weighs around 1,050 tons," said Peter Kuhn, senior executive project manager at Bulley & Andrews. "The project will take three days to move the building from from its original location to its relocation site."

"You don't see houses move like this every day," Kuhn said.

William Tyre, executive director and curator of Glessner House Museum and author of "Chicago's Historic Prairie Avenue," said he was excited that the historic house was being preserved rather than torn down to make way for the McCormick Place Event Center.

"Most homes like these were torn down in the '20s," Tyre said. "Most recently, the last home was torn down in 2002, but it's important that we preserve what is left here.

"The entire project is bringing attention back to Prairie Avenue and the history of the people who lived here who had a prominent role in developing the city," Tyre added.

Residents came out early Tuesday morning to witness the historic event.

"This is very exciting," said Linda Jones, 45, who came out to see the move. "I've never seen anything like this done before. I wish I'd seen how they got the house on the beams."

James Gorski, 43, a local architect, brought his two sons out early to see the move. 

"It's a historical part of the development, and it's great they are saving the building," Gorski said. "I'm most interested in seeing how they set it down, that's the riskiest part."

Last month, the Rees House's coach house made the initial trek from 2110 S. Prairie Ave. to the new location at 2017 S. Prairie Ave., across the street on the block's east side.

At the time, Tina Feldstein, president and executive director of the Prairie District Neighborhood Association, said the new site was "not a perfect area, but it definitely is one of the better choices for where it could have gone."

"It stays within the context of the Prairie District, which is important," Feldstein said."

The house is expected to complete its move Thursday.

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