The Homestead

Posted on 4/28/26

Authored & Curated By
M.J.G.

“The Homestead,” name of the residence the Holt family resided, is located at 570 North Sheridan Road in Lake Forest, Illinois. It was said to be built in 1860 for Devillo R. Holt and Ellen Hubbard Holt, the house is one of Lake Forest’s early Italianate villas and has been attributed to architect Asher Carter. George H. Holt, the son of Devillo and Ellen Holt, was later associated with the property, which appears in early city directories simply as being on Sheridan Road. Although no verified historic interior photographs of the house have been located publicly online, surviving exterior views, family images, and later descriptions help place the residence within Lake Forest’s earliest period of country-house development. The house’s central-hall plan, parlor, study or library, conservatory bow window, and dining room suggest the ordered domestic arrangement typical of substantial mid-nineteenth-century suburban villas, while its long association with the Holt family gives it added importance within the early residential history of Lake Forest. Remarkably, the house still stands today and remains largely intact, preserving one of the early residential landmarks of Lake Forest. The house was in the family name until 1960.

Thanks to the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Kenosha History Center: Louis Thiers Collection for permission to use these photos.

This 1881 atlas shows the Holt property at the corner across from the university grounds and adjoining parkland, identified as parcel 172 1/2. You will also notice that the road facing the house was then called University Avenue. At some point, University Avenue was renamed Sheridan Road. The road on the other side, now known as College Road, was originally named Linden Avenue.

This glass plate negative gives us a crisp, detailed view of “The Homestead” in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The house is photographed from the corner of the property, giving us a clear perspective view of the residence and its surrounding grounds. The property appears to have been carefully maintained, with landscaping that follows typical gardening trends of the late 1800s.

The exterior appears to have undergone some changes since the 1860s, as we can see in this photograph. No earlier image of the house has been located yet, though perhaps one will surface in the future and allow this record to be updated. Before looking more closely at the house itself, let’s first examine the grounds. It is also always enjoyable to see the shutters in use.

Here is a view of the lawn to the left of the house. In the background, what appear to be the wheels of a carriage can be seen, while the foreground gives us a closer look at several distinctive metal chairs arranged on the grounds.

The chair seen here belongs to a style known by several names, including the Carré Sunburst Chair, French Button Chair, Pinwheel Chair, and Spring Steel Chair. Its origins appear to trace back to Paris, where Félix Carré began producing this distinctive metal chair design in the 1850s. By 1865, the design was notable enough that one guidebook described Carré’s chairs as “a real revolution.” Carré reportedly filed an American patent in 1866, later acquired by Lalance and Grosjean, and may have sought protection for the design in other countries as well. An 1870 advertisement for Usine Carré, reproduced below, shows the firm offering a wide range of metalwork, including chairs, velocipedes, and greenhouses. That year also marked a turning point for the business, as the factory was badly damaged and subsequently sold to another metal manufacturer.

For more information on this style of chair, click here.

The lawn had neatly edged gravel paths cut through it, giving the grounds a structured and carefully maintained appearance. The potted plants may have been moved out of the conservatory for the summer, a common seasonal practice that allowed tender plants to benefit from warmer weather while also ornamenting the grounds.

What we often call garden urns today were frequently referred to as vases or garden vases during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This example stands on a stepped, pyramid-like base, adding a formal architectural element to the lawn. The surrounding grass is neatly manicured, further emphasizing the careful maintenance of the grounds.

Here is a page from the Barbee Wire and Iron Works catalog from the 1890s, showing illustrations of the different types of garden vases that could be purchased during this period.

The house has a wonderful front porch, and this view allows us to see several period details clearly. Vines have been trained up the porch on wires, a common treatment that softened the architecture and tied the house to its surrounding landscape. The photograph also suggests that the exterior was not painted in a single flat color. Instead, it appears to have had a polychrome paint scheme, with architectural details picked out in contrast. This may have involved two or three colors, such as a main body color, a separate window-sash color, and a distinct trim color, which was a popular exterior treatment during the period.

On the right chimney, a lightning rod is just visible, with its conductor wire running along the roofline and down the side of the house. The roof also includes a small deck or lookout platform, while the low attic windows add another notable detail to the upper portion of the residence.

Following the wire downward, we can see that it passes directly over the conservatory, which adjoins the bay window. The conservatory was carefully designed to harmonize with the adjoining architecture, echoing the woodwork and arched forms of the bay. This glass-roofed space is especially fascinating to study. Although conservatories appear frequently in photographs from this period, they are far less common in American houses today. If you look closely through the windows, what appears at first to be reflected glass is actually the interior siding of the room, with the shadows of the window framing cast across the back wall. There also seems to be a tightly stepped shelving unit against the rear wall, likely used for displaying smaller potted plants. The upper windows are open, probably to help regulate the temperature. Period books on conservatories often discuss the difficulty of keeping these rooms from becoming excessively hot and damaging the plants, making ventilation and temperature control an important part of their daily management.

Also notice, the bay window had shutters cluttered together on them at one point. You can see the shutter hinges still in place.

Another nineteenth-century view of the house gives us a slightly different perspective on “The Homestead” and its surrounding grounds. We can see here more of the front of the house not obscured by trees. Second floor has many of the bedroom shutters closed or partially closed.

Let’s now look inside the house. At present, only one interior photograph from this period has been located, but it gives us a valuable glimpse into the home and its connection to the Aesthetic Movement.

The large Eastlake bookcases on either side of the doorway are topped with finials and finished with carved details. Both are lined with books, giving the room a studied, well-furnished character.

Below, we get a closer look at the design and construction of the bookcase. In front of it sits a comfortable leather library chair, tufted and pleated, set on an Eastlake frame.

The hallway is lined with an unusual patterned carpet, with a throw rug placed in front of the room’s entrance. In the lower portion of the photograph, we can also see the border of the carpet in the room from which the image was taken, presumably the library.

This is another type of table that was popular during the period, with its delicate frame, curved brass feet, and lower shelves. The large booklet resting on top appears to be a photograph album, likely used to hold cabinet cards.

The first thing to catch my eye in this photograph was the fantastic Eastlake frame. We can faintly make out the gentleman in the portrait, but the frame itself is especially beautiful. It is unclear whether it was ebonized, accented with incised gilt lines, or finished with a velvet surround, but the decorative possibilities for frames of this period were nearly endless.

Books from this era were often beautifully crafted, with decorative bindings, gilt details, and carefully designed covers. Collections and matched sets from this period can feel like works of art in their own right, adding both literary and decorative value to a room.

There is a common myth, sometimes repeated in museum settings, that books were reserved only for the wealthy. By this period, that was no longer true. Books were being mass-produced in large numbers, and cheaper editions made them increasingly available to middle-class and working-class families. While finely bound sets and large private libraries still reflected taste, education, and financial comfort, books themselves were no longer rare luxury objects limited to elite households.

Library of Congress, Google Books, Archive.org, and many other online platforms have made a vast number of nineteenth-century books available for research. Shown here are just a few beautiful book covers found through these online collections, offered for reading and viewing enjoyment. Their decorative bindings echo the ideals of the Aesthetic Movement, when even everyday objects could be treated as artistic and beautiful.

On top of the shelf is a photograph of an interior, perhaps another room in this house. Unfortunately, I am not sure where that image is currently held, but perhaps it will surface one day and provide another glimpse inside “The Homestead.”

I lightened this photograph to get a better look at the frieze paper border in the hallway, which appears to be a very typical late nineteenth-century design. The ceiling in the next room, perhaps the parlor or drawing room, also appears to be papered or stenciled with period-style border decoration.

Light fixtures from this era are among the most fascinating details to study. Their designs varied widely, but many followed similar stylistic principles that visually connect them to the period. I lightened this enlarged view to better examine the fixture and try to make out its pattern within the room.

This room is furnished with a fantastic grand piano, one of the more striking objects visible in the photograph. It leaves one wondering whether the piano remained with the house over time, or perhaps even still sits in the room today.

On the left is Devillo R. Holt. Raised in upstate New York, he was trading furs at Mackinac Island, Michigan, by the age of twenty. In 1847, he established the Holt Lumber Company in Chicago and later came to own vast timber holdings in northern Wisconsin. His lumber was reportedly the first load carried on the new Illinois & Michigan Canal in 1848. After the Great Chicago Fire, his company supplied much of the lumber needed to rebuild the city, drawing from mills in Oconto, Wisconsin.

On the right is Ellen Hubbard Holt, the youngest daughter of Ahira Hubbard and Serena Tucker. Ellen was raised in Massachusetts with her three brothers and four sisters. In 1836, her family left their home and arrived in Chicago after thirteen days of difficult travel. She married Devillo Holt on January 26, 1850, and the couple lived on Michigan Avenue in Chicago before moving to Lake Forest in 1860.

The 1880 Census shows that the household included six children still living at home, along with three servants.

Eliza Pauline Holt, 1850–1867, about 17 years old
George Hubbard Holt, 1852–1924, about 72 years old
Charles Sumner Holt, 1855–1918, about 63 years old
Harvey Thompson Holt, September 9, 1857–August 8, 1858, 10 months old
Anna Holt Wheeler, 1860–1930, about 70 years old
Alfred Lincoln Holt, 1862–1890, about 28 years old
William Arthur Holt, 1865–1953, about 88 years old
Ellen “Nell” Holt, 1869–1961, about 92 years old
Mary Holt, 1872–1872, infant

Their daughter Ellen lived to the age of 92, and William was not far behind, reaching 88. Two of their children, Mary and Harvey, died within their first year, while their firstborn daughter, Eliza, died at the age of 17.

These unidentified children stand on the front porch of the house. Although the website does not identify the residence as “The Homestead,” the photograph appears in a collection of images from Lucy Holt, who was married to W. Holt. The porch columns, base, railings, window placement, and even the trailing vines all suggest that this is indeed the house. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the photograph is that it captures a moment in motion rather than a fully posed scene. The smallest child clearly seems to need some coaxing from the older girl to join in the excitement.

Thanks to Lee Grady at the Wisconsin Historical Society for granting permission to post this photograph (W0141MO). This image and others from their website can be found here.

The top postcard image, dating from about 1910, shows that the conservatory had been removed and a two-story porch had been added. From this view, the house appears to have remained largely unchanged afterward.

The house looks much the same today when compared with the postcard view. The gravel sidewalks are gone, and the first-floor porch appears to have been enclosed. Standing in front of the house is a beautiful mature American elm tree.

This photograph is from Wikimedia Commons by author Bmzuckerman and can be found here.

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