{"nrhp_refnum":"05001256","name":"Swift, Louis F., House","other_names":["Westleigh","Gillette House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"255 E. Foster Place","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lake Forest","county":"Lake County","state":"IL","lat":42.235842535000074,"lon":-87.84116542799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-11-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2-1/2 story brick Italian Renaissance Revival house at 255 East Foster Place in Lake Forest, Lake County, Illinois, designed in 1916 by Howard Van Doren Shaw as a wing of meatpacker Louis F. Swift's estate \"Westleigh.\"","why_significant":"The house is a fireproof wing designed by prominent country house architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, and it survives from Swift's \"Westleigh\" estate after the original 1898 mansion was demolished in the late 1940s. It reflects the development of large country estates west of Green Bay Road in Lake Forest by wealthy Chicago families. The form states that the integrity of Shaw's design, as adapted by Stanley Anderson and Associates, is excellent.","narrative":"Set on about 3.5 acres off Foster Place in Lake Forest, this 14-room brick house of roughly 10,500 square feet began in 1916 as a wing added to the country estate of meatpacker Louis F. Swift, known as \"Westleigh.\" Architect Howard Van Doren Shaw designed it in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, with low hipped slate roofs, bracketed eaves and limestone trim. The design grows more formal from the informal front to the symmetrical rear, which has a two-story limestone loggia and a raised terrace with a fountain. Swift's original 1898 Colonial Revival mansion was demolished in the late 1940s, leaving the Shaw wing as the surviving core of the estate. In 1956 Stanley Anderson and Associates rehabilitated it, adding an entry hall, staircase and kitchen, and later designed the 1965 front portico and garage. Because these changes left the main facades and formal rooms largely untouched, the Shaw design remains well preserved. It illustrates the large country estates built by prominent Chicago families west of Green Bay Road.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Howard Van Doren Shaw (1916 design); Stanley Anderson and Associates (1956 rehabilitation, 1965 porch and garage); William Carbys Zimmerman (original 1898 mansion)","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Italian Renaissance","criteria":[],"status_note":"Currently used as a single-family dwelling; rehabilitated in 1956, with later additions in 1965 and 1971 and a kitchen and family room remodel in 1987.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.107321-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/8933/28893316/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/05001256.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001256/b2b5a3f92a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001256/b2b5a3f92a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Teemu08","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_F._Swift_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu08</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_F._Swift_House.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"78001161","name":"Lake Forest Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/lake-forest-historic-district-78001161/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893316","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_F._Swift_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q96390911"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/lake-county/swift-louis-f-house-05001256/"}