{"nrhp_refnum":"72000454","name":"Pleasant Home","other_names":["Mills House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"217 Home Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oak Park","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.884889729000065,"lon":-89.51566936150812,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-06-19","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1996-06-19","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Pleasant Home (also called the Mills House) is a three-story buff Roman brick house at 217 Home Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois, begun in 1897 (corner stone laid November 1, 1897) and designed by architect George W. Maher for John Farson.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a significant architectural work in the Prairie School manner, with a decorative \"tray\" motif repeated throughout the woodwork and leaded glass. It also notes its resemblance to Frank Lloyd Wright's Winslow House, the Maher-designed furniture, and its later role as a community park building and museum.","narrative":"Pleasant Home, at 217 Home Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois, is a three-story house of buff Roman brick with stone, wood and wrought iron trim, begun in 1897. Architect George W. Maher designed it for banker John Farson in the Prairie School manner. Its leaded glass panels and woodwork repeat a tray-shaped emblem, a decorative theme that the nomination says marked the start of Maher's own modern style. The house is compared to Frank Lloyd Wright's Winslow House in River Forest, though it is described as an original design in its own right. Herbert Stephen Mills bought it in 1908 and added a second-floor bedroom in matching materials. In the 1930s the Park District of Oak Park acquired the estate, which became Mills Park. By the early 1970s senior citizens used the building, and the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest ran a museum on the second floor. The house was listed for its architecture and local history.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"George W. Maher (architect); built for John Farson","architectural_style":"Prairie School","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the Park District of Oak Park, in good condition and in use as a senior citizens' center and historical society museum within a public park; some tuckpointing and trim replacement needed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.431822-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/8923/28892360/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/72000454.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000454/e692d1ba01-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000454/e692d1ba01-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"George Maher architect, photographer unknown","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farson_Pleasant_Home.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">George Maher architect, photographer unknown</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farson_Pleasant_Home.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892360","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Home","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7203886"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/pleasant-home-72000454/"}