Frank Lloyd Wright designed Riverside’s Avery Coonley house between 1908 and 1912. Known as the Coonley Estate, the multi-acre property was built for Coonley, a Chicago industrialist, and his wife, Queene Ferry, an heir to Detroit’s Ferry Seed Company fortune.
Wright designed the entirety of the 10,000 square-foot home, down to the rugs and textiles. Avery Coonley sold the house in 1921, and subsequent owners made many changes to the property. In the mid-1950’s a developer bought the property, intending to demolish the structures and build a series of ranch homes on the property.
Carolyn Howlett, Riverside resident and a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago convinced the developer to subdivide the property instead. She and her husband ended up purchasing the coach house and converting it into their home.
Today, the Coonley property is divided into multiple residences, including the coach house, the gardener’s cottage, and the public wing and family wing of the main house.
Stephanus, “Fanie,” Greeff and his late husband John Farneda purchased the family wing of the home in 2015. Greeff recalls that the residence was a short sale purchase in need of restoration.
“The roof was leaking everywhere. It was a teenager party house,” he recalls.
For Greeff, whose only prior knowledge of Wright’s work was the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the condition of the house appeared daunting when Farneda first took him to tour it.
But for Farneda, who had grown up in the area and was familiar with Wright’s work, the house was too good to pass up.
After a four-year process of restoring and repairing the home, the couple’s restoration received awards from the Frederick Law Olmsted Society and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.
Richard Marritt and Steven Oldham were not interested in purchasing a Frank Lloyd Wright house in 2019. In fact, they weren’t looking for a house at all. The couple had their sights set on a condominium in Chicago.
On a whim, they decided to tour the public wing of the Coonley House, which was being offered for sale by Ella Mae Eastman. She and her husband Dean had meticulously restored their side of the home.
Marritt recalls, “We had no connection to Riverside at all, but we decided to take this dive.”
While acknowledging that owning an architecturally significant, historic home is no walk in the park- did he mention roof leaks, ice dams, and bursting pipes? – Marritt says it’s also been wonderful.
“It’s so great to share the home with the community,” he notes. “Ella Mae left us a box of notes that visitors left her, because they were really notes to the house. We plan to do the same with the notes people send us.”
Greeff and Marritt agree that there is a seemingly never-ending list of work to do. The home’s 270 art glass windows aren’t particularly easy to clean, and both are on a first name basis with their roofer.
Marritt notes that there are two types of contractors: those who are overjoyed to be working on such a significant house, and those who drive up the driveway and are so intimidated that they want to back right out.
In spite of this, Greeff and Marritt also take pride in being responsible for maintaining the home. In September, they hosted a dinner for everyone connected to the estate, and they continue to open up their home for fundraisers and events, including hosting a dinner for guests of the annual Wright Plus Housewalk.
Greeff states, “We’re happy to share it, and people are happy to come.”
