If you are interested in becoming a member, review our Guidelines and then email us with any questions.
The purpose of the Historic Homes of Illinois Coalition is to encourage people to visit the interesting and varied historic homes within Illinois. The group includes museum/homes, B&B’s, and state owned sites. The Coalition determined that working together would benefit all by promoting tourism in Illinois. To that end, all the participating sites work together to send visitors to other historic homes. Suggested tours have also been developed to help visitors plan trips including as many homes as possible.
The Coalition was the brainchild of Rolf Achilles, art historian, who is a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the curator of the Smith Museum of Stained Glass at Navy Pier. The first meeting of the Coalition was held in February 2006 at the Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle. At the first meeting, it was decided to begin working together by sharing brochures with one another, and to work on developing a website that would include all of the participating homes. Alan Langguth, owner of Homestead B&B in Plano, generously donated the web address to the group.
Since that first meeting, the group has enjoyed visiting other sites around the state for meetings. We have met at Ellwood House in DeKalb; the David Davis Mansion and Vrooman Home in Bloomington; the Lovejoy Homestead in Princeton; and the Zinser House and Doctor’s Office and Ruppman Home in Washington. Participants enjoy visiting each other’s sites as well as comparing policies and management challenges.
The Coalition is rather informal and has no officers. Fees for the website are split uniformly among the participants and, while the meetings are hosted, everyone is responsible for his/her travel and meals. Guidelines for the group are available for review by opening the link to the right. We encourage other historic homes to join our Coalition by contacting us at .