12956 Greenwood Avenue (built 1898)

William H. Weber came to Blue Island from Tinley Park in 1889. Weber served as President of the Blue Island Board of Education and was a member of the board of directors at the Commercial Bank, now the First National Bank of Blue Island. Weber later served as President of the Cook County Board and it was during his tenure in that office that he entertained some of the most influential officials in the state.

The home is also significant for its architect, George Washington Maher (pronounced: “Mayer”), who designed homes primarily for the affluent of Chicago and the North Shore suburbs. Maher was considered an architectural philosopher and innovator who sought to redefine the American home and was widely read. A confident designer with a uniquely personal style, Maher’s views found common cause with the architects of the Prairie School, and his later work is often compared to the pre-eminent Prairie architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. It was in Maher’s studio that Blue Island’s own architect, Robert Seyfarth, went to work when he first began to practice at the turn of the 20th century.

Listed on the Inventory of Historic Structures in Cook County.

continue the tour –> 28. Walter P. Roche House

Photo Credits: Christine L. Hawley