Garnering community involvement is essential in attempting to save historic buildings such as the Harley Clarke Mansion, Deb Kuntzi said at a Harley Clarke Community meeting Thursday.

“Your greatest support is your community,” said Kuntzi, executive director of the Friends of Hauberg Civic Center in Rock Island, Ill.  “You get them involved, and that’s all you need.”

The Harley Clarke Community hosted its third community engagement meeting Thursday. The event featured two speakers who had gone through similar building preservation projects: Kuntzi and Siobhan Cottone, executive director of the Lakeside Legacy Foundation, which operates the Lakeside Arts Park at the Dole in Crystal Lake, Ill.

The speakers presented the strategies they used to preserve these two historic community buildings. They hope Evanston community members will take these recommendations and apply them in advocating for the mansion’s repurposing.

The Harley Clarke Mansion, formerly occupied by the Evanston Art Center, has been vacant since 2015. Aldermen narrowly voted to demolish the mansion in July 2018, with plans for the Evanston Lighthouse Dunes group to build a park in its place. But after a November 2018 referendum revealed 80 percent of residents expressed support to preserve the mansion, discussions persisted as to what should be done with the mansion.

Like Harley Clarke, the Hauberg Civic Center was owned by the government when the city decided to sell the property in 2016. Kuntzi said it’s important to “get the city on board” with preserving buildings like the Hauberg Civic Center and Harley Clarke.  

Kuntzi said she held her advocacy group, Friends of the Hauberg Civic Center, to a standard of respect and told them not to argue with city officials.

“When I first tuned into (Harley Clarke), someone kind of made a snide remark about the city,” Kuntzi said. “Don’t do that. They’re never going to take you seriously.”

In Kuntzi’s case, city leadership changed, and the Hauberg Civic Center — which is still city-owned — now has a “remarkable” relationship with the city, Kuntzi said.

Both the Hauberg Civic Center and Lakeside Arts Park offer many different events to increase revenue for the properties. Cottone said the arts park rents out studio space to artists of all kinds, offer live performances and host weddings, among other events.

“We do a lot at Lakeside,” Cottone said. “And we have a lot of different revenue streams.”

A large portion of the property’s revenue — about $300,000 annually — comes from the Lakeside Festival, an annual four-day carnival at the arts center, Cottone said. She added that having a strong staff to coordinate events is important to effectively operate the building.

At a March 13 City Council meeting, aldermen voted to have city staff prepare a draft to solicit proposals for the mansion. In preparation for the city’s request for proposal, Kuntzi said Harley Clarke advocates should have a plan of how they intend to operate the building once it is repurposed.

Darlene Cannon — a member of Harley Clarke Community who helped organize Thursday’s event — told The Daily that the emphasis on community resonated most with her.

“Community is the key, coming together as a group to save the house, to ensure that it’s accessible for all,” Cannon said. “When I hear community, that’s what I think: accessibility for all, programming that each Evanstonian likes because there is something that can be offered that can appeal to us all.”

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