Developers have announced an updated renovation plan to convert the historic Harley Clarke Mansion, located just north of Northwestern’s campus, into a wedding and event space, restaurant, ice cream shop, coffee shop, speakeasy, bourbon store, performance venue and ice skating rink. Affordable housing developer Celadon Partners is responsible for the $29 million project.
The mansion, which was saved from demolition in 2018 after successful community activism, is expected to reopen during the first quarter of 2027, according to Celadon leadership.
The Daily received a tour of the mansion from Celadon Chief of Staff Kevin O’Neil. The three-story French Eclectic and English Tudor-style structure sits on Sheridan Road and features a landscape designed by architect Jens Jensen, which is also set to be restored.
Situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, ivy crawls up the mansion’s stone walls, six chimneys stand visible from the road and a double-arched entryway greets visitors. Upon entering, a glass chandelier and an engraved wooden staircase showcase the mansion’s detailed craftsmanship. Glimpses of the lake and neighboring Grosse Point Lighthouse are visible through the house’s aging windowpanes.
Harley and Hildur Clarke commissioned the mansion to be built in 1927 and sold it to NU’s Sigma Chi fraternity in 1949. The house was sold again in 1965 to the City of Evanston for use by the Evanston Arts Council.
Harley Clarke, a mogul of the utilities field and president of Fox Film Corporation, had an office on the first floor lined with bookshelves. Celadon plans to repurpose the room to sell bourbon to customers. The construction company also found a recipe for pre-Prohibition beers and plans to partner with a brewery to produce them in-house.
The basement, once a game room with a billiard table, will be a speakeasy open to Evanston residents. Celadon also shared with The Daily that the company will construct a winter ice rink on the mansion’s west lawn. Original plans to convert the mansion into a hotel have since been scrapped.
Although Evanston’s C&W Ice Cream is set to open a new location inside the mansion, the building’s restaurant has not yet been determined, according to Celadon founder and president Scott Henry.
“We’re talking to four or five different top restaurateurs. You will recognize all their names, but we have not selected them yet,” Henry said. “It’s a little bit of a competitive process. Again, it is such a world-class location. You can imagine that there’s lots of folks that want to be part of it.”
Jennifer Shadur, president of Friends of Harley Clarke and one of the leading voices to preserve the mansion, said she supports Celadon’s renovation plans.
Friends of Harley Clarke was once called Save Harley Clarke, a committee dedicated to preventing the destruction of the mansion. The organization gathered over 3,000 signatures and pushed for an advisory referendum vote that ultimately saved the structure. About 80% of Evanston residents voted to preserve the mansion.
“Three or four generations of my family have grown up in and around that mansion. And really, from the time I was a little girl, it had been a public-use building,” Shadur said. “The idea that the last remaining building that Evanston owns on the lake would ever go private or be demolished just really didn’t work for me.”
Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the work and craftsmanship put into the mansion make it valuable, Shadur says.
Henry expressed a hope that Evanston residents communicate their concerns and ideas about the construction project.
“At the end of the day, we want this property to be reflective of what the community wants also,” he said. “It is a community asset, and we want it to reflect the community’s needs.”
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