Architectural Salvage at Lovellton

Architectural Salvage
Saturday, February 18
Viewing and bidding will take place from 8:00 to 11:00 am
Lovellton
600 Villa St.(Corner of Villa and Liberty)
Elgin, IL

A Silent Auction will be held at Lovellton whose older portion dates to ca. 1870 and newer portions around the turn of the century. Proceeds will be used by the Gifford Park Association for neighborhood projects. Viewing and bidding will take place from 8:00 to 11:00 am. on Saturday February 18. Leave yourself a lot of time as it is a huge building with a lot to see. No one under the age of 18 will be allowed in the building. Everyone entering must sign a statement saying that they have health insurance and sign a waiver of liability. Bring flashlights and wear sturdy boots and warm clothes.

At 2:00 pm winning bids will be posted. Winning bidders can remove their things from then until 9:00 pm, or Sunday, February 19 and Monday February 20 from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Some of the items available for salvage:
Windows, doors, casings and baseboard from many eras.
Faux marble fireplace mantel, large stained glass window, tin ceilings, plaster corbels.
Early 20th cent. oak rail, balustrade and newel.
Thin oak and maple flooring.
Bungalow era built in china cupboard and floor to ceiling kitchen cupboard.

Newer: office furnishings, tables, chairs, couches, beds, wardrobes, counters etc. Commercial stainless kitchen, stainless island with pot rack. Light fixtures, wall to wall carpet/border, register covers, steel shelving.
Two Toro lawn mowers, large water heaters, air conditioning units.
Nice Paintings. Marble counters and pieces.
Professional exercise equipment, ping pong table, basketball hoops.
Upright piano.

For pictures, visit the GPA web site.
Thanks goes out to Steve Swanson of Brownstone Development, Mayor Schock and Ray Moller for making this happen.
If you have questions contact Dan or Pat Miller at 847-697-3370 or email

UPDATE:
Summary of the Lovellton Salvage
The Gifford Park Association was given final salvage rights on Wednesday February 8th, entrance into the building on February 9th with the auction taking place on the 18th. Habitat for Humanity took several small box trucks full of furniture for the ReStore shop. The Larkin Center filled a large, professional moving van with furniture. It took four men a day to move the stuff.
Almost 400 people came through the building to view and bid on things. It took four tanks of propane to keep us warm in the below zero weather on Saturday. George Doscher was our savior when he showed up with a large out door heater. Without being asked, Ricardo Mancha of 155 S. Channing brought his propane heater for us to use.
Twenty-seven volunteers spent a total of 161 hours on the project. It took eight volunteers an hour and a half to sort hundreds of bids coming up with 181 winners in fifty-two separate areas of the building.
Twenty dust masks were donated by GPA and many winning bidders brought their own. Bill Witte won the award for eating the most dust while taking down hundreds of square feet of tin ceiling.
Hundreds of $5.00 minimum bids after the auction were accepted. One gentleman filled a large rental truck with $5.00 beds and armoires.
The General Contractor for Walgreen's sent a worker to supervise us to make sure no one got hurt. He stood under the heater the whole time.
Some of the winning bids:
Front doors $1525
Inner vestibule doors $850
Two sets of parlor doors $650
Stair case $400
Tin ceiling in the parlor $350
Floor in the parlor $350
Stained glass window $350
Fireplace mantle $600
Stainless steel island with pot rack $12.50 was later sold to another party for $62
Prairie style sun porch windows and doors $600
Copper from the basement $130 (the winner got thousands of dollars for the copper)
Copper from the remainder of the building $50 (winner got thousands of dollars for the copper)
We took in a total of $9064 with about $500 in expenses. Thanks goes out to all of our volunteers who braved the cold, Mayor Schock, Ray Moller and Steve Swanson of Brookstone Development for making this happen.