House with ties to UI, famous composer considered for landmark designation

CHAMPAIGN — Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Two families come together to form a blended household made up of six kids.

As much as it might sound like “The Brady Bunch,” that’s also the story of local couple Matt Swanson and Morgan Barrick, with a twist — the family recently moved into a nearly 100-year-old home with a storied history.

Swanson works for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has been in the area for 13 years. Barrick, who works for State Farm Insurance, moved her family from Bloomington to Champaign last summer to live with Swanson and his family.

The blended household initially lived in a home on Clark Street, but it lacked the space, yard and “neighborhood community” they were looking for, Swanson said.

As they were looking at homes, they quickly became interested in the one at 710 S. Elm Blvd. — a two-story, 12-room Dutch Colonial built in 1927 for the University of Illinois’ first director of bands, Albert Austin Harding.

“We have six kids collectively, so we can use a lot of space,” Swanson said.

“I remember when I first moved to Champaign last summer, there was one point ... he drove me down Elm Boulevard, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is the neighborhood I want to live in,’” Barrick recalled. “So then when it popped up, it was kind of perfect.”

County records show that Swanson bought the home for $350,000 in March, making his blended family the third to call it home.

After Harding’s death, Austin and Ellen McDowell bought the home from his daughter in 1959. Austin McDowell had previously been a student of Harding’s, according to his wife’s writings, and later became the director of the UI School of Music. Ellen was an artist and one of the founders of the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen.

However, perhaps the most notable figure associated with the house was not a resident but a visitor: famed composer and conductor John Philip Sousa.

According to Nolan Vallier at the UI’s Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, Harding asked Sousa for advice on how to grow the band program, and the two men became friends, with Sousa visiting the Harding residence more than once.

Barrick said that while she and Swanson haven’t had as much time as they would like to dive into the home’s history, they are intrigued by it.

“I think the fact that it has history and that we get to be kind of just the third owner was really appealing,” she said.

Of course, a home with 97 years of history also comes with its fair share of challenges.

“We’ve been working hard on it since we got it,” Swanson said.

Barrick said this has included repainting “nearly half of the house so far,” getting the roof replaced and making changes to the kitchen.

Additionally, the bathrooms required some plumbing and electrical renovations.

“You could reach outlets and electrical components from the shower area, so we had the electrical updated in that area so that there’s protection on it now,” Swanson said.

They are also making some upgrades to the home’s electrical service and plan to add solar energy to the home.

He added that they do not plan to make structural changes or alter the façade.

Additionally, in a further effort to preserve the home’s history, he recently applied for the property to be designated as a local landmark.

He told The News-Gazette that one of the city of Champaign’s planners had suggested the idea before they had even bought the house, as it might help preserve and promote information about the home’s history.

According to the city’s planning and development department, a local-landmark designation protects a structure from demolition or exterior renovations that would “negatively affect the historic character of the property.”

Planning staff are assisting with the application and wrote that, in addition to being a “highly significant and remarkably intact example of Dutch Colonial Revival architecture,” the home also meets other criteria for landmark designation.

For instance, it is associated with important figures in local and national history and has “significant value” as part of local history and culture due to its ties to UI and place in the historic Harris Place neighborhood, planning staff said.

It also meets the criteria of being a “notable work of a master building, designer, architect or artist whose individual genius has influenced an era.” The home was designed by architects F.E. Berger and R.L. Kelley, who were also the minds behind the design of Central High School.

The Champaign Historic Preservation Commission will review Swanson’s application at its next meeting, set for 4 p.m. Sept. 5. If it decides that the property is eligible for nomination to become a landmark, it will forward the nomination to the Champaign Plan Commission for a public hearing during its next meeting at 4 p.m. Sept. 18.

The plan commission will then vote to recommend that the city council approve or deny the nomination, with the council making the final decision. This is expected to occur at the council’s first meeting in October, set for 7 p.m. Oct. 1.

More information about the property and Swanson’s application is available at engage champaign.org/planning-and-development.

Swanson said they’ve learned a lot about the home as part of the application process.

“We’ve learned about previous guests and things that were really interesting,” he said. “Even the music that was developed previously through that, I think I’ve gained some more appreciation, just looking up some of the songs and listening to those and learning more about it.”

Barrick added that they also became interested in the life of Ellen McDowell, who died in August, as her service to the community is admirable and their neighbors speak of her with “such fondness.”

“Just the way that everybody talks about her made us want to learn more, too,” she said.