Beidelman Furniture, the oldest business in DuPage County, is seeking landmark status for its 163-year-old store and an adjoining building in downtown Naperville.
The owners’ request will be reviewed Thursday by the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, which will determine if the structures meets landmark criteria and if approval by the Naperville City Council should be recommended.
Co-owner Katy Heitmanek says the designation, if granted, would keep “this part of Beidelman Naperville history from being erased off the map.” She added that landmark status would be a tribute to her family, who have been behind Beidelman Furniture since it started.
The store dates back to 1861, when then-cabinetmaker Frederick Long established a furniture business in a wood frame building at the corner of Washington Street and Jackson Avenue. Five decades later, Long’s nephew, Oliver J. Beidelman, purchased the company.
In 1928, Oliver replaced Long’s original wooden store with Beidelman’s three-story brick building that still stands prominently in downtown Naperville. In 1966, Oliver’s son, Owen, took over the operation.
Today, the business is on to fourth- and fifth-generation owners. When Owen — known as “Dutch” to family and friends — died in 2000, the store fell to his daughter, Lana Heitmanek. Today, Katy Heitmanek, Lana’s daughter and Oliver Beidelman’s great-granddaughter, is the store manager. Her brother, Michael, is the business’ sales manager.
The buildings up for landmark status include the iconic brick store from 1928, located at 239 S. Washington St., and another structure next door left from those early days under Long’s ownership. Alongside his original furniture shop, Long had a workshop facing Jackson Avenue that remained when the original wooden store was replaced.
These days, the workshop — sandwiched between the brick store and Jojo’s Shake Bar — is used as a design center for Beidelman Furniture, Katy Heitmanek said. Apart from being one of the few remaining Civil War-era structures still standing in downtown Naperville, the workshop also has its own small claim to furniture fame, she said.
The workshop was where Kroehler Manufacturing Co. — once one of the largest and best-known furniture manufacturers in the country — had its start, according to Heitmanek. It was there, she says, that Peter Kroehler learned the furniture business, which started as the Naperville Lounge Co. and later became Kroehler Manufacturing.
Despite their long tenure and local stature, landmarking her family’s furniture business and adjoining workshop is something Heitmanek only recently started to seriously consider.
Though the idea had crossed Heitmanek’s mind as a possibility, it started to feel like a viable — and worthwhile — venture when local nonprofit Naperville Preservation Inc. approached the Beidelman family and asked if they had any interest in going through the process, she said.
Formed in 2017, Naperville Preservation is dedicated to documenting and protecting places that are historically notable to Naperville. Jane Burke, the organization’s secretary, said they broached the topic because “we feel that (their buildings) are very special.”
Naperville Preservation worked with Heitmanek and her family in preparing and submitting a petition to the city for landmark status.
Naperville Municipal Code lays out several criteria for designating a local landmark. A structure must be at least 50 years old and meet one or more conditions, according to Allison Laff, deputy director of Naperville’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department. Those range from the building having been owned or occupied by a person of historic significance to embodying a certain architectural style or period, among others.
Currently, the city has four local landmarks.
Laff does not expect the Beidelman request to be met with much resistance Thursday.
“I think that it’ll probably get supported,” she said.
An important factor is that it is coming from owners, Laff noted. The Naperville Woman’s Club, for example, was unanimously approved as a local landmark in 2011 because the organization voluntarily made the request, she said. In contrast, an attempt a few years ago to landmark the former Kroehler YMCA on Washington Street, which was submitted without owner consent, failed.
If local landmark status is awarded, the Beidelman buildings would fall under the jurisdiction of Naperville’s zoning code for historic preservation. If future changes are proposed to the properties’ exteriors, they would be subject to review by the city, Laff said.
Protection aside, landmark designation could help Beidelman Furniture apply for various tax breaks, loans and grants, Heitmanek said.
“Those types of things,” she said, “could certainly help us. You know, we want to stay here for the community. We love selling furniture. We love being here as long as it makes sense to be here.”
