Naperville’s Beidelman Furniture is one step closer to local landmark status.
Naperville Historic Preservation Commission members recommended Thursday that the company’s downtown properties, which together represent the business’ 163-year history in the city, be landmarked by the Naperville City Council.
Beidelman’s co-owner Katy Heitmanek, whose family started the store and continues to operate it today, said in a call Friday that the commission’s support and positive response is humbling.
“It was both gratifying and also invigorating to have some interest in pushing forward with giving the buildings the love that they deserve,” she said.
The request for landmark status came from Heitmanek and her family. Naperville Preservation Inc., a local nonprofit dedicated to documenting and protecting places that are historically notable to Naperville, helped the family apply for the designation, a multistep process that requires petitioners to demonstrate their property has historical or architectural significance.
Commissioners Thursday concurred Beidelman Furniture did indeed fit the historic bill.
The criteria for designating a local landmark in Naperville is twofold. A structure must be at least 50 years old and possess one or more additional documentable qualities.
Those include that it was owned or occupied by a person of historical significance; has a direct connection to an important event in history; embodies distinguishing architectural characteristics or use of indigenous materials; represents notable work of an influential builder in the community; or is included in the National Register of Historic Places.
Commissioners found the Beidelman request satisfied all but the last condition.
The buildings up for the designation are Beidelman’s current storefront at 239 S. Washington St., which was built in 1928, and a structure next door that dates back to the business’ founding in 1861.
If local landmark status is awarded by the council, the Beidelman buildings would fall under the jurisdiction of Naperville’s zoning code for historic preservation. Future changes sought for the properties’ exteriors would be subject to review by the city.
In their application for landmark designation, the Beidelman family said that landmark status would also help the buildings qualify for historic preservation financial incentives. The application notes an interest in restoring the structures back to their original construction. Over the decades, some features have been altered or removed.
Heitmanek, who attended the Thursday meeting with her mother and store co-owner Lana Beidelman Heitmanek, reiterated that interest to commissioners.
“(The) primary purpose of the landmarking would be so that if somebody wanted to change the building eventually, that it would be more of a community decision and not just something that happens overnight,” she said.
