Friends of Eliestoun convened a community meeting on November 23rd in Principia College’s dining room. All students, faculty, staff, and the public were invited to attend and participate. We heard a brief history of Eliestoun and met Jeff Clark and Jay Simon of Metropolitan Build, the St. Louis firm we are working with. We then broke out into sessions on specific Eliestoun topic areas: Income Generation, Estate Grounds, Residential Uses, and Place of Assembly. The whole meeting was recorded and can be found here. If you want just the summary of the meeting, beginning with the results of the breakout session, please go to this link. Parts of the recording may be difficult to hear because of the usual dining room noise.
There were about 50 attendees at the meeting, including a handful of students who came and went depending on their academic, athletic, and social schedules. Most participants were interested alumni and local adults involved in preservation.
Two more focus group meetings are scheduled for January of 2016, one in Elsah, and one in a location to be determined.
Friends of Eliestoun is on track to meet the upcoming milestones for Principia. The next includes a budget for preservation of the exterior and basic functions of Eliestoun by December 31, 2015.
In 2010, Principia’s Pastry Chef, David Wiseheart, made a to-scale gingerbread Eliestoun. Here is a photo of his work.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, you are always welcome to do this online or you may mail it to us at Friends of Eliestoun, PO Box 35, Elsah, IL 62028.
We are moving forward nicely and are looking forward to each progressive step to save Eliestoun.