Robinwood

Robinwood
Location: 208 Arlington
Elmhurst, DuPage County, Illinois, U.S.
Built: 1908
Architect: Joy Wheeler Dow
Architectural style: Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals (English Cottage)
Governing body: Private residence
NRHP Reference#: 03001463
Added to NRHP: January 21, 2004

Robinwood, also known as the George H. Miller House, is a historic residence in Elmhurst, Illinois. George H. Miller had worked as a high school teacher in Marshall, Michigan, but decided to take a new job working in Chicago at Sears, Roebuck and Co. Shortly thereafter, Miller decided to form his own business, the Miller Fibre Box Company. The business was profitable, and he sold it to retire at the age of fifty. In his later years, Miller and his wife Bernice were active in Elmhurst city affairs.

Robinwood was built in 1908 by Joy Wheeler Dow, an architect who wanted to contrast the styles of Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin while still maintaining appeal to the growing middle class. He had no formal training, and primarily built single-family homes in New Jersey. Robinwood was particularly heavily influenced by one of Dow's buildings, Princessgate, in Wyoming, New Jersey. English-based designs were popular in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago—Tudor Revival style residences were particularly popular in Elmhurst. It is thought that Robinwood was somewhat influenced by the style, but more-so by the Arts and Crafts Movement burgeoning in England. Bernice Miller lived in the house until her death in 1936, when it was passed on to her sister, Jessie Porter. Porter's nurse inherited the building and sold it to the Almerico family.

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