Southern History Blends with Modern Details in La Grange Park Victorian: Pillars House Walk

Evidence of the White family’s southern history spring from every corner of their home on North Spring Avenue in La Grange Park.

You can see it in the bouquet of weeping willow branches salvaged after a hurricane knocked over a beloved tree and in a bench crafted from a door found in the basement of their former North Carolina home. 

Rich teal, blue and green colors evoke both tranquility and a lush southern landscape in a home that blends modern design with traditional furnishings—each with a story about who the Whites are and where they have been. 

There’s the upholstered sitting chair that belonged to husband Matt White’s mother—her favorite place to relax. Nearly two-dozen turned wood bowls crafted by wife Beth White’s 81-year-old father collect on a dresser in a second-floor hallway. A needlepoint of a dog by Beth herself when she was a child stands guard over a cherry bed her grandmother rescued from a hotel.

The house has its own rich history, as well. Allan Calhamer, who invented the board game Diplomacy (a favorite of Henry Kissinger), grew up in the home. Calhamer died in La Grange this past February at age 81.

The Whites have merged past with present by adding a 9.5-foot addition that includes a spa-like bathroom and building out a turret to create a cozy reading room perfect for daydreaming among the trees. 

The home embodies the framed quote Beth’s mother gave her, which greets every visitor who walks through the front door: “Our family is a circle of love and strength. With every birth and every union, the circle grows. Every joy shared adds more love. Every obstacle faced together makes the circle stronger.”

Earlier: 

Prairie Style Home Unites Past and Present: Pillars House Walk