Progress?

Driving down, I think it was, Arlington Avenue the other day. Center of town - about a block north of the train tracks. See a house on the west side of the street - a really nice older house, farmhouse-style. Two 0r three stories (couldn't really tell for sure, as I wanted to pay attention to my driving), wrap-around porch, large lot - in other words, a beautiful old farmhouse. Gorgeous.

Except for the sign in front - the sign posted by the builder that's selling the house as a tear down.

A tear down??

I can see small houses, those ranches with a single-car garage, houses that have a terrible layout, houses that have a single bedroom, no room to build on, nothing really promising a future - - but this? This was a big, old, stately house in the center of town. It's a house that I would seriously consider buying as-is. It's a house that has character, style, substance, heart.

Yes, yes, I know, I've never been in it. It could be falling down, cracked walls, termites - sure, it could be a wreck.

But how many houses of that type, in the center of Elmhurst (in the area of property logged as estates) are left to fall into ruin? It might be a tired house, but is it really past the point of repair?

It's the exact type of house that Bob Villa would swoop into and restore. It's exactly the type of house that, if I had the wherewithal, I too would buy and restore.

But no. Instead, be ready for the next McMansion, the next cookie-cutter brick house that sits on 90% of the land, leaves no yard, and could be found in any city or town in the state? Be ready for a little more of the character of Elmhurst to fade away.

Be ready for more beautiful houses to be razed to make way for generic structures built by greed and myopia.

I love Elmhurst. But sometimes I hate Elmhurst.