“An endangered Englewood mansion built by the Victorian era man-about-town and gambler James ‘Big Jim’ O’Leary — his mother and her cow were blamed for starting the Great Chicago Fire — should be granted preliminary landmark status, the city’s two leading preservation groups said Monday.
“Preservation Chicago and Landmarks Illinois told the Commission on Chicago Landmarks’ Program Committee that the designation is needed to protect the vacant 125-year-old O’Leary Mansion, 726 W. Garfield Blvd., from demolition.
“The 33-room house is currently in demolition court under a raft of code violations. Inspectors reported the home’s condition as ‘dangerous.’
“Built in 1901, according to building permits Butterfield unearthed, the three-story mansion was designed by Zachary Taylor Davis, an architect whose works include Wrigley Field and the old — and dearly missed — Comiskey Park.
“The red sandstone-fronted house is a Renaissance Revival riot, with details that include turrets, an ornate circular attic window and two-story bay windows flanking a prominent four-columned front porch. O’Leary’s initials can be found in the facade’s terra cotta detail.
“The home is one of many surviving examples of the high-style homes and apartment buildings that were constructed along Garfield Boulevard from Wells Street to Western Avenue for the well-to-do between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“James O’Leary, who was two years old at the time, grew up to become wealthy. He owned a gambling house and saloon at 41st and Halsted streets that — as fate would have it — burned down in the massive Union Stock Yards fire of 1910.
“‘He was a gambling boss in the Union Stock Yards neighborhood and was said to be willing to gamble on anything from sports to elections to even the weather,’ Butterfield said. ‘So he made quite a living for himself, and as such, was able to commission quite a prominent building.’
“The home’s owner was absent from the committee meeting. And who owns the 6,200-square-foot house is murky. It was last listed for sale in 2024 at $450,000.
“‘We hope to have a good steward come forward to adopt the building and restore it and consent to landmark designation,’ Preservation Chicago Executive Director Ward Miller said.
“The Program Committee forwarded the O’Leary mansion and other landmark recommendations from the public to the Department of Planning and Development’s Historic Preservation Division for possible follow-up. The division could take a pass on the recommendation, or after researching the building, the staffers could prepare a report that asks the full landmarks commission to grant the house a preliminary designation.
“The latter is the better move and would protect the historic and architecturally significant building from demolition and wonky, non-historic alterations.
“‘It’s really important that we protect this building,’ Miller said. ‘And we will be not only supporting it before the program committee … but also in court in the coming weeks.’” (Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/21/26)
“Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026 marks the 155th anniversary of the start of the Great Chicago Fire. The disaster claimed thousands of Chicago buildings in 1871, but one building tied to the Chicago Fire legend is in danger of being demolished all these years later.
“On the night of Oct. 8, 1871, on Chicago’s Near West Side, fire consumed Catherine O’Leary’s barn. ‘It’s very unlikely she had anything to do with it. She was in bed with her husband, five children, asleep in her small cottage,’ author and historian Carl Smith said.
“It turned out O’Leary was not at fault, but she was blamed for the disaster that followed, which became known as the Great Chicago Fire. However, for the O’Leary family, the challenges were just beginning.
“‘It also made Catherine and Patrick O’Leary’s children, I think they grew up in a very difficult environment,’ Executive Director of Preservation Chicago Ward Miller said.
“The couple’s son James ‘Big Jim’ O’Leary became the head of a notorious gambling network operating out of his saloon on South Halsted Street.
“‘It wasn’t too long ago that we had a lot of very famous people who were on a different side of the law here, right, and we sort of forget that,’ Miller said.
“‘It’s a fabulously beautiful mansion. It’s 33 rooms and it’s got a coach house behind it, and it’s one of those lovely buildings that you pass on Garfield Boulevard, but it is in a neighborhood of disinvestment,’ Miller said.
“The three-story home with Jim O’Leary’s initials JOL carved in the terra cotta facade has fallen into disrepair and is in danger of being demolished. ‘It’s in jeopardy, because it’s really fallen into neglect,’ Miller said.
“Now, Preservation Chicago wants the city to designate the 125-year-old home as a landmark to save it from the wrecking ball.
“‘On so many levels, architecturally, historically, culturally, this is really an important building in so many ways, so we’re hoping the city will intervene and landmark the building,’ Miller said.
“It may be the last home that bears the name of the first building to burn in the Great Chicago Fire. ‘There are very few buildings standing that tie directly to the O’Leary family,’ Miller said.” (Lowe, WGN-TV, 10/8/26)
Preservation Chicago has been working to save the O’Leary Mansion since it was listed for sale in 2021. We attend Building Court hearings to vocally advocate for historic buildings suffering from significant neglect, and we have appeared for this one. On September 21, 2026, Preservation Chicago and Landmarks Illinois jointly recommended the mansion for Chicago Landmark designation.
The O’Leary Mansion is a magnificent brownstone survivor of the Gilded Age boulevard system, richly carved with botanicals, geometric ornament and dragons. It has thirty-three rooms, a coach house, and two large vaults.
The O’Leary Mansion is the only property in Chicago with its own dedicated fire hydrant, and a tunnel once connected it to the house next door.
Time is of the essence to secure the building before there is more deterioration and Preservation Chicago is working to find a new preservation-oriented buyer to purchase it. We will work with the City, the community and prospective buyers to bring this remarkable house back into good condition.
Preservation Chicago encourages the Department of Buildings and the Department of Law to use the Building Court proceeding to achieve stabilization, and we encourage the Historic Preservation Division to advance the building toward preliminary landmark designation.
Read the full story at the Chicago Sun-Times, WGN-TV and Block Club Chicago
- Preservationists seek landmark status for Englewood mansion built by Mrs. O’Leary’s son; The historic but dilapidated 33-room, 125-year-old house was the residence of James “Big Jim” O’Leary, whose mother was blamed for starting the Great Chicago Fire, Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/21/26
- Building tied to Great Chicago Fire in danger of being demolished, Mike Lowe, WGN-TV, 10/8/26
- Preservationists Seek Landmark Status For Englewood’s O’Leary Mansion; Landmarks Illinois and Preservation Chicago are working to protect a 33-room Englewood mansion built by notorious gambling boss James “Big Jim” O’Leary around the turn of the 20th century, Leen Yassine, Block Club Chicago, 10/8/26
- Mansion built by Mrs. O’Leary’s son headed to demolition court, Dennis Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, 9/1/26
- Home of ‘gambling king of the stockyards’ faces uncertain fate; Crain’s Daily Gist podcast, Crain’s Chicago Business, 9/3/26
- Mrs. O’Leary’s 1880s Englewood Mansion For Sale — And It Has Its Very Own Fire Hydrant; Gambling boss James O’Leary supposedly had the Garfield Boulevard mansion built for his mom, Catherine, whose cow once was rumored to have started the Great Chicago Fire, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 2/16/21
- Mansion of Woman Falsely Blamed for 1871 Great Chicago Fire Is Up for Sale, Nora McGreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, 2/19/21
- Mrs. O’Leary’s son built this ornate Garfield Boulevard mansion, Dennis Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, 11/5/20
- The True Story of “Little” O’Leary, John Schmidt, WBEZ, 10/9/12
- THREATENED: The “Big Jim” O’Leary Mansion at 726 W. Garfield Boulevard in Englewood Is Vacant, Boarded, and Headed to Demolition Court; Preservation Chicago, 8/31/26
- THREATENED: O’Leary Mansion Listed for Sale; Preservation Chicago, 2/2021
- Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City; Carl Smith