SPLASHY SOIRÉE

BRING A CHANGE OF CLOTHES.

That’s the best advice offered to revelers attending the annual soireé thrown by Adrian and Nancy Smith at their property on Green Bay Road in Lake Forest. The gala benefits the Citadel Theatre, but over the years it’s turned into something more than just a fundraiser. It’s more like a mash up of Downton Abbey and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

This year’s installment, “Denim & Diamonds,” takes place on Saturday, July 15, and if the last few years are any indication, many of the partygoers will end up wet. It’s a budding tradition for guests, in full tuxedos and gowns, to dive into the pool on the grounds.

This is not your typical gala in a hotel ballroom downtown.

It all got started a few years ago, Smith says, when one reveler, Janet Austin, asked Smith’s wife, Nancy, if she could hop into the pool toward the end of the party. With Nancy’s endorsement, Austin arrived prepared, wearing her swimsuit under a dress, which she promptly dispensed with around 10 p.m. and took a dive into the pool.

Smith’s cousin followed suit, stripping down to his shorts. He was number two in the pool, and that’s when Smith, and others, couldn’t resist.

“I said, ‘Hey, I’ll go get my bathing suit’ because I had it in the house and I swim there a lot for exercise. I kept my swimming suit and towels there. I went up and got my swimming suit on, but I left my tuxedo shirt on and buttons on and all that,” Smith recalls. “I came back down and by that time there were in the neighborhood of six to 10 people in the water already and others were starting to surround the pool and see what’s going on.”

One of the highlights, Smith says, was an officer from Naval Station Great Lakes, who performed his entry into the pool off of the diving board in his full-dress whites— ribbons and all. Smith credits the start of the tradition to creative whimsy. Austin is an artist and Young a sculptor and, of course, Smith is one of the most well-known architects in the world—having designed notable skyscrapers in Chicago and elsewhere, including the current world’s tallest building in Dubai.

The pool diving is not a bug, it’s now a feature of the gala every year.

But it was a project closer to home, at 830 North Green Bay Road, that led Smith to continue to host the Citadel gala. The Smiths originally hosted the gala at their home in unincorporated Lake County—what his wife Nancy refers to as “the cottage”—a decade ago. It was a slimmer affair back then; more like a picnic, Smith says, that raised about $40,000 for the theatre. In 2018, the Smiths bought the property on Green Bay Road and began a significant restoration that is ongoing.

“It was a total wreck. There were, for example, 75 pipe leak bursts in the walls because the previous owners just left the water in them,” Smith says. “And no heat because the electricity bills weren’t paid. All the water ended up draining into the basement and sitting there for years.”

He estimates that the property was pretty much derelict for 15 years, but it was designated as a landmark on the National Register of Historic Places in the early ‘90s. Smith adds that he read somewhere that it was under threat to be destroyed so he was motivated to restore it.

“David Adler was the original architect, and all of the original drawings were stored at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Smith says. “We were able to get them when we started restoring the property and stay faithful to the drawings.”

The property went through a significant renovation by W. Clement Stone in 1972 but he was really focused on taking it back to the original, including restoring the entryway. There’s still more work to do to make the house livable. It doesn’t have a full kitchen and there’s no master bathroom, but the house is still being put to good use.

“Nancy has a studio there for her painting. She’s an artist,” he says. “I have an office there for my work. Even though I have a downtown office, I work at Green Bay Road quite often because now the traffic’s terrible with construction on the roads. A third section of the house is rented to the chef at the Deer Path Inn.”

There’s also an art school of sorts, Smith says, where an art teacher that used to teach in France (and taught Nancy French painting techniques) where eight to 12 budding artists take lesson during six-week sessions. Historic estate restoration isn’t cheap, and Smith says the art school brings in a little income to defray the costs. He’s a “pay-as-you-go” preservationist.

But back to the party. Past themes for the gala have included The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge, and “The Royal Ball,” which would have perhaps been appropriate for this year as well for reasons across the pond, but this year’s “Denim & Diamonds” is a Western-tinted affair (cue the denim). All hats, no cattle, you could say. Entertainment features live country tunes from the Nashville-based Tyson Hanes Band and the menu includes Texas style BBQ beef brisket and Texas cake for dessert.

While the early days of the Citadel Theatre gala only raised around $50,000, the popularity of the gala—driven by the energy of the Smiths and the gala committee—has driven that number up to the $200,000 range. Smith says his interest in the theater started when Nancy went to see one its plays.

The committee is run by Scott and Ellen Phelps and meets at Green Bay Road property about once a month to get organized and ready for upcoming year’s event. They ask for suggestions and the process takes a couple of months to home in on a theme. Support for small, local theater is a bit like keeping an old property alive.

“Live theater in a small, intimate venue is very special and Citadel puts on great Jeff-recommended plays that are enjoyable, fun to be a part of and sometimes hilarious,” Smith says. “Sometimes they evoke strong emotions. Just like the fundraising gala that is now in its ninth year. It is the fuel that makes the theater run.”

Early bird single tickets for Citadel Theatre’s “Denim and Diamonds” are $350, and tables of 10 cost $3,500. VIP tickets (no early bird pricing), which include a one-hour, private pre-reception with cocktails and a tour of the entire estate, are $400. Tickets can be purchased at citadeltheatre.org.