LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Retired BNSF Railway CEO Robert D. Krebs and his wife Anne have donated their Lake Forest mansion, with an assessed value of $5.96 million, to Lake Forest College, the Chicago Tribune reports in a paywalled article.
The 9,217-square-foot Italian-villa mansion is on 2.6 acres of land on Walden Road in the upscale North Shore suburb, and features stone, terra cotta paving, and hand-carved walnut doors brought from Italy.
The gift will also preserve the Krebs’ Renaisasance art collection, Krebs told the Tribune. The mansion is about a mile from the college, where Krebs is a member of the board of trustees, and the intention was that the home would become a study location, the Krebs Center for the Humanities. That prompted concerns from neighbors about noise and traffic; the Krebs have proceeded with the donation but have not sought the special-use permit that would be needed to hold classes at the mansion.\
Lake Forest College, founded in 1857, is a private liberal arts college with a 107-acre campus about 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. Trains readers may know it as the home of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s annual Conversations weekend; the 2023 edition of Conversations is coming up April 14-16. Information on that event is available here.
Share this article
