Humble Beginnings
First Steps
Restoration & Renovation
The Genoa Guest House began inauspiciously in 2010, when Roger and Mary’s son, Matt, purchased the dilapidated old house on South Sycamore Street at auction. There was only one other person bidding on the house and the biggest draw was the property’s carriage house.
Before Mary Keys could begin her dream of running a bed & breakfast, first they had to get the property rezoned from residential to light commercial. They sent out notices to their neighbors about their proposal and informing them about a special zoning meeting at city hall. Eight neighbors showed up to the meeting and every one of them was very supportive.
The full-blown construction on the house started in January of 2017. The scope of the restoration included a great deal of demolition and reframing. Roger Keys has been working at the house seven days a week, including many twelve hour days.
Matt Keys bought the property because he figured if he didn’t have work during the bad economy, he could work on the house. So he began working on demo and restoration. He removed over twenty layers of wallpaper from the hallway and about five from the bedrooms. And then the project was put on hold. No one lived there, because the bathrooms were in too bad of shape. Matt mowed the lawn and the next-door neighbor kept an eye on the house for him, but other than that there was little activity for several years. In 2015, Mary Keys retired from Resource Bank as Director of Marketing. She had always been in the hospitality business in one form or another, though. In her college days while working at Corning Summer Theatre in Corning New York, she became a caterer to movie stars like John Astin, James Whitmore, Maureen Stapleton, Helen Hayes and Patty Duke. Over the years, her daughter and good friends remembered Mary telling them that she always wanted to have a bed and breakfast. After she retired, a lightbulb went on telling her that the house in Genoa was the perfect opportunity. “The location is within a couple blocks of downtown,” she explained. “This town has no lodging. If you come to visit family and they don’t have room for you to stay, you have to go to Sycamore.
Stephanie Bradac, who lives across the street from the guest house, attended the meeting with her husband. “We were really excited about it,” said Bradac. “We heard about their plans and we definitely voiced our support and enthusiasm.” When the bank sent the appraiser for the bed and breakfast, the appraiser met with Matt and Mary and was excited because she had restored an old property of her own. “She was very helpful,” said Mary Keys. “She had lots of ideas that we hadn’t even thought about. So the bank found us the right appraiser.” Another issue that needed to be addressed was that the house required a larger water service. Mary had read in the city’s annual report that they had a grant to resurface South Sycamore Street, so she went to the city to find out how they could get their water service pulled from across the street before they did the resurfacing. They told her exactly what they needed to do without any runaround. “This type of project relies on the support of the city, and the City of Genoa has been the best working relationship that we could have imagined,” said Mary Keys. “Everything that we have talked to them about has been met with enthusiasm. [They] are really here for business.”
A home that they restored in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood was featured in the JuneJuly issue of Old House Journal and recognized by the City of Chicago as the Best Preservation Project in 2010. Roger Keys is deeply committed to preserving the architectural history of Illinois. He was on the Ellwood House board for fifteen years, including two stints as President. He is past president of the DeKalb Landmark Commission, and board member and president for the Illinois Association of Historic Preservation Commissions. He frequently presents slideshows and educational lectures on historic preservation. “I take a lot of photographs so that I can show people step by step that it’s possible to do this,” said Roger Keys. The house in Genoa took a lot of work to get ready for guests, but after working on other people’s homes his whole life, Roger Keys is finally fixing up something that he’s actually going to live in. “When people come for a visit, they can see what Matt and I do for a living,” said Roger Keys. “It’s kind of a good way to show off our expertise.” The restoration has maintained the vintage look on the outside, but much of the interior was rebuilt. They kept the plaster walls, as they were in wonderful condition. A friend of Roger’s who has been a plasterer for 45 year said it was
DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | February 2018 | 7