When developing Kenilworth Beach, McGuire & Orr included rigid restrictions, including racial restrictions, which followed a trend of the time seen in new subdivision developments across the United States. Before these restrictions were ruled unenforceable by the Supreme Court in 1948’s Shelley v. Kraemer, they were used by subdividers to increase property values and profit from the growing segregative society. Since its inception, the village of Kenilworth has had building restrictions in place via ordinances that restricted the development of hotels, businesses (in certain areas), hospitals, garage placements, specific setback distances from the roads, etc. While there were initially no racial restrictions in Kenilworth, they started to emerge nonetheless once subdividers began buying up property from newly annexed land in the 1920s.
Researching the deeds of various properties in Kenilworth Beach show a difference in restrictions and use of restrictive language, but the advertisements and narrative produced by McGuire and Orr remain consistent, and almost codified. For example, looking at two deeds within the original Kenilworth Beach shows some properties with racial restrictions and some without. The legal language used in the deeds is unapologetically direct, “… said lot shall not nor shall any interest therein be conveyed or leased to or be acquired by any person other than one of the Caucasian race.” Meanwhile the public ads for Kenilworth Beach properties used vague language that could insinuate the use of racial restrictions. Below are a couple examples:
“Property purchased in Kenilworth Beach carries with it absolute assurance of the high character of neighboring home-owners. It is protected by restrictions which guarantee that only homes will be built which are of sufficient value to be in keeping with their surroundings. Wide building lines and perpetual restrictions against business apartment and hotel construction assure the maintenance of Kenilworth as a high class residential community.” October 19, 1922. Chicago Tribune.
“The present addition contains fourteen homesites which will be put on the market June 26. The development of course, will be of a de luxe nature, with ironclad building restrictions. The homes in the first section cost from $22,000 to $45,000 to build.” June 13, 1926. Chicago Tribune.
The excerpt from October 19, 1922 refers to the importance and preservation of a specific “character”. Early Kenilworth Company brochures (1890-1914) refer to Kenilworth homes and buildings as having a certain character which was enforced by the use of the building restrictions mentioned earlier (minimum building cost, setback, and use of buildings). However, McGuire & Orr use the term “character” here to refer to the homeowner instead of the homes. Despite deed restrictions becoming a norm for affluent suburban communities, the advertising of racially restrictive property remained subtle, at least was the case with other McGuire & Orr developments, such as Skokie Heights in Glencoe.