Inn is gift for private West Side school

RHODE ISLAND | Friend turns $1 mil. mansion over to founder

January 2, 2009

BY MARY WISNIEWSKIAND LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporters
A private Chicago high school has received an unusual gift -- a shuttered 178-year-old Rhode Island inn.

The Larchwood Inn in Wakefield is a 14-room mansion built in 1831 that was run as an inn for 30 years until it closed in 2006. And now it's the property of Chicago Hope Academy, a college preparatory school on the Near West Side founded by businessman Robert Muzikowski, who confirmed the gift Thursday night. 

The Larchwood Inn has been closed since 2006, when the donor bought it for $1.6 million. 

The property was donated by Russell Jeffrey, who bought the inn for $1.5 million in 2006, according to Muzikowski. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the inn was listed for sale last month at $1.99 million, the Providence (R.I.) Journal reported.

"I'm thankful to a friend of mine," Muzikowski said of the donation.

Jeffrey has known Muzikowski for 20 years, dating back to when they were investment bankers together in New York City. Jeffrey made the donation because he knew Muzikowski and because of the poor state of the real estate market, the Journal reported.

"He gave us a million-dollar gift, at least," said Muzikowski. He suggested the property might be sold or turned into a retreat center for school staff and others.

Chicago Hope describes itself on its Web site as a "coeducational, non-denominational college and life preparatory school dedicated to nurturing and challenging the whole person -- mind, body and spirit, to the glory of God." Last spring, the school received funding for baseball fields and arts programs on Oprah Winfrey's "Big Give" show. 

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/1358946,CST-NWS-mansion02.article#