Century-old building near Crystal Lake was school, then synagogue. Next use: vacation rental

If he wanted to, Brent Hollenberg could make sure his future Airbnb guests got a wake-up alarm every day at 7:30 a.m. Or a reminder to go home at 3 p.m.

That’s because the bell timer that once signaled the end of the school day for students at the former Ridgefield School is still there, in the basement of the building he’s rehabbing at 8617 Ridgefield Road outside Crystal Lake.

[ See photos inside the old schoolhouse as rehab gets underway ]

By this time next year, where students once studied reading, writing and arithmetic, Hollenberg plans to have six apartments, ready to give people visiting McHenry County a place to stay with some history.

When Ridgefield school was built by now-defunct School District 48 in 1914, “this was two classrooms, with no plumbing, no running water, probably with an outhouse,” Hollenberg said. In 1956, more classrooms and a basement multipurpose room were added to the back of the building.

In the 1970s, District 48 merged with Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47. Later, the McHenry County Jewish Congregation bought the building at auction, and it was their synagogue for 45 years. The Jewish congregation sold the building to Hollenberg in December and is now sharing a building with Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Church in McHenry.

“We are so delighted to see a whole new use of this building,” said Ellen Morton, one of the former congregants. “For somebody showing this kind of vision and creativity so others will be able to enjoy that building as well ... it is a beautiful thing.”

Hollenberg’s vision is to take what were classrooms and turn them into apartments with separate kitchens and bathrooms for each. He then will post the units on sites such as Airbnb or Vrbo as vacation or short-term rentals.

It’s a business he got into about five years ago. Hollenberg now has nine short-term rental units spread across seven locations in Crystal Lake. His Airbnb page boasts 321 reviews, averaging 4.92 out of five stars. The buildings include an old farmhouse and others that he has gutted and renovated.

What the Ridgefield schoolhouse brings to the mix is “character and location,” he said. It falls in between Woodstock, Bull Valley and Crystal Lake – all places he gets visitors from.

His clients’ average stay is just over a week, and where are they coming from and why is, “you name it,” he said. Hollenberg has rented to traveling nurses, construction crews working in the area, golfers visiting area courses, businesspeople in town working at one of their locations for a month or people seeking specialized medical treatments for several weeks. Other guests grew up here and are visiting family but want or need more space than a hotel room can offer.

His affinity for taking old things and making them usable for a new generation started, in part, with Reclaimed, his furniture store in Crystal Lake. Because his business is furniture, the schoolhouse units likely will be outfitted with pieces he has made or restored.

His vision for the units includes keeping the windows at the front of the building, the waves in the glass proving they are more than 110 years old. Other windows installed in the 1950s will be replaced with energy-efficient models but still allow light to pour in.

One first-floor classroom will be outfitted as an office center and library, and the room directly underneath will be a fitness center. In one of those rooms, he also found the original lights, which had been covered with drywall over the years.

The structure sits on 3 acres. There’s a basketball hoop outside along with a baseball field. Hollenberg wants to restore that area for his guests to use.

The construction is at a bit of a standstill, however. Originally, Hollenberg planned to make the entire school one rentable unit for guests, and he went through the zoning process in McHenry County for that.

Once that was done, he decided it made more sense to put in multiple apartments, so he’s going back to the drawing board with McHenry County to get it rezoned for a multifamily dwelling.

“It is more like a boutique hotel,” he said.