KENILWORTH, Ill. (The Associated Press)—On the right block, under the right light, it's not hard to imagine Jay Gatsby tooling down a street here in a top-of-the-line Pierce-Arrow in an escape from Long Island.

Manicured lawns roll down from century-old homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and George W. Maher. Jens Jensen laid out the grounds for several buildings in this exclusive northern Chicago suburb.

''I think I know a historic place when I see one, and Kenilworth is at the top of the list,'' said architectural historian Susan Benjamin.

But that heritage is in danger. So much so that the National Trust for Historic Preservation on May 10 named Kenilworth among the nation's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, alongside hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods of New Orleans.

With an estimated household income topping $200,000 a year, declining property values and decay aren't the problems here—the problem is developers and the prestige of having a Kenilworth address.

The sheer value of real estate has made the community a target for developers who want to tear down older homes and replace them with huge postmodernist mansions.

''The teardown movement is of growing concern to the Trust because of the horrific toll it takes on older communities,'' Trust president Richard Moe said in a statement. ''Teardowns can radically change the face and personality of any neighborhood, but the impact is especially devastating in a historic community such as Kenilworth. The historic character of this very special place must be protected.''

Kenilworth was founded as a planned community in 1889 by Chicago businessman Joseph Sears, who bought some of Cook County's last open farmland along Lake Michigan and set down strict rules for its development: Major streets ran northeast to southwest to maximize sunlight, building lots were large, fences and alleys were forbidden.

A quilt made for the village's centennial in 1989 had 57 panels depicting architecturally significant local homes.

Today, 16 of those homes are gone. Since 1993 alone, 47 of Kenilworth's 830 homes have been torn down, said David Bahlman of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. Six more currently face demolition, said National Trust council member Robert Malott.

The listing by the National Trust is significant but largely symbolic. The village has no ordinance to protect historic homes, but its designation as an endangered historical place is a much-needed first step toward creating one, Village president Tolbert Chisum said.

Kelli Kobor lives in one of those century-old homes and has no plans to change it, but she doesn't believe tighter zoning restrictions are the answer.

''People pay fortunes for these old houses and then discover they can't retrofit them for modern amenities,'' she said. ''You can't mandate that people have to keep a house intact just because it's more than 80 years old or has a tangential relation to a well-known architect.''

Besides, Kobor said, some of the houses being hailed as gems today were the result of teardowns years ago or have been drastically modified.

''Designating the entire village as an historic preservation district is a bit of overkill,'' she said.