The William Duncan House, Towanda, IL

Duncan House, Towanda, IL. 1869
Photo: Ron Frazier

Photo: Jenny Addison

Photo: Wikimedia

The William Duncan house, built in the countryside of Illinois for a successful livestock dealer in 1869, is an oddly sited, sophisticated example of Italianate design on the prairie. It survived the years with few modifications but was eventually abandoned and vandalized. The house is currently being restored by interested owners who are committed to bringing it back to its former state. It is a fascinatingly designed specimen of the double tower design that departs from Upjohn's precedent and presents two distinct facades. The front façade is a typical double tower plan, although the towers are of an identical height and projection, unlike other examples of the plan. The back of the house follows the pavilion plan. The house has impressive and sophisticated Anglo-Italianate details for its location in the countryside. The first and second floor windows are stacked, with round arched windows on the first floor and segmental arched windows on the second. These are connected by projecting brick or stone frames with simple moldings and keystones. The towers have triple arched windows on the top stage, while the back pavilions have round windows in the pediments. The corners have nicely done quoins of molded brick. The central bay on the front of the house has a porch on the first floor of brick with segmental and round arched openings flanking it with triple arched windows above, while the back has a deep two story classical porch. The cornice is simple with s scroll brackets closely spaced on a deep eave. I cannot say how surprising it is to see such a design essentially in the middle of nowhere. Images of the interior, with a lofty elliptical staircase can be seen here and here.

Photo: Ron Frazier

Photo: Kathy McEldowney

The William Judd Mix House, Oregon, IL

The William Judd Mix House, Oregon, IL. 1874 Photo: Teemu008

The William Judd Mix house in Oregon, IL was built in 1874 for Mix, a store owner and merchant, and is a lovely example of Illinois Italianate design. It is currently a bed and breakfast. It follows the rotated side tower plan, an interesting variant on the general Italianate plan types with the tower and a projecting pavilion taking up the front facade. The facade is brick with what looks like limestone detailing that forms the simple window hoods. The windows show a variety of shapes, though double tombstone windows seem to predominate. The variation in the bay window on the front, with two round headed windows flanking a window with filleted corners (a very big feature of the 1870s) is particularly nice. The cornice, which is of the paneled type has double s-curve brackets and dentil moldings. I like the front door surround, which is wood and features an interesting little semicircle in the center of the molding. The tower facade itself has a recessed blind arch in the brickwork, which adds some distinction to that element of the facade. The tower's upper stage has unusually two pairs of double tombstone windows set in rectangular frames, a nice feature, with moldings forming pilasters between them; a tall finial completes the vertical thrust found in this type of plan. There is an interesting side porch to the right that seems to be Gothic, with four point arches. A final note, the house has a more steeply pitched hip roof; this seems to be a feature of Illinois houses of the 1870s.

 

The Nelson Stillman House, Galena, IL

The Nelson Stillman House, Galena, IL 1858 Photo: Richie Diesterheft

Photo: SD Dirk

This is a truly impressive house in a town of impressive homes. The Nelson Stillman house was built in 1858 by a successful grocer. After serving as a nursing home, it is now the Stillman Inn, a bed and breakfast whose owners have restored missing original features of the house and have taken excellent care of the property. As far as the plan goes, it is a typical irregular plan house with brick facing and a simple architrave and bracket cornice. The unique design features of this house are what really set it apart from the usual. First, the most noticeable feature is the tower. Unlike the traditional Italianate tower, this one has a strong ogee shaped gable on all four sides, a feature which is rarely seen (Norwich, CT has some similar towers). The ogee has no brackets, perhaps because they were just too hard to cut. It covers a double tombstone window topped by a round window. As if the tower gables weren't enough, an octagonal, almost Federal, cupola tops the tower with an open platform for viewing the surrounding countryside from the hill on which the house sits. I am not sure I have seen an open cupola like this on an Italianate, and I find it rather pleasing, even if it interacts a bid oddly with the ogee. Two other features catch my eye. First is the fact that all the windows on the front of the house are double (one is triple) and covered with wooden awnings with fringes, that make the house look rather festive. The tent shape to the awnings echoes the curves on the cupola roof and the tower gable nicely. Third is the porch, which, although it seems standard enough, has odd bits of jigsaw work hanging down from the cornice over the brackets. This is a bit of whimsy that is almost Steamboat Gothic in its inspiration and fun. It again adds curves into the house's design, giving the porch cornice a sort of undulation. The sides of the house are much plainer, keeping with the Victorian spirit of thrift which always seemed at war with their desire for display.

Photo: Eric Olson

The Daniel Barrows House, Galena, IL

The Daniel Barrows House, Galena, IL 1858-9 Photo: sfgamchick

Galena, IL is one of the best preserved Victorian towns in the US. It's charming streets and wonderfully preserved architecture make it a prime spot to look at interesting homes. The Daniel Barrows house was built in 1858-1859 for a local merchant in a variety of concerns. It later became an Odd Fellows hall and in 1938 was sold to the city of Galena for use as a museum, a use it retains to this day. The house is of a simple but grand design, following the symmetrical plan and faced in brick with wooden accents. The central bay is distinguished by a deep projection and pilasters laid in the brickwork. Each of the windows on the facade has a classical pediment, and the sparseness of ornament on the windows gives it a slightly Greek revival air. Federal design is present in the shallow curve of the transom over the door. A town like Galena in the relatively new state of Illinois was bound to be a bit behind the times! The cornice features a full classical architrave and frieze with double s-curve brackets. Within the central pediment, there is an interesting wooden fringe that further defines the central bay. Another interesting feature is the broad patio which runs along the front of the house and curves gracefully around the porch; the woodwork on which it sits is a particularly fine example of the jigsaw. The chimneys look like they have some interesting blind arches in the brickwork. I do wish that the wood of the cornice were painted to match the porch and window pediments. I am not sure whether this is historical coloring or not, but it seems to me like mid-19th century owners would have wanted it painted to look like uniform brownstone trim!

The William Reddick House, Ottawa, IL

The William Reddick House, Ottawa, IL. 1858 Photo: Paul Kaiser

Photo: Wikimedia

The William Reddick house is the jewel of Ottawa, IL. Built in 1858 for Reddick, an Irish immigrant, philanthropist, politician, and businessman, the house on his death was left as a library to the city until it was restored as a house museum. It is located in the Washington Park historic district and both the mansion and Reddick figured in the Lincoln-Douglas debates that took place in the area. The architect was Peter Nicholson who started planning the house in 1855. The house is reportedly considered one of the most elaborate and expensive mid-19th century homes in the whole state of Illinois and remains a particularly significant example of the sophistication of Italianate architecture in the area.

The house follows the symmetrical plan, although its style is unconventional. The Reddick house features two polygonal bays connected by a porch (pictured above) on the east façade, mimicking the pavilion plan from that side, while the west façade has one polygonal bay. Interestingly, the bays intersect directly with the front façade, giving the house the appearance of having chamfered corners. The house's basement is unusually high with large windows, almost approaching the style of an English basement. The finish is brick with limestone trim.

Befitting its mid 19th century construction, the Reddick house is not overly ornamented. On the façade there are lateral and vertical distinctions. Vertical unity is enforced by the pairing of windows on the sides of the entrance. On the first floor, these are grouped into pairs by a solid block limestone facing that gives the effect of a box window although it is very shallow. This box window effect is continued by having the slight projection extend to the basement. The balcony on top completes the effect and ties the first and second story windows together. Limestone quoins at the corners also draw the eye upward. Laterally, the segmental arched windows in the basement are ensconced in a limestone base. The arched windows with Venetian tracery on the first floor are differentiated from the segmental paired windows on the second. The belt courses and cornice further develop the house's lateral focus.

The cornice itself is beautifully inset with alternating semicircular windows and semicircular panels with rosettes. An interesting feature is that the molding above the windows projects further than is usual and is decorated with panels flanking a central rosette, making this a paneled cornice. The porch and window surrounds, all of limestone, are also plain, notable because of their strong keystones, and, on the second floor, small, almost abstract foliage bosses. The brackets are on the two s-curve type. The front door, which is flanked by sidelights and has a lunette window above looks like a conservative throwback to Federal or Greek Revival design. The front steps with their terraced balustrade seem particularly calculated to appear grand and imposing. I like how Reddick and his architect didn't skimp on the decoration of the sides; it is consistent all around the house. The enlargements of the above photographs below highlight a couple details.

The house's website has a great deal of information including interior views and floor schematics.