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!