houses were usually built along the old Ridge Road, which had now become an avenue, as the beauties of the lake were either not appreciated or feared on account of the supposed deleterious effects of the lake air. These houses were generally of brick and the stories were extraordinarily high. I he hallway was in the center, with a stairway which usually ran in one straight ramp almost to the second floor, where, on the short turn, was placed a niche, in which often stood a plaster statue of Canova s Hebe. Opening off the hall on one side through wide folding doors was the parlor. Behind this was the dining room. On the other side, usually of the same size and relationship, ranged the sitting-room and a large bedroom. Each of these rooms was provided with a marble fireplace carved in a debased rococo style, or else made of slabs incised with Eastlake decoration. Plaster cornices surmounted the wall, and in the center of the ceiling was a huge plaster rosette, from which hung iron chandeliers with their oil lamps. The arrangement of the rooms on the second floor was similar, except that a single bathroom, long, narrow and high, accommodated the household. A rear wing housed the kitchen, back stairs and an anomalous room behind the kitchen, which was part
laundry and part woodshed. The crowning glory of the house was the cupola. This room, never visited except by the children in fear and trembling, was plastered and finished off as the rooms below. Such a house was the Hamline House, which boasts twenty different kinds of wood in its interior finish; it was built in 1867. Of the same period is the Kedzie House, where the detail is Eastlake rather than French. It is possible that some of this work, usually ascribed to the influence of the English Eastlake patterns, was derived from the French neo-Grec, as exploited by Lebruste in the Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve.
The first important building of the university was University Hall, built in 1873. This is one of the most important and successful monuments of the Gothic Revival. When it was completed, Frances Willard called it a “poem in stone,” and writes that the best models on both sides of the water had been studied. G. P. Randall was the architect. Particularly interesting is the very original and impressive treatment of the tower, evidently influenced by the fashionable cupolas in vogue. Joliet limestone was the material par excellence for stone work, and it was invariably laid up in rock-faced ashler. Its
THE GOTHIC COTTAGE STYLE
Rest Cottage, the Home of Frances Willard, Built in 1867
THE ROMANESQUE REVIVAL, ITS INTERPRETATION IN SHINGLES. BUILT IN 1889 HANDY & CADY, ARCHITECTS
laundry and part woodshed. The crowning glory of the house was the cupola. This room, never visited except by the children in fear and trembling, was plastered and finished off as the rooms below. Such a house was the Hamline House, which boasts twenty different kinds of wood in its interior finish; it was built in 1867. Of the same period is the Kedzie House, where the detail is Eastlake rather than French. It is possible that some of this work, usually ascribed to the influence of the English Eastlake patterns, was derived from the French neo-Grec, as exploited by Lebruste in the Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve.
The first important building of the university was University Hall, built in 1873. This is one of the most important and successful monuments of the Gothic Revival. When it was completed, Frances Willard called it a “poem in stone,” and writes that the best models on both sides of the water had been studied. G. P. Randall was the architect. Particularly interesting is the very original and impressive treatment of the tower, evidently influenced by the fashionable cupolas in vogue. Joliet limestone was the material par excellence for stone work, and it was invariably laid up in rock-faced ashler. Its
THE GOTHIC COTTAGE STYLE
Rest Cottage, the Home of Frances Willard, Built in 1867
THE ROMANESQUE REVIVAL, ITS INTERPRETATION IN SHINGLES. BUILT IN 1889 HANDY & CADY, ARCHITECTS