Elgin Tower Building

Last updated
Elgin Tower Building
Elgin Tower Building - January 2011.jpg
The Elgin Tower building in Elgin, Illinois
USA Illinois location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location100 E. Chicago St., Elgin, Illinois
Coordinates 42°2′22″N88°17′4″W / 42.03944°N 88.28444°W / 42.03944; -88.28444 Coordinates: 42°2′22″N88°17′4″W / 42.03944°N 88.28444°W / 42.03944; -88.28444
Built1929
ArchitectW. G. Knoebel
Architectural style Art Deco
Part of Elgin Downtown Commercial District (ID14001067)
NRHP reference No. 02000542 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 22, 2002

The Elgin Tower Building, originally the Home Banks Building, is a historic office building in downtown Elgin, Illinois. The tower is 186 feet tall and 15 stories. It was built in 1929 to house the Home National Bank and Home National Savings and Trust. Though initially successful, the Great Depression devastated the bank only months later. The tower was again prosperous following World War II, when demand for Elgin goods increased. However, this prosperity was only temporary, and the tower again fell on hard times in the 1960s, particularly after the 1965 closing of the Elgin National Watch Company. The tower was eventually purchased by William R. Stickling, who went to great lengths to restore it. It was donated to a charity named in his honor following his 1999 death, and the William R. Stickling Charitable Foundation continues to maintain the structure. Its restoration is considered a major part of a hopeful rehabilitation of downtown Elgin. The tower is one of only two Art Deco buildings in Elgin and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. An elevator in the building that had a wooden interior was destroyed by arson on May 4, 2014. [2] The building was then purchased in 2016 by Capstone Development and renovated into apartments.

Contents

History

Elgin, Illinois was founded on the Fox River in 1835. The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad connected to the city in 1850, allowing Elgin to become a supplier of dairy products to Chicago. In 1865, the Elgin National Watch Company opened and became a major employer. The great success of Elgin National led other manufacturers to build factories within Elgin. Elgin's prosperity led to the opening of a number of banks by the late 19th century. The Elgin First National Bank opened in 1865 and was followed by the Home National Bank in 1872. The Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric Company opened in 1895, connecting Elgin with other Fox River Valley settlements, and the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago Railroad allowed easy access to and from Chicago in 1903. By 1920, downtown Elgin featured eleven clothing stores, two hotels, two department stores, and a Woolworth's. The Home National Bank was an important investor in these businesses, and often had to build extensions on its three-story building in Fountain Square. Home National Savings and Trust was responsible for managing the Elgin National payroll. Eventually, the bank's officials decided that the small building would no longer suffice, and ordered the construction of a new building in 1927. [3]

Construction of the Home Banks Building began in March 1928 and was managed by the St. Louis Building and Equipment Company. It was completed in May 1929 at a cost of $800,000. Home National Bank and Home National Savings and Trust were the main occupants, but they leased many of their new offices to other local businesses, opening at 70% capacity. Its completion of the city's first skyscraper was seen as the dawning of a new era for Elgin. The bank boasted state-of-the-art vaults, which were fireproof and burglar-proof. [3]

The entrance of the Elgin Tower Building Elgin Tower Building (Elgin, IL) 06.JPG
The entrance of the Elgin Tower Building

However, like many banks of the day, Home National Bank collapsed during the Great Depression. By the time Home National declared bankruptcy in 1932, only 35% of the building was still occupied. The First National Bank of Chicago assumed control of the building in August 1932. The building's new owner, who renamed the structure the Elgin Tower Building, was able to increase occupancy to 60% thanks in part to a ban on new construction in Elgin. The Depression years were meager, but a Walgreens did open on the ground floor. The end of World War II in 1945 brought a great demand for manufactured supplies, again making Elgin an important industrial center. Also in 1945, investor Otto Pelikan purchased the building. It filled to nearly full capacities from the late 1940s through the 1950s. [3]

The Elgin Tower Building again declined in usage in the 1960s as demand for Elgin's manufactured goods attenuated. Walgreens vacated in 1957, although a successful restaurant opened in its place. The Elgin National Watch Company closed in 1965, signaling the end of Elgin's relevance as a major industrial town. Furthermore, a new bypass of Elgin was opened for U.S. Route 20. The 1971 opening of Woodfield Mall in nearby Schaumburg sharply decreased shopping demand in the city, and, in the early 1980s, major retailers such as Sears and JC Penney shuttered their downtown Elgin stores and relocated to Spring Hill Mall. By 1980, occupancy at Elgin National Tower was as low as 40%. Following Pelikan's death in 1967, the tower changed owners several times. The tower's facade was restored by the Williams family in 1975 in an effort to rehabilitate the downtown area. Three years later, William Stickling purchased the tower and continued to make improvements. The most substantial of these restorations came in 1996 at a cost of millions of dollars. Special lighting was installed on the building's exterior in 1999 to showcase its architectural merit. Stickling died later that year, but his benefactors transferred the building to the William R. Stickling Charitable Foundation, who currently maintain the building. An addition was built in 1999 to house, rent-free, the Downtown Neighborhood Association, who intend to revitalize the downtown area. The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 2002. [3]

Architecture

The clock on the east side of the building. Elgin Tower Building (Elgin, IL) 08.JPG
The clock on the east side of the building.

The Elgin Tower Building is located at 100 E. Chicago St. in Elgin, between Douglas and N. Grove Avenues. This area has historically been known as Fountain Square, generally accepted as the downtown area of Elgin. The nearby bridge on Chicago Street was the only bridge across the Fox River at the time of its construction. The fifteen-story structure, designed by W. G. Knoebel, is one of only two Art Deco buildings in the city. The two-story base extends 31 feet (9.4 m) beyond the upper thirteen floors on the west side and 25 feet (7.6 m) on the west side. Small retail buildings have since adjoined on this base. The building's entrance, two sets of three glass doors, faces the southwest and is flanked by Corinthian columns. An eagle statue adorns the top of each column. Classic elements are carved into the limestone base, consistent with Art Deco style. Seven bas-relief eagles are carved on the top of the second floor, below a zig-zagging parapet. Windows are arched and feature high relief fasces. A three-faced clock is found on the east corner; the Home National Bank previously advertised the building as "The Bank with the Clock". The clock is in a copper case with copper and bronze ornamentation. [3]

Related Research Articles

Elgin, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Elgin is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Located roughly 35 mi (56 km) northwest of Chicago, it lies along the Fox River. As of 2019, the city had an estimated population of 110,849, making it the eighth-largest city in Illinois.

Magnificent Mile Neighborhood and street in Cook, Illinois, United States

The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located adjacent to downtown, and one block east of Rush Street. The Magnificent Mile serves as the main thoroughfare between Chicago's Loop business district and its Gold Coast. It is generally the western boundary of the Streeterville neighborhood, to its east and River North to the west.

Carew Tower 49-story Art Deco building in Cincinnati

Carew Tower is a 49-story, 574-foot (175 m) Art Deco building completed in 1930 in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River waterfront. The structure is the second-tallest building in the city, and it was added to the register of National Historic Landmarks on April 19, 1994. The tower is named after Joseph T. Carew, proprietor of the Mabley & Carew department store chain, which had previously operated in a building on the site.

Eastern Columbia Building

The Eastern Columbia Building, also known as the Eastern Columbia Lofts, is a thirteen-story Art Deco building designed by Claud Beelman located at 849 S. Broadway in the Broadway Theater District of Downtown Los Angeles. It opened on September 12, 1930, after just nine months of construction. It was built at a cost of $1.25 million as the new headquarters and 39th store for the Eastern-Columbia Department Store, whose component Eastern and Columbia stores were founded by Adolph Sieroty and family. At the time of construction, the City of Los Angeles enforced a height limit of 150 feet (46 m), however the decorative clock tower was granted an exemption, allowing the clock a total height of 264 feet (80 m).

David Stott Building Skyscraper in Detroit

The David Stott Building is a 38 story high-rise apartment building with office space on floors 2-6 and retail space on the first floor. The "Stott" was originally built as a class-A office building located at 1150 Griswold Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Capitol Park Historic District. It was designed in the Art Deco style by the architectural firm of Donaldson and Meier and completed in 1929. Bedrock Detroit owns and manages the building which began leasing in late 2018 and includes 107 apartment homes and 5 floors of commercial office space.

Mercantile National Bank Building Skyscraper in Dallas, Texas

The Mercantile National Bank Building is a 31-story, 159.4 m (523 ft) skyscraper at 1800 Main Street in the Main Street district of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the former home of the Mercantile National Bank, which later became MCorp Bank. The design of the skyscraper features Moderne styling from the Art Deco era and was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager. The building has a series of setbacks that is crowned by an ornamental four-sided clock along with a decorative weather spire. The Merc was the main element of a four-building complex that eventually spanned a full city block.

Town Apartments United States historic place

Town Residences, formerly the Town Apartments, is a high-rise apartment building located at 1511 First Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Originally designed by Wirt C. Rowland, the structure was built in two distinct phases: construction started in 1928 but was soon halted by the Great Depression, and the building was left open to the elements for two decades before being finally completed in 1953. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Home Savings Bank Building

The Home Savings Bank Building is an office building located in downtown Albany, New York, United States at 11 North Pearl Street. At 19 stories and 267 feet (81 m) tall, it is the eleventh-tallest building in the city.

Spring Street (Los Angeles) Historic district in Downtown Los Angeles

Spring Street in Los Angeles is one of the oldest streets in the city. Along Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles, from just north of Fourth Street to just south of Seventh Street is the NRHP-listed Spring Street Financial District, nicknamed Wall Street of the West, lined with Beaux Arts buildings and currently experiencing gentrification. This section forms part of the Historic Core district of Downtown, together with portions of Hill, Broadway, Main and Los Angeles streets.

F. W. Woolworth Building (Wilmington, Delaware) United States historic place

The F. W. Woolworth Company Building is a historic department store building located in downtown Wilmington, Delaware.

S. H. Kress and Co. Building (Fort Worth, Texas) United States historic place

The Kress Building, also known as S.H. Kress and Co. Building, is a Classical Moderne Art Deco building in downtown Fort Worth. Designed by New York architect Edward F. Sibbert, the five-story Kress building served the “five-and-dime” chain from 1936 through 1960 and was one of the only major construction projects in Fort Worth built using private money during the Great Depression. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. In 2016, the building was converted into downtown housing.

Detroit Financial District United States historic place

The Detroit Financial District is a United States historic district in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The district was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 14, 2009, and was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of December 24, 2009.

Davenport Bank and Trust United States historic place

Davenport Bank and Trust Company was for much of the 20th century the leading bank of the Quad Cities metropolitan area and the surrounding region of eastern Iowa and western Illinois. It was at one time Iowa's largest commercial bank, and the headquarters building has dominated the city's skyline since it was constructed in 1927 at the corner of Third and Main Streets in downtown Davenport, Iowa. It was acquired by Norwest Bank of Minneapolis in 1993 and now operates as part of Wells Fargo following a 1998 merger of the two financial institutions. The historic building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 under the name of its predecessor financial institution American Commercial and Savings Bank. In 2016 the National Register approved a boundary increase with the Davenport Bank and Trust name. It was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District in 2020. It remains the tallest building in the Quad Cities, and is today known as Davenport Bank Apartments as it has been redeveloped into a mixed-use facility housing commercial, office and residential space.

Downtown Waterbury Historic District United States historic place

The Downtown Waterbury Historic District is the core of the city of Waterbury, Connecticut, United States. It is a roughly rectangular area centered on West Main Street and Waterbury Green, the remnant of the original town commons, which has been called "one of the most attractive downtown parks in New England."

Central National Bank (Richmond, Virginia) United States historic place

The Central National Bank building is a 23-story Art Deco skyscraper located in Richmond, Virginia. Completed in 1929, it was one of the first skyscrapers in the city of Richmond not in the heart of the financial district. According to architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson, it and the West Hospital building, are the only two skyscrapers in Richmond to have used the fashionable Art Deco ziggurat-inspired setback, and only a few others exist elsewhere in Virginia. When the bank later changed hands, it was known as the Central Fidelity Bank. It was used as a branch bank for Wachovia Corp. until that closed in 2000. After nearly fifteen years of vacancy, it was converted into apartments, and the first resident moved into the building in mid-2016. The redevelopment is called to "Deco at CNB," a 200-apartment development by Douglas Development Corp.

Dime Savings and Trust Company United States historic place

Dime Savings and Trust Company, also known as First Valley Bank, is a historic bank building located at Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1925, and is a "T"-shaped, five-story red brick building. The base is sheathed in limestone, and the distinctive brick and limestone attic level is reflective of the Art Deco style.

Union Arcade United States historic place

The Union Arcade is an apartment building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 by its original name Union Savings Bank and Trust. Originally, the building was built to house a bank and other professional offices. Although it was not the city's largest bank, and it was not in existence all that long, the building is still associated with Davenport's financial prosperity between 1900 and 1930. From 2014 to 2015 the building was renovated into apartments and it is now known as Union Arcade Apartments. In 2020 it was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District.

Waukegan Building United States historic place

The Waukegan Building is a historic skyscraper in Waukegan, Illinois, United States. Located in what was the central business district, it was the city's first skyscraper when it opened in March 1925.

First Federal Savings and Loan Association Building United States historic place

The First Federal Savings and Loan Association Building is a historic building located in Downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. In 2020 it was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District.

Detroit Savings Bank Southwest Branch United States historic place

The Detroit Savings Bank Southwest Branch is a former branch bank building located at 5705 West Fort Street in Detroit, Michigan. The building is significant as one of the works of Wirt C. Rowland, then working at the firm established by Albert Kahn. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/elgin/ct-elgin-tower-fire-investigation-tl-0522-20140514,0,1948142.story
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Elgin Tower Building at Wikimedia Commons