Knuessl Building

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Knuessl Building
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Location215-217 W. Main, Ottawa, Illinois
Coordinates 41°20′46″N88°50′35″W / 41.34611°N 88.84306°W / 41.34611; -88.84306 Coordinates: 41°20′46″N88°50′35″W / 41.34611°N 88.84306°W / 41.34611; -88.84306
Arealess than one acre
Builtc. 1868
Architectural style Italianate
NRHP reference # 92000486 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 11, 1992

The Knuessl Building is a historic mid-19th Century commercial building in downtown Ottawa, Illinois. It was built around 1868 by a local pharmacist. The Knuessl Building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Commercial building building designed and/or used for commercial use

Commercial buildings are buildings that are used for commercial purposes, and include office buildings, warehouses, and retail buildings. In urban locations, a commercial building may combine functions, such as offices on levels 2-10, with retail on floor 1. When space allocated to multiple functions is significant, these buildings can be called multi-use.

Ottawa, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi River, and North America's 25,000 mile river system. The population estimate was 18,562 as of 2013. It is the county seat of LaSalle County and it is part of the Ottawa-Peru, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Contents

History

The Knuessl Building was built for Maxmillion Knuessl, a German-born Ottawan who came to the city in 1855. Knuessl was a trained druggist. The building served as his drugstore until his children later moved it in 1895, a few years after their father's death. The Knuessl Brothers Drug Store was in business into the 1940s. The structure has had many other uses through the years, including housing other businesses, churches, and storage. [2]

Architecture

The Knuessl Building is 34 feet (10 m) wide by 80 feet (24 m) long and stands 54 feet (16 m) tall. It is the most prominent structure in a block of commercial buildings along West Main Street in Ottawa. The front elevation is divided by a center staircase leading to the upper floors and creating two storefronts. In 1912 the building underwent some alterations which moved the storefront entrances from centered, to either side, creating a single, large display area for each storefront. The Knuessl Building is an example of the transition from wood-framed building construction to masonry construction in the 1860s. The building represents a mid-19th century commercial building design meant to evoke the Italian Renaissance known as Italianate. [2]

Italian Renaissance cultural movement

The Italian Renaissance was a period of Italian history that began in the 14th century (Trecento) and lasted until the 17th century (Seicento). It peaked during the 15th (Quattrocento) and 16th (Cinquecento) centuries, spreading across Europe and marking the transition from the Middle Ages to Modernity. The French word renaissance means "Rebirth" and defines the period as one of cultural revival and renewed interest in classical antiquity after the centuries labeled the Dark Ages by Renaissance humanists. The Renaissance author Giorgio Vasari used the term "Rebirth" in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the works of scholars such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt.

Historic significance

The Knuessl Building and the building adjacent it are the only two in the commercial block that retain much of their front facade details and ornamentation, especially their cornices, arched windows and storefronts. The Knuessl is one of the most intact mid-19th century buildings in Ottawa. It is a locally significant example of a mid-19th century commercial design, Italianate, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 11, 1992. [1]

Cornice horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture

A cornice is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture element – the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

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References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 Collins, James Edward. "Knuessl Building", (PDF), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, January 23, 1992, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency , accessed May 16, 2008.

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