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Strevell House | |
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| Location | Pontiac, Illinois, United States |
|---|---|
| Built | 1854-55 |
| Architect | Zelus H. Nettleton (builder) |
| Architectural style | Carpenter Gothic |
| NRHP reference No. | 100008845 |
| Added to NRHP | April 13, 2023 |
The Strevell House historic framed home in the Illinois city of Pontiac. The house is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and is one of the few pre-Civil War homes in Pontiac. [1]
The Strevell House was built in 1854-1855 by Zelus H. Nettleton, a master carpenter and clock repair person. Zelus Nettleton died in 1857 and left a pregnant widow with two children. Jason Strevell, an attorney who had moved from New York to Pontiac, married the widow of Zelus Nettleton. Mr. Strevell had the size of the home doubled to provide enough room for his new family. In January of 1860, Abraham Lincoln delivered a lecture at the Pontiac Presbyterian Church. After the lecture, Mr. Lincoln was a guest at the home of Jason Strevell until his train took him back to Bloomington. While Mr. Lincoln was at the house, Mr. Strevell measured his height in the doorway and Mr. Lincoln's height was six feet four inches. Mr. Strevell then served two terms as an Illinois State Representative and one term as an Illinois State Senator. Mr. Strevell moved to Miles City, Montana. The house fell into disrepair. In 2008, the house was purchased and then underwent a ten year renovation to restore it to its original condition. The historical society still holds the property and it is open for periodic public tours and events.
The Strevell House is an excellent example of Carpenter Gothic architecture. The wood framed house sits on a stacked rock foundation and the wood siding is painted the original dark red color. The trim on the exterior of the house includes typical Carpenter Gothic features including scroll sawn drop pendant bargeboards, horizontal bargeboards, finial mini-spires, and window hoods.
The house is architecturally significant as an excellent local example of Carpenter Gothic architecture. Though the house is most significant for its architecture, is also played a role in local history. The house is the only structure in Livingston County that has direct ties to Abraham Lincoln. The Strevell House was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance on April 13, 2023. It is property SG100008845 on the National Register.
Pontiac is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,150 in the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Livingston County. The 1984 movie Grandview, U.S.A. was set in Pontiac.
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters. The abundance of North American timber and the carpenter-built vernacular architectures based upon it made a picturesque improvisation upon Gothic a natural evolution. Carpenter Gothic improvises upon features that were carved in stone in authentic Gothic architecture, whether original or in more scholarly revival styles; however, in the absence of the restraining influence of genuine Gothic structures, the style was freed to improvise and emphasize charm and quaintness rather than fidelity to received models. The genre received its impetus from the publication by Alexander Jackson Davis of Rural Residences and from detailed plans and elevations in publications by Andrew Jackson Downing.
U.S. Route 66 was a United States Numbered Highway in Illinois that connected St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The historic Route 66, the Mother Road or Main Street of America, took long distance automobile travelers from Chicago to Southern California. The highway had previously been Illinois Route 4 and the road has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55 (I-55). Parts of the road still carry traffic and six separate portions of the roadbed have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Ashe Cottage, also known as the Ely House, is a historic Carpenter Gothic house in Demopolis, Alabama. It was built in 1832 and expanded and remodeled in the Gothic Revival style in 1858 by William Cincinnatus Ashe, a physician from North Carolina. The cottage is a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame building, the front elevation features two semi-octagonal gabled front bays with a one-story porch inset between them. The gables and porch are trimmed with bargeboards in a design taken from Samuel Sloan's plan for "An Old English Cottage" in his 1852 publication, The Model Architect. The house is one of only about twenty remaining residential examples of Gothic Revival architecture remaining in the state. Other historic Gothic Revival residences in the area include Waldwic in Gallion and Fairhope Plantation in Uniontown. Ashe Cottage was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on August 22, 1975, and to the National Register of Historic Places on 19 October 1978.
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The Charles Heath House is a historic house at 12 Heath Hill in Brookline, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built c. 1855–56 by Charles Heath, a member of one of Brookline's wealthiest families of the 19th century. The house is architecturally eclectic, with elements of the Carpenter Gothic predominating. Its main gable end is sheathed in vertical boarding, and has an oculus window. The gable has bargeboard decoration, as do the horizontal trimlines above the first and second floors. Its first-floor windows have classic Gothic-style hoods.
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The Thomas D. Campbell House is a historic Gothic Revival style log and wood frame home located in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It is significant for its association with Thomas D. Campbell, who became the largest wheat farmer in the United States. It is part of the Myra Museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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The East River Road Historic District is a historic district located along East River Road near the Grosse Ile Parkway in Grosse Ile, Michigan. The district is a small island community composed of eleven structures, including seven houses, two outbuildings, St. James Episcopal Church, and the Michigan Central Railroad depot. The district stretches from St. James Episcopal Church on the south to Littlecote on the north. The district was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1972 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The historically significant 1870s customs house was moved into the district in 1979.
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The Robert W. Hamilton House is a historic house located at 203 S. 13th St. in Murphysboro, Illinois. The house was built in 1867 for Robert Wood Hamilton, a Civil War veteran who served as circuit clerk of Jackson County and postmaster of Carbondale. The house is designed in the Carpenter Gothic style and is one of two remaining Carpenter Gothic residences in Jackson County. The front porch of the house is supported by four posts, which are linked at the top by trefoil arches. A steep dormer with ornamental bargeboards tops the porch. The opposite side of the front facade features a second-floor balcony with a quatrefoil-patterned railing. The gable end atop the balcony also features ornamental bargeboards.
Jason Woolrick Strevell was a lawyer who helped build the towns of Pontiac, Illinois, and Miles City, Montana. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate. Strevell was a friend of Abraham Lincoln.
Process of Adding the Strevell House to the National Register of Historic Places
Abraham Lincoln and the Strevell Family of Pontiac, Illinois.