Central House is an 1860s

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

building located in the 800-person village of Orangeville, in Stephenson County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The building was built by Orangeville founder John Bower and operated as a hotel from its construction until the 1930s, when it was converted for use as a single family residence. The three-story building was the first commercial brick structure in downtown Orangeville. Architecturally, the building is cast in a mid-19th-century

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

style. Central House was added to the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places 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 or "great artistic ...

in 1999.

Location

Central House stands at a T-intersection in the central business district of the 800 person village of Orangeville,

.Buford, John C.
Central House
," ( PDF), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 16 December 1998, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved 9 October 2007. Orangeville, in Stephenson County, is about two miles (3.2 km) from the Illinois–

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

border. High Street slopes uphill from the Richland Creek and is populated by historic, 19th-century buildings. At the summit of High Street's slope is the Central House].Buford, John C.
People's State Bank
," ( PDF), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 26 February 2004, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved 9 October 2007. In total, four of the five structures on the

in Orangeville, are found along High Street; the Union House, People's State Bank and the Orangeville Masonic Hall are the other two.National Register Information System
, National Register of Historic Places, ''National Park Service''. Retrieved 9 October 2007. Other historic buildings in the approximately three block area include the 1888 Musser Building, and the 1906 Wagner Building.

History

Central House was constructed in 1888, by John Hoyman, the son in law of town founder John Bower. John Bower had initially built a hotel at the same site in 1867, but it burned to the ground in 1887. It was the first brick commercial building, and the second brick building to be built in Orangeville. From the time it was constructed, until the 1930s, Central House operated as a

. During the 1930s the building was converted for use as a single-family residence, a function it retains at present. Though Central House has undergone multiple periods of renovations and alterations it still maintains its historic integrity. When the new hotel was built in 1888, the hotel affixed a large wooden sign adorned with "Central House" to the front facade; the original was removed during the 1920s. Before the turn of the 20th century the building's partial basement was added on. The home underwent several changes in 1911. They included: the addition of

indoor plumbing Tap water (also known as faucet water, running water, or municipal water) is water supplied through a tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used for drinking, ...

, the construction of a utility room at the structure's rear, the construction of a separate

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running wate ...

building, and the removal of an attached shed on the west facade. Central House did not have electricity until 1920. The kitchen was moved to the main building during the 1940s, and between 1950 and 1952 the second floor

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

was removed. The heating system evolved from

potbelly stove A potbelly stove is a cast-iron, coal-burning or wood-burning stove that is cylindrical with a bulge in the middle. Gove PB (editor in chief) (1981). ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged''. Springfield ...

s to a radiator hot water system in the 1920s, and during the 1960s gas heaters replaced that system.

Architecture

The building stands three stories, and features a partial basement and twenty rooms. Ten of the rooms were specifically designed as bedrooms. The brick building sits on a stone foundation and is cast in a mid-19th-century

style. The hotel building itself features arched segmented one over one windows on all facades and floors. The wooden-framed windows are either all original or could be restored to original appearance. The windows have shallow hood moldings made of soft brick and are all double hung. The original

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

and balcony, removed for reasons unknown during the 1950s, measured 18 feet (5.5 m) across and 10 feet (3 m) deep. The property of the Central House has one outbuilding, a five-bay

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

that dates to around the 1910s. The garage has had one roof replacement but maintains its historic integrity.

Significance

Central House is commercially significant for its role as a meeting place for citizens of Orangeville and travelers alike. It provided lodging and dining facilities for more than 60 years, and its construction was with the intention of being the central commercial building in Orangeville. The building remains one of the oldest surviving buildings in Orangeville and is the village's only hotel in its history. It is also the only three-story building within the Orangeville central business district. For its local significance in the area of architecture the building was added to the U.S.

on May 20, 1999.

References

{{reflist 1860s architecture in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Stephenson County, Illinois Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Orangeville, Illinois Hotel buildings completed in the 19th century

Location

History

Architecture

Significance

See also

References