The George H. Cox House is a historic house located at 701 E. Grove St. in Bloomington,

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

. It is considered a particularly fine example of the residential work of architect George H. Miller.

History

George H. Cox was secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Hungarian Roller Mill Company. The company was owned by his brother Thomas. Cox also co-owned a flour mill with William Hasenwinkle. He served on the board of the Corn Belt Bank. Architect George H. Miller designed the home in 1886 in the Queen Anne style. Cox had a close association with Miller, who designed the Corn Belt Bank. Miller also designed the Bruner building for Cox's in-laws. J. H. McGregor was selected as contractor for the $20,000 house. The house was added to the

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 v ...

on November 14, 1985. It is also a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

of the

East Grove Street District The East Grove Street District is a residential historic district located on the 400 through 700 blocks of East Grove Street in Bloomington, Illinois. The district includes 43 houses and apartment buildings, 25 of which are considered contribut ...

Architecture

The house's front entrance is located within a circular porch supported by turned columns; the porch's roof is topped by a small balcony. An octagonal tower with

stained glass windows Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

and a bell-shaped dome is located behind the porch. A second-floor balcony with a mock

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

is partially hidden behind the right side of the tower. A small octagonal

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

, also featuring stained glass windows, is located to the left of the tower.

Notes

National Register of Historic Places in McLean County, Illinois Houses in McLean County, Illinois Houses completed in 1886 Queen Anne architecture in Illinois Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois {{McLeanCountyIL-NRHP-stub