The Graham Building is a 1926

Prairie style Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hip roof, hipped roofs with broad Overhang (architecture), ove ...

building on

Stolp Island Stolp Island is a small island in the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River in Aurora, Illinois. In 1986 the island and its 41 buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Stolp Island Historic District. It ...

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...

. It was individually listed on 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 ...

in 1982. Also, it is 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 ...

in a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

History

The Graham Building was designed by

George Grant Elmslie George Grant Elmslie (February 20, 1869 – April 23, 1952) was a Scottish-born American Prairie School architect whose work is mostly found in the Midwestern United States. He worked with Louis Sullivan and later with William Gray Purcell as a ...

, a leading student of Louis Sullivan. It was one of five buildings Elmslie designed in Aurora,

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 ...

. The Graham Building is the tallest of the buildings he designed for the city. William Graham was a contractor who commissioned the building. He immigrated from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the 1890s. He owned this building until his death in the 1950s. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

listed it on the

on March 19, 1982. On September 10, 1986, it was listed as a contributing property to the Stolp Island Historic District.Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
/ref>

Architecture

The eight-story building was designed the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...

architectural style. It is trapezoidal in shape, and is built with steel-reinforced concrete. The exterior is brick in a stretcher bond, with a polished granite first floor street facade. Casement windows with transoms are wood-framed. Windows on the side facades are standard double-hung windows. Little effort was put into the side facade because it was thought that other office buildings would soon be built adjacent to it. Entry doors are recessed from the edge of the openings. The main facades at Stolp Avenue and the Fox River feature decorative

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

and brick coursing designs below the second story windows.

References

{{Aurora, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Kane County, Illinois Prairie School architecture in Illinois Commercial buildings completed in 1926 Buildings and structures in Aurora, Illinois Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Historic district contributing properties in Illinois George Grant Elmslie buildings