The William W. Kimball House is a private residence located at 1801

Prairie Avenue Prairie Avenue is a north–south street on the South Side of Chicago, which historically extended from 16th Street in the Near South Side to the city's southern limits and beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail ...

in the Near South Side neighborhood of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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 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 December 9, 1971.

History

The house was built in 1890–1892 for

William Wallace Kimball William Wallace Kimball (1828–1904) was the founder of the company now known as Kimball International. Biography Kimball was born in Rumford, Maine on March 22, 1828. He moved to Decorah, Iowa, in his mid-twenties and became a real estate b ...

, a piano manufacturer. Kimball reportedly spent $1 million on the home. At the time, Prairie Avenue was known for its expensive homes designed in popular revival styles, and the district was home to many of Chicago's wealthiest residents. The Kimball House and the

John J. Glessner House The John J. Glessner House, operated as the Glessner House, is an architecturally important 19th-century residence located at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Built during the Gilded Age, it was designed in 1885–1886 by architect He ...

are the main two surviving examples of the district's homes of the late 1800s. The house now serves as the headquarters of the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

Architecture

The Kimball house was designed by architect

Solon Spencer Beman Solon Spencer Beman (October 1, 1853 – April 23, 1914) was an American architect based in Chicago, Illinois and best known as the architect of the Urban planning, planned Pullman, Chicago, Pullman community and adjacent Pullman Company factory ...

in the

Châteauesque Châteauesque (or Francis I style,Whiffen, Marcus, ''American Architecture Since 1780: A guide to the styles'', The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969, p. 142. or in Canada, the Château Style) is a Revivalist architectural style based on the Fr ...

style. The house's design features a number of turrets with a variety of roof shapes, a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

exterior, and an elliptical

bow window A bow window or compass window is a curved bay window. Bow windows are designed to create space by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building, and to provide a wider view of the garden or street outside and typically combine four or more w ...

topped by an ornamented gable facing Prairie Avenue. The design is considered a significant example of the Châteauesque style by architectural historians; John Drury called the house "Chicago's best Châteauesque design" in 1941, and

Marcus Whiffen Marcus Whiffen (4 March 1916 - February 2002) was an English architectural journalist, historian, author and photographer specialising in British and American architecture. He was Professor Emeritus in the School of Architecture at Arizona State ...

cited the house as a representative example of Châteauesque architecture in America.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimball, William W., House Houses completed in 1892 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago United States Soccer Federation Gilded Age mansions