Historic Preservation Commission
Cedar Crest Historic District
Locally
Designated 1993
Nationally Designated 2006
Cedar Crest Walking Tour Map [PDF]
Cedar Crest is one of Normal’s most distinctive neighborhoods. It was developed between 1914 and 1930 as the first comprehensively designed subdivision in the city. Almost all of the original houses may be the work of a single architect, lending the neighborhood a distinct character and a unity of design. The curvilinear streets and Craftsman-style houses illustrate striking changes in town planning and architecture that came about in the early twentieth century. Cedar Crest preserves a remarkable degree of historical integrity; of fifty residential structures built on the fifty-nine lots, only one was built before the subdivision was laid out, and only three were constructed after 1930. The area is admirably suited for designation as an historic neighborhood.
- Excerpted from The Legacy: A Survey of the Historical Architecture of the Town of Normal
Property List:
| 2 Broadway Place 5 Broadway Place 7 Broadway Place 9 Broadway Place 11 Broadway Place 13 Broadway Place 14 Broadway Place 15 Broadway Place 16 Broadway Place 17 Broadway Place 18 Broadway Place 19 Broadway Place 20 Broadway Place 21 Broadway Place 22 Broadway Place 23 Broadway Place 24 Broadway Place 25 Broadway Place 26 Broadway Place 27 Broadway Place 306 W. Division 1304 S. Fell |
1 Clinton
Place 2 Clinton Place 3 Clinton Place 4 Clinton Place 5 Clinton Place 6 Clinton Place 7 Clinton Place 9 Clinton Place 10 Clinton Place 11 Clinton Place 14 Clinton Place 15 Clinton Place 17 Clinton Place 18 Clinton Place 22 Clinton Place 24 Clinton Place 28 Clinton Place 1302 Hillcrest |
Craftsman-Style Residence,
1 CLINTON PLACE
The architect of Cedar Crest, Aaron T. Simmons, was born to a
farming family in Jerseyville, Illinois, on October 30, 1876. After
attending public schools in Jerseyville, he studied architecture
at the University of Illinois. While there he no doubt knew Arthur
Lowe Pillsbury, who would become Bloomington’s first architect with
a university degree. Simmons’ career was unusual in that he was
able to gain considerable practical architectural experience prior
to graduation. Simmons worked as an architect from 1901 to 1924,
and compiled an impressive list of accomplishments. He designed
schools, churches, and court houses, but he is perhaps best known
for the seventy-one Carnegie Libraries that he designed for cities
in thirteen states. Simmons’ buildings in the Bloomington-Normal
area include the old YWCA building, the Lafayette Apartments, and
the Williams Oil-O-Matic building that is now part of the Eureka-Williams
complex on Morrisey Drive in Bloomington.
Simmons does not seem to have had a direct financial interest in
Cedar Crest beyond designing the houses. However, his own house
at 1 Clinton Place was one of the first to be erected in the subdivision
and was clearly designed to serve as a focus for the newly planned
area, demonstrating the kinds of strikingly modern ideas that he
would bring to his Cedar Crest designs. The house at 1 Clinton Place,
where Simmons long resided, has not been substantially altered.
It is Normal’s best example of a home that an architect designed
for his own residence, and is historically significant as the residence
of the town’s first major architect. Moreover, it has architectural
distinction quite apart from its place in the landscape and history
of Cedar Crest. If Cedar Crest did not exist as an historic and
aesthetic area, Simmons’ house would certainly deserve its own independent
reputation as one of Normal’s most impressive pieces of architecture.
- Excerpted from The Legacy: A Survey of the Historical
Architecture of the Town of Normal
Mission-Style Residence,
2 CLINTON PLACE
The earliest Mission-style homes were built in California. The style spread eastward, but most Mission homes are located in the southwestern states. Mission homes often have smooth stucco siding, roof parapets, large square pillars, arcaded entry porches, and rounded windows. Celebrating the architecture of Hispanic settlers, Mission-style houses feature arched dormers and roof parapets. Some resemble old Spanish mission churches with twin bell towers and elaborate arches. By the 1920s, architects were combining Mission styling with features from the Craftsman and Prairie movements.
- Excerpted from http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-mission.htm
Craftsman-Style Residence,
3 CLINTON PLACE
The Craftsman style was popular at the same time as the American Foursquare, 1910-1930, but rather different in aesthetic and effect. As in the Queen Anne style, Craftsman houses were consciously intended to be picturesque, but in quite different ways than the Queen Anne. Often, but not always, asymmetrical, and using a large variety of building materials (brick, stone, stucco, clapboards, half-timbering), fancy exposed carpentry of some type, and a large variety of roofs and roofing materials (ceramic tiles, concrete tiles, asphalt shingles, imitation thatching, hipped, gabled, composite), Craftsman effects were employed in a wide variety of houses in many different ways. Many Craftsman houses are one-and-a-half story cottages that attempt to convey coziness and quaintness. On the other hand, sometimes Craftsman elements will be found on large, two-story residences or on residences that are basically another style – Renaissance Villa, Neo-Tudor, or Neo-Colonial. Craftsman houses are to be found in any area of Normal developed between 1910 and 1930, but the largest concentration of Craftsman houses is in south-central Normal, in and around the Cedar Crest Historic District.
- Excerpted from The Legacy: A Survey of the Historical
Architecture of the Town of Normal
Craftsman-Style Residence,
6 CLINTON PLACE
Neo-Tudor Residence,
18 CLINTON PLACE
At the same time that the Craftsman style was in vogue, the neo-Tudor style also became popular. Indeed both styles were striving to achieve a sense of coziness and quaintness, and one sometimes finds (in Cedar Crest, for example) Craftsman and neo-Tudor components mixed together. Neo-Tudor exteriors are usually a mixture of brick and stucco, often with some half-timbering included. Other characteristics include high-pitched roofs, asymmetrical configurations, enclosed entryways, fireplaces with ornamented chimneys and chimney pots, and casement windows.
- Excerpted from The Legacy: A Survey of the Historical
Architecture of the Town of Normal
Prairie-Style Residence,
22 CLINTON PLACE
Prairie houses are characterized by low, horizontal lines that are meant to blend with the flat landscape around them. Typically, these structures were built around a central chimney, consisted of broad open spaces instead of strictly defined rooms, and deliberately blurred the distinction between interior space and the surrounding terrain.
- Excerpted from http://www.delmars.com/wright/flw2.htm
Kuhn House
Queen Anne Residence,
5 BROADWAY PLACE
When Bert Marley Kuhn began the development of Cedar Crest, he was one of Normal’s best-known businessmen. Perhaps his best-known enterprise was a patented dressmaking project called the Climax Tailor System, which Kuhn promoted throughout central Illinois. He had resided on the site of his development since about 1890, apparently purchasing the property from Charles Fell, whose nursery had occupied the entire tract of land. Kuhn built for himself the Queen Anne style house located on the southwest corner of Highland and Broadway Place during the early 1890s. This house, one of the few Queen Anne style house remaining in Normal, adds complexity and historical richness to the Cedar Crest Addition.
The Queen Anne style was very popular throughout the United States during the 1890s. The style is characterized by purposefully picturesque attributes: absence of symmetry, uneven and romantic rooflines, mixing of siding materials (a variety of different shingles and clapboards), ornately milled woodwork, and so forth. Although this appellation is usually confined to larger residences, some late Victorian cottages may also be included in this category. Normal once had many of these houses, however, most of them have disappeared. Some good examples, however, still exist on South Broadway at 501, 705, and 905; at 1112 South Fell; and at the Kuhn House at 5 Broadway Place.
- Excerpted from The Legacy: A Survey of the Historical
Architecture of the Town of Normal
Craftsman-Style Residence,
9 BROADWAY PLACE
Colonial Revival Residence,
1304 S. BROADWAY
The Colonial Revival style expresses a renewed interest in America's colonial past. These square, symmetrical houses combine elements of Federal and Georgian architecture from the 1700s and early 1800s. Typical architectural elements include porticos, ionic columns, and pediments.
- Excerpted from http://architecture.about.com/cs/colonialrevival
Neo-Tudor Residence,
1302 HILLCREST
At the same time that the Craftsman style was in vogue, the neo-Tudor style also became popular. Indeed both styles were striving to achieve a sense of coziness and quaintness, and one sometimes finds (in Cedar Crest, for example) Craftsman and neo-Tudor components mixed together. Neo-Tudor exteriors are usually a mixture of brick and stucco, often with some half-timbering included. Other characteristics include high-pitched roofs, asymmetrical configurations, enclosed entryways, fireplaces with ornamented chimneys and chimney pots, and casement windows.
- Excerpted from The Legacy: A Survey of the Historical
Architecture of the Town of Normal
Prairie-Style Residence,
1304 HILLCREST
Prairie-Style Residence,
1306 HILLCREST
Prairie-Style Residence,
1308 HILLCREST
