Historic Preservation Commission
Highland Historic District
Designated
2002
Built in the second and third decades of the 20th century,
homes in the Highland Historic District feature high quality
construction and materials, as well as designs by noted
architects A.L. Pillsbury and George Miller. This district
provides a range of architectural styles including a
19th-century farmhouse, a Prairie style home, American
four-squares, and Craftsman bungalows.
Property List
Arts & Crafts Bungalow
1116 Franklin Ave.
Built
in 1921, this bungalow has a Georgian center hall plan. The porch
design includes ornate porch piers, battered columns, and a gable
roof.
Prairie-Style Foursquare
308 Highland Avenue
This
two-story, A.L. Pillsbury design #829 residence was built around
1914. The stucco façade has horizontal banding that divides the
upper one-third of the façade. Ornate windows, eave details, and
a third-floor dormer contribute to its architectural significance.
Cape Cod Style
310 Highland Avenue
Although
one of the new kids on the block (built in 1956), the brick façade
and side gable roof complement the district well.
Arts & Crafts Bungalow
314 Highland Avenue
Built
in 1924, this bungalow features wood siding, a cross-gable hip roof,
classical window design and three hip-on-gable dormers.
Cape Cod Style
316 Highland Avenue
Although
this home was built later (1948) than most of the homes in the district,
this Cape Cod residence and its wood siding, gable roof, and ornate
portico columns fit into the district quite well.
Prairie-Style Foursquare
1105 S. Fell Avenue
Massive
brick porch supports and a railing with decorative brick work command
attention in this 1914 structure. Additional brick masonry, window
and eave details, and a hip roof with hip-roofed dormer are also
present.
Prairie Style with Craftsman Elements
1107 S. Fell Avenue
Construction
of this home started in 1917 and was completed in 1918 by W.E. Sellman.
According to the account furnished to the present owners, Mr. Sellman
never lived in the home. The first residents were Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Kraft, whose daughter Mary lived in the house from 1918 until 1979,
when the current owners purchased it. The Krafts added the sun room
on the south and the mezzanine room off the main stairs after they
moved in.
Architecturally, the home combines both the Prairie and Craftsman styles. The Prairie style is evident in the tiled, hipped roof with broad overhangs. The horizontal limestone band at the base and at the second floor level provides a sharp contrast with the dark red brick. Craftsman elements include the exposed structure of the soffits and the front porch roof. The home’s interior features five wood-burning fireplaces trimmed in ceramic tile and wood. There is extensive use of clear, dark-stained red gum wood trim, which is no longer commercially available. The second floor bathroom still has the original fixtures, and most ceiling- and wall-mounted light fixtures are the original brass. The rooms have an airy and spacious feeling attributable to large windows and five sets of French doors. Most of the windows still have the original sash, trim, and glazing.
The home sits on a one-acre lot that contains landscaping popular
85 years ago. Many varieties of wildflower grace the rear yard as
well as period trees and bushes, such as red bud, ferns, privet,
bridal wreath, witch hazel and hydrangeas. The brick, two-car garage
is original with style and materials to match the home.
Arts & Crafts/Dutch Colonial
1109 S. Fell Avenue
Decorative
beam supports, an ornate stoop and a rounded roof set off the entrance
in this early twenties home. The brick façade is topped by a gambrel
roof.
Arts & Crafts
1113 S. Fell Avenue
This
1928 brick home features a gabled roof with distinctive crown trim.
Arts & Crafts
1115 S. Fell Avenue
Built
in 1938, this one and a half story home has a multi-gabled roof.
Cape Cod
1117 S. Fell Avenue
This
frame house, built in 1941, has wood siding, an ornate portico with
a gabled roof, and dentil block trim at eaves.
Ranch Style
1203 S. Fell Avenue
One
of the newest homes in the district, this 1966 ranch home includes
wood siding with a side-gabled roof.
Colonial Style
1205 S. Fell Avenue
This
brick 1960s home features ornate entrance details and a side-gable
roof.
Cape Cod
1209 S. Fell Avenue
Built
in 1956, this home has a brick façade with a gabled roof.
Arts & Crafts
1211 S. Fell Avenue
Substantially
remodeled, this two-story 1920s home features a rusticated, molded
concrete block foundation and side-gable roof.
Arts & Crafts Foursquare
301 W. Virginia Avenue
Arts
& Crafts porch railings and columns frame a classic Arts & Crafts
beveled glass door at this 1917 home. The structure is topped off
by a hip roof with gabled dormer.
Arts & Crafts Foursquare
302 W. Virginia Avenue
Massive
piers and double columns draw visitors onto the porch of this late
teens home. Additional features include a rusticated molded concrete
block foundation, hip roof with hip-roofed dormer, and gable porch
roof.
Arts & Crafts with Colonial and Prairie Influences
303 W. Virginia Avenue
Built
in 1908, this two-story, wood frame home is one of the oldest in
the district. The structure includes a side gable and four-square
columns, a full porch with hip roof, and a dormer with a shed roof.
Prairie Style
304 W. Virginia Avenue
A
classic Prairie-style door welcomes guests into this 1923 brick
home. Vertical brick banding separates the upper one-third of the
façade, and the hip roof features three dormers with hip-on-gable
roofs. Additional significant elements include windows with muntins.
Arts & Crafts
305 W. Virginia Avenue
Built
in the early 1920s, this home features a gable roof.
Arts & Crafts Foursquare
306 W. Virginia Avenue
This two-story structure, built in the early 1920s, includes many
significant architectural details. Highlights include a rusticated
molded concrete block porch and foundation, a third-floor gabled
dormer, fine window details, stucco on the upper one-third with
frame on the lower two-thirds, a hip roof on the house and the full
porch, and knee brades.
Arts & Crafts Bungalow
307 W. Virginia Avenue
Built
around 1920, this home features multiple roof types and second floor
dormers with hip-on-gable roofs.
Dutch Colonial Revival
309 W. Virginia Avenue
This two-story frame home, built in 1910, includes a cross-gabled
gambrel roof and leaded
windows.
Prairie Style
310 W. Virginia Avenue
This
structure is one of the oldest in the area – built in 1915 – and
was home to Lawrence F. Shepard, a prominent McLean County businessman
and landowner. The house remained in the Shepard family until 2000.
The yard encompasses more than an acre of land and features one
of the oldest water garden ponds in the twin cities, built cerca
1920. Architectural elements include a stucco façade, gable roof
portico, ornate window trim and detail, and dual-gabled dormers.
Arts & Crafts/Colonial Revival
311 W. Virginia Avenue
This 1911 two-story, wood frame home has shingled gables and foursquare
porch columns. A decorative attic window and cross-gabled roof top
off the structure.
Prairie Style
312 W. Virginia Avenue
A
brick foundation supports this 1917 home. Architecturally notable
features include stucco trim, a side-gable roof, arched trim over
the windows and entrance, and a dormer with shed roof.
Arts & Crafts Foursquare
313 W. Virginia Avenue
This
1913 home is fortunate to have many fine architecture elements,
including a large attic gabled dormer, ornate porch railings, wood
trim separating the upper one-third of the façade, ornate windows,
and a hip roof.
402 W. Virginia Avenue
New
Construction completed in 2006 in accordance with the design
standards of the Historic Preservation Code.
Queen
Anne house built at 402 W. Virginia circa 1890. Lost 2003.”
Dutch Colonial Revival
404 W. Virginia Avenue
Architectural
details on this early twenties home include a gambrel roof, arched
portico roof, and shed-roofed dormer.
Arts & Crafts Bungalow
406 W. Virginia Avenue
This
1928 bungalow was constructed with brown/red brick produced in Streator,
Illinois. Significant interior materials include quarter-sawn white
oak hardwood floors, high-quality trim work, and crown moldings
finished with orange shellac. The exterior of the structure features
yellow pine windows, porch details with ornate columns, brick and
roof details, including hip terminals on the cross-gable roof, and
an excellent example of the hip-on-gable roof type. The first owners
of this home were Daniel and Charlotte Fitzgerald, who were married
in 1896 and had the bungalow built in 1928, perhaps as a smaller
retirement home. Daniel first appears in the Bloomington-Normal
street directory in 1885 as a barkeeper for the West Side Sample
Room Saloon. He went on to own and operate several saloons before
moving on to work for the C & A Railroad in 1901. He worked for
the railroad for thirty years, retiring as a foreman in 1931.
Queen Anne
408 W. Virginia Avenue
This
large farmhouse is one of only three residential buildings in Bloomington-Normal
designed by noted architect George Miller, who also designed Cook
Hall on the ISU campus and the Odd Fellows building on Beaufort
Street in Uptown Normal. Built in 1889, the home is the oldest
in the district. The McClure family has owned and resided in this
house for generations. For several decades in the 20th century,
408 W. Virginia also contained an active flower farm. Though the
flowers are now grown elsewhere, members of the McClure family continue
to market gladiolas and other flowers in central Illinois. The large
parcel of land that formerly served as a flower farm now provides
a park-like atmosphere for the neighborhood.
Neo-Tudor Style
412 W. Virginia Avenue
Beautifully
restored, this 1924 residence features a stucco with half-timbering
façade, wood details, a brick foundation, shed-roofed dormer, and
a cross-gabled roof.
Prairie Foursquare
414 W. Virginia Avenue
Maintained
well over the years, this 1924 residence is one of the most historically
significant homes in the district. From 1925-1929, 414 W. Virginia
was the home of Paul Rhymer, whom The Pantagraph described as the
“creator of one of the most popular and critically lauded radio
shows of the 1930s and 1940s – ‘Vic and Sade.’” Rhymer scholar Jim
Hazard, Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
compares Rhymer to Mark Twain, E.B. White, and Charles Dickens in
literary significance. Tony Randall has described Rhymer’s “Vic
and Sade” as “the only show with great writing in the history of
radio.”
Rhymer made 414 W. Virginia famous by including descriptions of it, and of Virginia Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood, in the scripts of his radio shows. Described somewhat mysteriously as “the house halfway up the block,” Rhymer’s home established itself in the American literary and historical imagination for a generation of radio listeners.
Notable architectural details include a stucco façade with half-timbering
on the porch gable, a hip roof with hip dormer, trim separating
the upper one-third of the façade, fine brick details, a tile roof
on the house and garage, and Prairie-style windows.