Upper Bluff local District

Map | Site Description | Architectural Overview | Statement of Significance
Development of the Upper Bluff Local Historic District | Legal Description

Architectural Overview
The greatest period of growth for the Upper Bluff Local Historic District occurred during the period from 1880 to 1900. This timeframe was dominated by the Queen Anne style, started by the English architect Richard Norman Shaw. The style was influenced by architecture of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Early examples stressed the pattern brick and half timbering of the English precedents. The spindle-work and free classical interpretations of the style are indigenous to America. It is these later versions that re exemplified in the Upper Bluff District. A typical example of the Queen Anne house is that of Alphonso Wethereil at 602 Western (1896). The structure is dominated by a wrap porch supported on paired columns. A two-story barn is located at the rear of the site.

Five additional Queen Anne style houses are described in Section 7. The houses are located at 605 Western (1894), 606 Western (1901), 607 Western(1906), 609 Western(1894) and 625 Western (1894).

The Neoclassical Revival style was popularized by the Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition held in 1893. The Exposition had a classical theme which resulted in white colonnaded buildings around a central courtyard. The dazzling white city inspired numerous commercial, public and residential buildings. Several examples of this style exist in the Upper Bluff District. The J. P. Stevens house at 600 Western is a 2-1/2 story frame structure, built in 1897, exhibiting the Neo-Classical Revival Style.

The structure is dominated by a 2 story semi-circular bay on the east end, topped by a steeply-pitched end gable dormer with an inset Palladian window.

The Frederick Arentz House at 611 Western is a 2-1/2 story stucco NeoClassical style structure built in 1904. The structure is dominated by a two story pedimented portico supported on four Ionic columns.

The Colonial Revival movement started in the last 1860’s, shortly after the nation’s centennial celebration in Philadelphia. The creation of a new awareness of our colonial heritage prompted interest in the built environment of the period. These sentiments first were evidenced in the free classic interpretation by the end of the 19 th century. Advances in the printing industry led to the wide dissemination of books and periodical that contained accurate measured drawings of original Colonial structures. This created a better understanding and interpretations of the historic precedents on which the revival was based. The Colonial Revival style dominated residential architecture throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Three examples of the Colonial Revival style are described in Section 7: 606 Western (1901) 608 Western (1914) and 613 Western (1918).

The Craftsman style is based on Arts and Crafts movement and utilizes open woodwork and half-timbering effects, as well as a lower pitched roof and open trellises which are an outgrowth of the Spanish or mission style. Due to the open beam work, simple proportions and decorative elements, the Craftsman style became extremely popular with contractors and people building their own houses. In the Upper Bluff local district, the Craftsman style is seen in the larger houses in the form of porch additions and roof alterations. One example of the stylistic mix is the Henry Sawyer home at 610 Western (1920). This structure is a side gable house with an open eaved porch supported on simple wooden posts with staggering wooden beams supporting the roof of the porch.

The Prairie style is one of the indigenous styles of architecture. Originated in Chicago by Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, it had a major impact on domestic architecture in the midwest between 1900 ad 1920. The style as started by Frank Lloyd Wright utilized symmetrical rectangular forms. Later versions were predominately hipped roof asymmetrical plans. Common examples of the Prairie style found in the district are located at 612 Western (1908) and 623 Western (1922).

Architects Contributing to the District

Herbert Cowell arrived as an architect in Joliet around the early 1890’s. It is not known where Cowell came from, but as most new architects did, Cowell brought a new style of architecture to Joliet. Herbert Cowell is known to be the first architect in Joliet to have utilized the Dutch Colonial style house3 His first work in the Upper Bluff District is the J. C. Smith house at 609 Western which is a unique mix of the Dutch Colonial and Queen styles, constructed in 1894. Between the years of 1900 and 1904, Herbert Cowell resided in Huntsville, Alabama, where during that time he was responsible for a great amount of construction in that area. However, by 1905 Cowell was back in Joliet. The Arentz house (ca 1905) at 611 Western is an example of the NeoClassical purity that Cowell developed during his years in Alabama. The Smith House and the Arentz house, side by side make an interesting comparison of two of Cowell periods of work. Cowell practiced in Joliet well into the twentieth century.