JH Rogers, 4 Square and the Bettis Home – Sycamore, Illinois – Architectural Design and style and Heritage

Up coming door to the David Syme Household is the J.H. Rogers Property, a peculiar blend of Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. It has the clear turret of a Queen Anne property when also obtaining distinguished Romanesque arches. The property was created in 1890 for Rogers, a respected dry merchandise service provider who settled in Sycamore in 1858.

Across from the J.H. Rogers Dwelling is the c. 1900 Floyd E. Brower Household. Brower was a Sycamore lawyer who procured the house and undertook extensive transforming during the dwelling. Brower practiced regulation in Sycamore for far more than 50 many years.

There are a pair of American Craftsman design and style residences in the Sycamore Historic District as perfectly. Particularly of the variety regarded as “American Foursquare”, which was a prevalent early 20th century style (and derivation of Wright’s Prairie design and style) manufactured well-liked by sample publications distributed by these types of mail get stores as Sears.

The Foursquare House exhibits a great melding of Prairie and Craftsman kinds. The broad overhanging eaves, Roman brick (wiki by me) operate and significant porch are all Prairie aspects.

The 1917 Wally Thurow Home is a different exceptional instance of the Foursquare model in Sycamore that is almost similar to the styles distributed by common mail get properties of the day. I like this house mostly simply because it has a extra “concealed” entrance than the house at 413 Somonauk tough to find entrances are trademark on significant-style illustrations of Prairie architecture. If you appear towards the center of the second ground in the impression earlier mentioned, you will see some superb stained glass work.

Thurow is credited with founding the Sycamore Pumpkin Competition, a popular pageant in truth, at the house in 1956. For numerous many years he exhibited pumpkins on his lawn, until finally the Lions Club begun growing on his notion in 1962. Thurow is recognized as “Mr. Pumpkin”.

Coming complete circle we are again to a (flimsy?) link to the gentleman who started out this publish, J.H. Rogers. East of Somonauk Avenue , in the 500 block of Major Avenue is what a poster in downtown Sycamore calls the J.H. Rogers/Bettis Residence, but a plaque in entrance of the property calls the John Gathercoal House. Whatever its known as the household was originally constructed in 1863, but not at the Major Street site.

The Bettis House is only a single part of a even bigger complete. It commenced everyday living at the website of the J.H. Rogers House, over on Somonauk Avenue but in 1887 it was moved to its latest area. At that time, the house that now stands following door to the Bettis Dwelling was break up off from it. That home is now acknowledged as the Charles A. Bishop Home or the William Phelps Dwelling. The Bishop Home was constructed in 1854 creating the Bettis Home an 1863 addition to that home when it was in its primary place. I could find no other link to Rogers other than the residence was as soon as on the website of the present J.H. Rogers Property. Most likely he owned it at some position in its record.

Charles Bishop was a distinguished Sycamore attorney who arrived to the city from New Brunswick in 1878. He at some point held posts as circuit and county judge.

On the web Resources

*J.H. Rogers House: 1970s picture

*413 S. Somonauk St.: 1970s photo

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