The Colonel Ira C. Copley Mansion, is a historic residence in Aurora

Aurora, Illinois

Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. It was built in 1917 for Col. Ira Clifton Copley

Ira Clifton Copley

Ira Clifton Copley was a United States statesman and newspaper publisher.-Biography:...

, the founder of Copley Press

Copley Press

Copley Press was a privately held newspaper business, founded in Illinois, but later based in La Jolla, California. Its flagship paper was The San Diego Union-Tribune.-Pulitzer Prizes:...

 and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Designed by noted architect Jarvis Hunt

Jarvis Hunt

Jarvis Hunt was a "renowned Chicago architect" who designed a wide array of buildings, including train stations, suburban estates, industrial buildings, clubhouses and other structures....

, the building was completed in 1917 in a blend of Classical Revival and Federal Style trends. It was individually recognized on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1978, and is part of the West Side Historic District

West Side Historic District (Aurora, Illinois)

The West Side Historic District is a set of ninety-eight buildings on the west side of the Fox River in Aurora, Illinois. Of these, seventy-seven contribute to the historical value of the district.-History:...

.

Architecture

Ira C. Copley's mansion was designed in 1906 by Jarvis Hunt

Jarvis Hunt

Jarvis Hunt was a "renowned Chicago architect" who designed a wide array of buildings, including train stations, suburban estates, industrial buildings, clubhouses and other structures....

, an architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 from Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and finally completed in 1917. It is predominately of Classical Revival design, but has many Federal Style features. The mansion is three stories tall and shaped like an "L". An ionic portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

 features on all sides, creating a porch that can be accessed from the ballroom. Consistent with Federal details, it has balustrades over the eaves

Eaves

The eaves of a roof are its lower edges. They usually project beyond the walls of the building to carry rain water away.-Etymology:"Eaves" is derived from Old English and is both the singular and plural form of the word.- Function :...

. The main roof is hipped

Hip roof

A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...

 with a flat roof over the wings. A twin chimney emerges from the west side of the roof. The main entrance has slender pilaster

Pilaster

A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....

s and an elliptical fanlight

Fanlight

A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...

 between narrow sidelights. The exterior walls are Roman brick in a Flemish bond. The rear features a Palladian window with the lunette

Lunette

In architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...

used to illuminate the third floor. The ballroom was located under the hipped portion of the roof.