Nachusa House
Encyclopedia
The Nachusa House is a former hotel
building in Dixon, Illinois
, United States along Galena Avenue (Illinois Route 26
). The building was constructed in 1853 and operated continuously as a hotel until 1988. It underwent many alterations during the time it operated as a hotel. Following its period as a hotel the five-story mansard roof
ed building fell into disrepair and was nearly demolished in 1997. The building was restored by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and a Chicago developer at a cost of US$
3.2 million and renovated into affordable housing
for senior citizens. During its height the Nachusa House was a popular stop along rail and stagecoach lines and was a known layover for Abraham Lincoln
. The Nachusa House was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
in 1983.
, and a group of early settler
s when they returned from a trip to the then-state capital of Vandalia
. While in Vandalia the group had pushed the state legislature for a charter to establish the Dixon Hotel Company. Money was raised and a foundation laid in 1838 but the Panic of 1837
put a halt to the project.
The Nachusa House was finally constructed in 1853 as a four-story limestone
building with simple wooden lintel and sill
windows. The structure is perched on a hilltop overlooking the Rock River
, directly across the street from the Lee County Courthouse. The hotel gets its unique name from John Dixon. "Na-Chu-Sa" was the name area Native Americans gave to Dixon, meaning "head white hair". During its first years, the early 1850s, the hotel was primarily a stopover on the stagecoach
routes from Chicago
to Galena
, and Peoria
. When the railroad came to the city of Dixon in 1855 the Nachusa House grew in popularity with stagecoach travelers as well as those traveling via rail. The Nachusa House layout can be divided into three main componenets, the main building, the south annex and the west annex.
The past commercial success of Nachusa House is reflected through the many changes to its design. The first addition to the hotel was in 1854 when the old west annex was added, this four story, 60 room structure was demolished during the 1950s and rebuilt as it appears today. In 1868 the mansard roof
and fifth floor were added to the building; both features were important in solidifying the hotel's image as a first class hotel. Other architectural details were added and removed through the years, including the addition of a thin coat of stucco
in the 1880s. In 1914 the building's south annex was added, though it was essentially gutted during the 1950s and very little of the original 1914 structure remains.
When the hotel was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
in 1983 it was one of the oldest continuously operated hotels in the state
of Illinois
. In 1988 the hotel closed and the building was left vacant and in a rapidly deteriorating state for ten years. In 1996 the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois
listed the Nachusa House on its top-ten most endangered landmarks list. The hotel seemed destined to be demolished in 1997 when the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and a Chicago developer stepped in to save the building, not as a hotel, but as affordable housing
for senior citizens.
The US$
3.2 million restoration project was paid for, in part, through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, commonly known as Housing Credits. The program, which dates to 1986, is the primary federal affordable housing resource. The restoration of the building began in 1997, by September there were already names on a waiting list for the 35 apartment
units and by 1998 residents were occupying the spaces.
and roof
construction; originally the limestone walls were undressed. In 1868 the second period of construction on Nachusa House added the fifth floor, mansard roof, and now removed cupola
. These alterations established the image that became iconic of the hotel.
After 1868 the building continued to evolve, stucco was added to the stone walls in the 1880s and seventy years later wrought iron
grill work was added to the balconies and porch
es. Galena Avenue was widened in 1965 forcing the removal of the original front stairs
which led to the lobby porch.
As early as 1878-1879 commentators noted the Nachusa House as one of Dixon's most substantial and eye-catching buildings. The building possesses significance of a social, commercial and architectural nature and was called a "prized landmark" in the 1983 National Register of Historic Places nomination form and the building was added to the National Register on February 10, 1983. The 1974 Illinois Historic Sites Survey cited the structure as "probably" the oldest in Dixon as well as for its commercial and political, significance, the latter because of its guest list.
Throughout its history the hotel hosted notable guest including U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln
, Ulysses S. Grant
, William Howard Taft
, Theodore Roosevelt
and President of the Confederate States of America
Jefferson Davis
. Lincoln stayed at the Nachusa House numerous times and generally occupied the same room. A Lincoln room was established in his honor within the hotel during its later years, the room was furnished much as it was when Lincoln stayed at the hotel. The balcony outside the room was known to be a place where Lincoln would sit and socialize. The room has since been converted into an apartment.
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
building in Dixon, Illinois
Dixon, Illinois
Dixon is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,733 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,941 at the 2000 census. Named for its founder, John Dixon , it is the county seat of Lee County. Located on the Rock River, Dixon was the boyhood home of former U.S...
, United States along Galena Avenue (Illinois Route 26
Illinois Route 26
Illinois Route 26 is a north–south state road in central and north-central Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 116 just north of East Peoria to Highway 69 at the Wisconsin border near Orangeville. This is a distance of .- Route description :...
). The building was constructed in 1853 and operated continuously as a hotel until 1988. It underwent many alterations during the time it operated as a hotel. Following its period as a hotel the five-story mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
ed building fell into disrepair and was nearly demolished in 1997. The building was restored by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and a Chicago developer at a cost of US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3.2 million and renovated into affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
for senior citizens. During its height the Nachusa House was a popular stop along rail and stagecoach lines and was a known layover for Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. The Nachusa House was added to the U.S. 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 1983.
History
The Nachusa House was first conceived in 1837 by John Dixon, the founder of Dixon, IllinoisDixon, Illinois
Dixon is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,733 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,941 at the 2000 census. Named for its founder, John Dixon , it is the county seat of Lee County. Located on the Rock River, Dixon was the boyhood home of former U.S...
, and a group of early settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s when they returned from a trip to the then-state capital of Vandalia
Vandalia, Illinois
Vandalia is a city in Fayette County, Illinois, United States, northeast of St. Louis, on the Kaskaskia River. From 1819 to 1839 it served as the state capital of Illinois. Vandalia was the western terminus of the National Road. Today it is the county seat of Fayette County and the home of the...
. While in Vandalia the group had pushed the state legislature for a charter to establish the Dixon Hotel Company. Money was raised and a foundation laid in 1838 but the Panic of 1837
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...
put a halt to the project.
The Nachusa House was finally constructed in 1853 as a four-story limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
building with simple wooden lintel and sill
Sill plate
A sill plate or sole plate in construction and architecture is the bottom horizontal member of a wall or building to which vertical members are attached. Sill plates are usually composed of lumber. It usually comes in sizes of 2×4, 2×6, 2×8, and 2×10. In the platform framing method the sill plate...
windows. The structure is perched on a hilltop overlooking the Rock River
Rock River (Illinois)
The Rock River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Illinois. It rises in southeast Wisconsin, in the Theresa Marsh near Theresa, Wisconsin in northeast Dodge County, Wisconsin approximately south of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin...
, directly across the street from the Lee County Courthouse. The hotel gets its unique name from John Dixon. "Na-Chu-Sa" was the name area Native Americans gave to Dixon, meaning "head white hair". During its first years, the early 1850s, the hotel was primarily a stopover on the stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
routes 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...
to Galena
Galena, Illinois
Galena is the county seat of, and largest city in, Jo Daviess County, Illinois in the United States, with a population of 3,429 in 2010. The city is a popular tourist destination known for its history, historical architecture, and ski and golf resorts. Galena was the residence of Ulysses S...
, and Peoria
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
. When the railroad came to the city of Dixon in 1855 the Nachusa House grew in popularity with stagecoach travelers as well as those traveling via rail. The Nachusa House layout can be divided into three main componenets, the main building, the south annex and the west annex.
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
and fifth floor were added to the building; both features were important in solidifying the hotel's image as a first class hotel. Other architectural details were added and removed through the years, including the addition of a thin coat of stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
in the 1880s. In 1914 the building's south annex was added, though it was essentially gutted during the 1950s and very little of the original 1914 structure remains.
When the hotel was listed on the U.S. 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 1983 it was one of the oldest continuously operated hotels in the state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of 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,...
. In 1988 the hotel closed and the building was left vacant and in a rapidly deteriorating state for ten years. In 1996 the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois
Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois
The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois -- also known as Landmarks Illinois -- is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1971 to prevent the demolition of the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan designed Chicago Stock Exchange Building...
listed the Nachusa House on its top-ten most endangered landmarks list. The hotel seemed destined to be demolished in 1997 when the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and a Chicago developer stepped in to save the building, not as a hotel, but as affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
for senior citizens.
The US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3.2 million restoration project was paid for, in part, through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, commonly known as Housing Credits. The program, which dates to 1986, is the primary federal affordable housing resource. The restoration of the building began in 1997, by September there were already names on a waiting list for the 35 apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
units and by 1998 residents were occupying the spaces.
Architecture
The Nachusa House's main, nearly square, building forms the centerpiece of the present-day structure. The main building is the most historically and architecturally significant portion of Nachusa House. Nachusa House's main construction occurred in 1853 and 1868. The 1853 portion of the building stands upon the limestone foundation, laid in 1838. It was built as a four story limestone building with 2 foot (.6 m) thick walls and wood framed floorFloor
A floor is the walking surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many-layered surfaces using modern technology...
and roof
Roof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
construction; originally the limestone walls were undressed. In 1868 the second period of construction on Nachusa House added the fifth floor, mansard roof, and now removed cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
. These alterations established the image that became iconic of the hotel.
After 1868 the building continued to evolve, stucco was added to the stone walls in the 1880s and seventy years later wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
grill work was added to the balconies and porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
es. Galena Avenue was widened in 1965 forcing the removal of the original front stairs
Stairs
-People:* Scott Kannberg , guitarist of Pavement* A. Edison Stairs , New Brunswick politician* Denis Stairs , engineer, Montreal businessman* Ernest W. Stairs , New Brunswick politician...
which led to the lobby porch.
Significance
Throughout its history the hotel hosted notable guest including U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and President of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
. Lincoln stayed at the Nachusa House numerous times and generally occupied the same room. A Lincoln room was established in his honor within the hotel during its later years, the room was furnished much as it was when Lincoln stayed at the hotel. The balcony outside the room was known to be a place where Lincoln would sit and socialize. The room has since been converted into an apartment.