1182 CEDAR AVENUE

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE

The property on which 1182 Cedar was built has an interesting history. Both this house and 1160 Cedar replaced two earlier structures, first, a two-story frame house built in 1906 at a cost of $5,000 by Harry and Hattie Luther. The Luthers later replaced that house with a $25,000 mansion which is equivalent to a $690,000 home today!

That home was then sold to James Dorsey in 1912. The mansion was barely 10 years old when it was destroyed by fire in 1919, leaving a large vacant lot. The vacant lot exchanged several owners until it was sold to Alice Mabel Glover in 1928 who built the home we know of today.

Alice Glover was a long-time Elgin resident and in 1900, she married bookkeeper, Charles W. Glover, who was born in July of 1864 and who was the co-founder of the Elgin Box Company located where the Elgin Post Office is now. They lived at 16 Rugby Place until his death in 1912. He is buried in Bluff City Cemetery, as is Alice, who died in 1951.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Occupying 2.5 lots in the prestigious Riverside Park Subdivision, this home is one of Elgin’s largest Tudor Revival Style homes. Built in 1928 at a cost of $20,000 it is the most prominent structure on Cedar Avenue north of River Bluff Road. It was designed by notable Elginite, Elmer Gylleck and was his first commission as an architect. Gylleck was also a talented photographer, of which he took many historic photographs of Elgin that are accessible online through the Elgin History Museum’s website and the Illinois Digital Archives.

The building is considered a significant structure within this neighborhood and consists of typical Tudor Revival features such as the exterior cladding is in masonry with half-timbering and embedded random decorative bricks and stones. The rounded front entry is also surrounded by quoining. In addition, a large brick chimney with terra cotta pots graces the front elevation. The window design is also unmistakably Tudor, with grouped casement windows glazed with multiple small panes of glass. 

Sources: 2018 Heritage Plaque Application; Audio: TextAloud