HEALY BUILDING
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
The Healy Building at 30 DuPage Court, was built in 1941 and is one of very few remaining commercial buildings in the downtown from the period between the World Wars. The building was built for the Block & Kuhl Department Store and designed by Elgin Architect, George Morris, in the Art Moderne style. The building was name for and financed by attorney Walter E. Healy.
Walter E. Healy was born in Elgin and received his education from Ann Arbor University for law. After which, he returned to Elgin to work for his brother, John Leander Healy's law firm, who was a sole proprietor at that time. Walter's father, Bernard, arrived in Elgin in the late 1840's and aided in the layout of the town of Elgin in connection with James T. Gifford and named two streets in honor of his favorite authors, William E. Channing and Joseph Addison. Bernard Healy also began the first harness and saddlery business in Elgin.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Healy Building is unique to Elgin's downtown commercial area as there are very few of this style. The building is a three-story, concrete "enframed window wall commercial building" that has a central, recessed window bay with grouped three-light windows is framed with a wide concrete panel surround. Fashionable Art Moderne elements such as a metal cantilevered entry canopy, rounded corners at the first-floor entry, and engraved panel with modern lettering genuinely reflect the stylistic trends of this era.
Sources: 2015 Downtown Commercial Historic District National Register Nomination; Audio: TextAloud