Columbus Wallace House in Crystal Lake, IL
Posted by: nneuman
N 42° 14.499 W 088° 20.481
16T E 389332 N 4677477
This is a beautiful, well maintained cobblestone house in Crystal Lake, IL
Waymark Code: WMCN8X
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 09/24/2011
Views: 12
This is a beautiful, well maintained cobblestone house in Crystal Lake, IL. I don't know the history of this building, but now it's home to the Alano Club of Crystal Lake. This house has lots of architectural details. The cobbles vary in color and spacing. I've driven past this place so many times and never realized it was a cobblestone building, until I started waymarking!
1/1812012 I found more info on this awesome structure.
Columbus Wallace House
36 North Virginia Avenue
Built circa 1851
Crystal Lake’s oldest standing home was constructed by stonemason Andrew Simons (1829-1892) for Columbus Wallace (1812-1907) and his wife Hannah Beardsley (1818-1894). It is one of two surviving cobble stone houses attributed to Mr. Simons. The smooth stones came all the way from the shore of Lake Michigan. Grain was shipped to Waukegan by ox cart and the stones were brought back on the return trip. It was a three-day journey roundtrip.
The foot-thick masonry walls of the Wallace house help keep the interior cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The stones were carefully set in lime mortar (ingredients: 8 or 9 bushels coarse sand to one bushel lime) so that all stones show approximately the same profile. Originally the house was heated by stoves rather than a fireplace. Also noteworthy are the floor joists exposed in the basement which were hand hewn rather than saw-cut and are fastened with wrought iron spikes rather than cut steel or wire nails.
City, Town, Village Name: Crystal Lake, ILL
Building Usage: Alano Club
Architectural style: not sure
Public or Private: Public
Tours Available?: no
Website: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Original photo of the building is necessary to log a visit in this category, no photos of GPS or person required.