Price/Wheeler House - Springfield, Illinois - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"The Price/Wheeler house has outstanding local significance in Springfield's architectural development. It is the city's first fully-developed classical revival house to be built in the period following the World's Columbian Exposition of 1892. The exposition is of course credited with influencing the passion for neo-classical buildings in America during the next thirty years.

Springfield's' architectural development, and that of most midwestern towns and cities, lagged-behind metropolitan areas like Chicago, Boston,and New York.  While the classical revival had made great strides in these ,places -by ,the late 1890s, Springfield's classical revival is primarily a. post-1900 phenomenon. As late as 1900 a few major pre-Civil War classical buildings existed in Springfield~-both capitols and a number of federal and Greek Revival houses--but all of the new and fashionable structures were in the Romanesque revival, Queen Anne or shingle styles with the addition of a few classical design details at most. When built in 1899, the Price/Wheeler house was a startling departure from this trend...

Isaiah Price who had the house built was an entrepreneur whose business firm controlled "..... the great bulk of the clothing and tailoring business" in Springfield. His new mansion was located socially if not technically on Aristocracy Hill. After Price's unexpected death at age 49 less than two years later, it was discovered that he was financially over-extended. His widow was forced to sell the house. The house's desirability was well illustrated in 1904 when Loren Wheeler, city postmaster, former mayor and later U.S. Congressman, paid nearly $9,000 for it at a time when neighboring houses were selling for $2,000 to $4,000 less. Most of these were of similar age and size.

Classical revival houses later became so common in the city that the unique position once held by the Price/Wheeler house was forgotten. The outstanding detail still intact and the meticulous restoration on this house, coupled with its importance as a local "first" architecturally, make it an important structure in illustrating Springfield's development." - National Register Nomination Form

Street address: 618 S. 7th St Springfield, Illinois County / Borough / Parish: Sangamon Year listed: 1985 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1875-1899 Historic function: Domestic Current function: Domestic Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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