The Silas Williams House, also known as the Edward Baker House, is a historic Queen Anne house in the city of
Streator, Illinois. The building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
History
The Silas Williams House was built by its first owner, Silas Williams, around 1893. Williams, originally from
Ottawa, Illinois, was a
paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...
owner who also owned many properties throughout Streator. He constructed many homes around the city.
[Hengen, Shannon E.]
Silas Williams House
, (PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, January 9, 1976, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of m ...
'', accessed May 15, 2008.
Architecture
The Williams House is a two-story frame building with a full basement and an attic. It is cast in the
Queen Anne style of architecture. It contains many projecting and receding forms, common of Queen Anne houses. Some of those include its multiple
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s, and its polygonal and round and towers. The interior is largely open on the first floor and much of the interior details and woodwork remain intact.
[
]
Historic significance
The Williams House has two main areas of importance, architecture and local history. As one of the last "great" 19th-century houses in Streator, it stands as a symbol to its builder and his accomplishments in early Streator. The house is also important architecturally. Its open floor plan carries the Queen Anne style further than any other house in the state of Illinois.[ The Silas Williams House was added to the ]National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on June 23, 1976, with NRHP reference #76002146.[
]
References
External links
Sillas Williams House
Property Information Report, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of m ...
'', accessed May 15, 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Silas, House
National Register of Historic Places in LaSalle County, Illinois
Houses in LaSalle County, Illinois
Houses completed in 1893
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois