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711 W. Florida Ave.

Project Overview

Architect: Charles A Platt         Year Built: 1925       Architectural Style: Georgian Revival

 

Architectural Description

711 W. Florida is a beautiful Georgian Revival house that was designed by Charles A. Platt in 1925 as the University of Illinois President’s house. Platt designed several other noteworthy buildings on the University of Illinois campus including Mumford Hall, David Kinley Hall, the Armory, the Architecture Building, and several more. The President’s house reflects the Georgian Revival architectural fashion of the University. The house is two and a half stories and is constructed of red brick. A limestone belt course divides the first and second stories. The house has a steeply pitched hip roof and is divided into three bays; two end bays and a central bay. The end bays are topped with cross hip roofs and the wall surfaces project farther forward than the wall surface of the central bay. A house has a classical cornice of the Doric order below the hipped roofs. The windows of the President’s house are tall multi-paned casement windows with white trim. The windows on the first story have paired white wooden shutters and a limestone lintel and sill. The windows on the second story are much simpler multi-paned casement windows with a limestone sill. The upper story has dormer windows with arched roofs. The house has four tall brick chimneys with chimney pots, two on the ends and two in the rear in the center. The main entrance to the house is below a one-story semi-circular overhang which is supported by classical columns and pilasters. The overhang has a simple classical entablature and has an iron balustrade on the second level. The main door has a semi-circular fan light above it. A large semi-circular bay window sits above the main entrance. The President’s house sits prominently on a large lawn and embodies the Georgian Revival architectural spirit of the University of Illinois even though it is located south of campus.
 
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- Last Modified -November 10, 2014 - 2:27pm
- Author - admin