Adolphus W Brower House – Sycamore, Illinois – Historic architecture abounds
Tired from my recent trip, I return to Sycamore, Illinois, suffering from a severe case of Republican icon overload. Breathe, sigh, I’m back and I’ll calm down. Soothed by the perfect Italian flair. At 705 DeKalb Avenue in Sycamore is an example of high-end Italianate at the Adolphus W. Brower House.
The house featured an original scrolled porch, which was reflected in the enclosed rectangular bay porch on the east side of the house. The porch balustrade (wiki) has been modified sometime since the late 1970s. When the house was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, it was named a postcard, a perfect example of the style upon approval, which occurred on Valentine’s Day in 1979.
Adolphus W. Brower was, in his day, a fairly well-known hardware dealer in Sycamore’s early years. I’m not sure if he had any particular relationship with prominent Sycamore attorney Floyd E. Brower, whose house was discussed in another related article I wrote. Unfortunately, the National Register documentation for the Adolphus Brower House is not yet available online at the time of this writing or I would have linked to it.
Online resources for more information
* Adolphus W. Brower House: Vintage Photos (NRHP Archive) – 1978
Tomorrow we will stay in the area and investigate examples of Prairie style architecture in DeKalb County.
Sycamore, Illinois is a city of approximately 15,000 residents, located in DeKalb County, of which it is the county seat. Sycamore was settled in 1835, primarily north of the Kishwaukee River.
