Anatomy of the Burwell Building

We've talked quite a bit about the people and events that were significant to the history of the Burwell Building, but we haven't talked much about the building itself, specifically the design. Let's dive a bit deeper into that topic.

If you recall, the building was built in 1883. It was made out of brick and measures 50 x 100 feet. The intent of the first floor, like most main street buildings of that time period, was to be retail in nature or a 'storefront'. And the upstairs, called the upper floor, became the Opera House.

According to the Illinois Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Natural Resources, in their publication titled Storefronts on Main Street: An Architectural History, "Storefronts are the front porches of Main Street. Designed to be attractive, inviting, and functional, storefronts play such an important role in defining businesses and even entire commercial districts that they are the focus of attention to storekeepers, building owners, architects, preservationists and contractors."

The Burwell Building's storefront was built like most storefronts of the late 19th Century. See the diagram below from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency that describes the different architectural aspects of a typical main street building. It had columns that allowed for large display windows, bulkheads, and transoms. It also has a lintel, or a structural member above a storefront that supports the parapet or upper wall. However, the Burwell Building's lintel is covered up today. So, it's hard to tell if it had rosettes or not.

a rosette is a circular motif that secures two cast iron lintels together. As we dig into the restoration of the building, hopefully, we will uncover more details.

Remember that the lower floor was originally intended to hold two storefronts, so at one time, there were two separate storefront entrances to the Burwell Building - one to take to you the North storefront and one to the South storefront. This can be seen in this picture from the days when the building held the Ben Franklin store. While the Ben Franklin store occupied the entire first floor, the two original storefronts were still there. You might remember from my other blogs, that W.S. Lamb opened up the entire first floor for his furniture/undertaking business in 1897. Any businesses on the first floor after this date occupied the entire first floor.

I'm not sure what year the two storefront entrance became one. Perhaps once Loys took it over? If anyone has any details, please reach out to us!

When you look at the upper floor of the Burwell Building, you see that it has a series of seven windows on the front façade. These windows include window sills and decorative window hoods. These windows are very tall! They needed to be able to support such a tall building, but remember that most rural towns across America didn't have electricity until the 1920s. The windows were not just decorative in nature, but also provided much needed light to the upstairs (not to mention a nice breeze in those hot summer months). There are also windows on the South (5 windows total) and West sides of the upper floor, but none on the North side due to the building directly to the North also having an upper floor. The gas lights inside the Opera House provided light as well, especially on the North side of the Upper Floor.

According to Storefronts on Main Street: An Architectural History, 'The store entry was not the only door integrated into a storefront design. For a building with more than one story, a separate entrance to the upper floor was also included. There is one principal difference between these two types of entrances - the store entrance is often recessed to increase display window space and to make a more spacious entry, while the upper story door is generally flush with the building façade." This is how the Burwell Building upper floor door was designed. You will see the door to the very right of the front display windows in the picture below. This is the door to the upper floor (it's the same color as the outside facade, so it's hard to see, but it has 4 glass windows in it).

The Burwell Building is then topped off with a very simple cornice made of brick. It is almost unrecognizable unless you look closely. There are no finials or brackets. Another architectural feature missing from this building is the name of the building etched into stone. Many downtown buildings were named after the person who built them or designed them. You can often see names inscribed in the marble or stone at the top of the building.

This served two purposes. First, to allow the citizens of the community to know where to find things before buildings were given numbers. You will see in many of The Courier articles from the late 1800s and early 1900s, that I have shared in previous posts, they don't name a street name and number. They state 'two doors down from the Opera House' or '9th and Sangamon Avenue'. Naming a building also made the structure more prestigious. "Buildings with historical names often are considered to possess extra levels of character or prestige compared with numbered counterparts."

So, I have to wonder, why didn't Moses Burwell decide to etch his name in stone on this building? He seemed to be a man of great means and wealth, so I'm sure cost wasn't a consideration. Was he so modest that he didn't want his name etched in stone to live in perpetuity on this building? Did his wife talk him out of it? Did he just like the plain cornice made out of brick and didn't want to disturb that? Or, did he simply not think of it? We may never know...

Let's talk about the roof. Most people think that the roof is flat, similar to the other roofs of the adjacent downtown buildings. However, the roof is actually pitched. You can see that clearly in the picture below, borrowed from The Ford County Chronicle article about the Fourth of July fire at Jay's Place.

So, there you have it, a breakdown of the pieces and parts that make up the Burwell Building. As we start our restoration of the building, we will be sure to share more details as we uncover what secrets might be hidden from view. So, stay tuned!