Stunning Architecture: Peoria Insurance Building
by deecat
When Allan and I drove to our hotel in Peoria, I saw a most fascinating building, which I pointed out. It has a huge sign atop that indicates that it is the Commerce Bank, but I wanted to know more; I knew it had a history to discover.
The Peoria Life Insurance Company finished Peoria's tallest building in 1920 (tallest building then) For years, it was known as the Alliance Life Building, and it contained numerous professional offices.
In the 1930s, Walgreen's Drug Store opened its first drug store in the Peoria area with a lunch counter and a pharmacy on the ground floor of the building.
Then, after being located in several different places in Peoria, First National Bank bought the structure in the late 1940s. They did extensive renovation to the structure before moving in.
Commerce Bank purchased the building in the 1990s. The Commerce Bank Building is 17 stories high as it soars up at the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets. Its lovely facade gleams white in the noontime sun and creates a focal point within the area. Even though it is among some pretty impressive newer buildings, it holds its own. I, personally, found it to be the most elegant of the commercial buildings that I saw in Peoria!
Packing List
by Moishka
Ear plugs. Lots of money to appease the money grabbing thieves {local and especially state police}. Well laid out plans on how to get out of town as fast as possible. Why stay? There is nothing to do here. Here to visit relatives? Help them out. Get them out of here! Whatever clothes you have in your basket at home! You need to be told what to bring in this category?Sheeeeeeesh!!!!!! Leave your camera at home. Take pictures of what you have there. Everything you need to quickly get out of town to go camping in Michigan! Or dancing in Chicago.
Prairie Style Frank Lloyd Wright in Peoria
by deecat
Needless to say, I was surprised as we walked in the West Bluff Historic District to see a Prairie Style Frank Lloyd Wright home among the Victorians and Queen Anne's. I stopped "dead in my tracks" to take this photograph as proof to myself that I had actually seen it. This home at 1505 West Moss Avenue is called Francis W. Little House, and it is the first of several homes that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for this family.
This Prairie Style has uniquely angular forms and built-in bookshelves as well as kitchen shelf built-ins. When it was built in 1903, it cost $14,000, The owners (Mary and Francis Little) only lived there for two years, and because of financial concerns, moved to Minnesota.
This particular home has seen several different owners, but Ruth Swardenski, the present owner, has tried to keep it exactly as Wright would have. She's used the earth colors and nature elements that Wright professed. The window design in the Peoria house is said to have "delicate lines with a thin white opal border and gold accent glass."
Because Wright believed in Sullivan's idea of a "uniquely American architecture reflecting Midwestern geography and suited to the needs of people living in the modern age", he tried to remove his designs from the box-like mazes of the Victorian rooms. Instead, his designs were a flowing, open floor plan. This house, like all of Wright's, features low, sheltering roofline, and a massive hearth and chimney as a focal point.
For this home, Wright also designed a tall chest of drawers in oak with brass pulls.
The Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation conducts group tours by advance arrangement. I'm just glad that I accidentally "stumbled" on this little "gem" of an architectual wonder right here in historic Peoria!.
It's the Sauce
by riorich55 about Jimbo's Jumbo
Since 1976 Jimbo's Jumbo has served its locally famous steak sandwich. Although now the menu has expanded to a variety of other fast serve food including pizza's whenever I am back in down I head down to Pekin, about 20 minutes from Peoria for a steak sandwich which I first experienced when they opened in 1976. The original steak sandwich with pickles, onions and mozzarella cheese.
Glen Oak Park
by JulieAnn410
Besides picnic and playground areas, it has a small zoo (which is expanding), a botanical gardens, and a big wooden playground with lots of tunnels and things for the kids to play on. It also has tennis courts and ball diamonds. There are often concerts near the lagoon. On Monday nights in the summer, they show movies where admission is only .25.
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Avanti's with Bradley U. Dorm in Background
What's This Doing in Peoria?
Front View of the Field House
My First Home on Hamilton
