June 2025.
Since I’ve visited Aurora’s major north-south streets so far, next up are the perpendicular east-west ones. We’ll start with Galena Boulevard, which used to be very dense, but now many of its historic buildings have been lost.
First Baptist Church [missed]
Historic postcard of the church. (eBay)
I had meant to visit this one, but it slipped my mind. Aurora’s First Baptist is located along Galena Boulevard west of River Street. The congregation was founded in 1837 and their first frame church was built on the current site in 1854. That structure was moved in 1886 for the construction of the existing Richardsonian Romanesque church, which was designed by Chicago firm Edbrooke & Burnham. The church is largely brick, like many smaller-scale designs in that style, but its courses and lintels are typical stone. It is a Greek cross in plan with two projecting bays, one as an entrance and the other possibly a small chapel.
Tivoli Theatre [demolished]
An early view of the theater building. (Cinema Treasures)
Like the Paramount Theatre, the Tivoli was designed by prominent theater architects Rapp & Rapp, and it opened in 1928. It was built as a movie theater with over 1,000 seats, and the building was also home to a bowling alley and tire shop. The expression seemed to be typical Art Deco with some Spanish Revival influences, such as the tile roof and brick materiality.
The theater near the end of its life, highly altered and in poor shape. (Cinema Treasures)
As downtown Aurora suffered through the 1950s onward with the advent of car-centric design, small movie theaters like this one were often victims. The theater was still open, but it probably resorted to showing adult movies through that period to stay in business, and the storefronts were leased out to many different tenants. The above photo shows some of the building’s last stores, such as Taqueria Guadalajara, Stardust Ballroom (groovy!), and the Aurora Bowl. Unfortunately, the theater finally closed in 1986, and it has since been demolished for the construction of a casino parking garage.
Fox Theater II (missed)
The later facade of the theater. (discoveringaurora on Instagram)
The Fox Theater is another case of me skipping a building because it has been so extensively altered that it doesn’t even earn a second glance. This theater was built in 1937 to replace the aging Fox Theater located a block south on Downer Place. With 700 seats, it closed early on in 1951 but later reopened. It closed for good in the 1970s, and the facade has since been stuccoed over such that it is completely unrecognizable.
(Google Maps)
56 West Galena Boulevard
A simple Commercial style building, I liked this one’s original storefronts and bay window. The string course carries over from the neighboring Hotel Arthur--I’m curious if this was built as an annex or simply followed its architectural cues.
Water Street Mall
I like when cities do this with underused streets, as it encourages pedestrian use. Water Street seems like it used to be kind of an alley, though, as the western buildings have undecorated rear facades.
Columbia Hotel
This old hotel building was mostly uninteresting and highly altered on the base, but the ground level has this lovely (albeit painted) portico above the entrance with its Victorian-era row of lightbulbs. I enjoy the fun, kitschy side of Victorian design with gimmicks like lightbulbs everywhere and crazy signage.
BNSF Railway Bridge
Quick break from architecture and into abstract photography-land. As this bridge curves westward, it creates interesting perspectival effects:
My favorite buildings aren’t just those that have heavy applied ornamentation, I like interesting sculptural effects and unique massing, too. The issue is that it’s rarer from about the 1950s to now to design that way, since it is expensive. My point is basically that there’s a lot more to design than just smearing on decoration. (As a matter of fact, some of my least favorite buildings do just that. There is a lot of tact required to effectively employ ornament on a building, hence why Postmodern buildings usually look wrong unless they use it very literally.)
215 East Galena Boulevard
This simple Romanesque Revival building appears to have been de-corniced, unless its pilasters originally did lead to nowhere. If that’s the case, someone needs to study their classical precedents.
217-227 East Galena Boulevard
These flat Commercial style/Chicago School designs are typical of commercial buildings outside of Aurora’s downtown. They’re not very interesting in themselves, but they represent a wider trend.
Detail of 219’s mosaic floor:
220 East Galena Boulevard
An unusually decorated bank building featuring abundant ornamentation, this one really stuck out to me. Its design features great depth for its scale and abstracts typical Beaux-Arts decoration into simpler geometric shapes. This is seen in the column capitals, entrance with keystone and corbels, and the cornice above. It has seen heavy turnover of tenants recently, however.
Universalist Church/Aurora Women’s Club/Cosmopolitan Cathedral
A Romanesque Revival church abundant in names, I couldn’t find very much history about this one. It was built by the Universalist congregation and originally featured a steeple that was as high as its tower. The Aurora Women’s Club (now defunct?) used the church for many years afterwards. It is used as a religious institution again today.
The next post covers Downer Place, a parallel street a block south of Galena Boulevard. It includes some great historic buildings.
Sources:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4104am.g017201950/?sp=25&st=image&r=-0.013,0.092,0.447,0.234,0
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133422792519
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