June 2025.
DeKalb’s Ellwood House is a highly modified Victorian house built for one of the town’s most prominent businessmen. It achieves eclectic styling not through its original design, but alterations that augmented an existing building.
The Ellwood House is located at 509 North 1st Street, north of downtown DeKalb, Illinois. The large site is surrounded by single-family homes.
History
The house’s original appearance in 1879, shortly after its construction. (Ellwood House website)
The Ellwood House was built for Isaac Ellwood, who was a manufacturer of barbed wire. (DeKalb is known for this, and their nickname is the “Barb City.”) Ellwood’s newly acquired fortune allowed him to commission Chicago architect George Garnsey to design an eclectic new house. The original design combined Second Empire elements such as the hood molds and mansard roof with Gothic Revival ones like the columned portico and pointed gables. Its construction occurred between April and November 1879, and it cost $40,000-50,000.
The first alteration to the house occurred in 1885, which relocated the kitchens and servants’ quarters from the basement to a new wing. Garnsey designed this addition, and it was noted to have seamlessly blended in with the original house. At this time, the porte-cochere was relocated to the southwest corner.
The Ellwood House with its new Georgian design c. 1900-1910. (Ellwood House website)
As the turn of the century neared, classical architecture began to attain popularity once more. The Ellwood family commissioned Charles Brush (who also designed Altgeld Hall) to modify the home with Georgian characteristics. These included a new porch, a denticulated cornice, and Palladian designs around some of the windows and the door. A semicircular addition with Ionic columns expanded the dining room.
After Isaac Ellwood died in 1910, he bequeathed the home to his youngest son, Perry, and his wife, May. The two made further changes to the home, which were completed by the firm Perkins, Fellows, and Hamilton. The changes included a terrace on the south side and an Arts and Crafts sunroom.
The conversion of the house to a museum began in 1963, when NIU professor Jack Arends contacted May Ellwood about leaving the property to the park district after her death. She agreed but requested that the house become a museum. The original plan was to maintain the first floor while using the second as an art gallery, but ultimately the whole house was restored and used as a museum. It opened in 1964 and still operates today. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Photos
This view looking northwest gives a good overall look at the house and its various additions:
Original features are few and far between, but they include the slate roof, cast-iron ornament along the peak, and the stone hood molds over the windows. The Georgian alterations are seen in the columned porch, dormer gables, and denticulated cornice. The stone terrace with larger balusters dates from the 1910 alterations. I think the square projection to the rear is from the house’s conversion to a museum.
Pretty stark difference from the original house here. The pointed arches have been replaced by smooth semicircular ones across the house, which are more suited for classical architecture. Unless you know what to look for, it appears like it was built this way.
The main entrance:
The fanlight transom and portal are typical Palladian features, though the dark shafts of the columns are unusual. Lots of denticulation and classical gingerbread here.
The porte-cochere:
This is where carriage passengers would disembark to enter the building. A common feature on the fanciest Victorian houses, it has a large vault and decorative wreaths in the spandrels.
North side:
Note the projecting dining room wing, which thrusts itself from the original bay windows. The many additions here have made this side rather chaotic.
The west facade:
The Arts and Crafts sunroom is seen here, as well as the 1885 kitchen addition. That right addition has to be a design from when it was converted to a museum, because it has the typical Modernist lack of finesse when attempting to relate to the original house.
Why does it have pilasters everywhere? The original house doesn’t. The cornice is also at the wrong height.
Also on the property was this guest house, which was used to house Mrs. Ellwood’s antique collection. It dates to 1905, but the flaring eaves are a bit odd:
This is a really cool house, and I’m glad it’s in such good condition and still used as a museum today.
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