June 2025.
The Keystone Building is George Elmslie’s most exuberant work within Aurora, and it is a rare example of Prairie School architecture used for a commercial building. Additionally, the rich ornamentation shows the influence of Elmslie’s teacher, Louis Sullivan.
The Keystone Building is located at 30 South Stolp Avenue in downtown Aurora, Illinois. It is bordered by the Stanley Furniture Store to the north, the Aurora Silver Plate Mfg. Building to the south, an alley to the east, and Stolp Avenue and the Graham Building to the west.
History
A 1997 view of the Keystone Building. (University of Northern Iowa)
The Keystone Building was designed in 1922 by George Elmslie, his first solo commission after his separation from his business partner William Purcell. It was conceived as the Joseph George and Newhall Building. The building was designed in the Prairie School style, as seen in the strong horizontality and relative simplicity, but it incorporates Sullivanesque ornament. Rising only four stories tall, it was intended to respect the height of its older neighbors. It opened in 1923.
The Keystone Building was built as an office building with individual stores on the ground floor. It has an odd shape in plan, as it is only 25 feet deep where it attaches to the Aurora Silver Plate Mfg. Building to the south and 165 feet on the opposite end. Elmslie accommodated this by making the western offices uniform while varying the size of the eastern offices according to the tenants’ demands. Another interesting feature is that the Keystone Building assimilated part of the Aurora Silver Plate Mfg. Building on the northeast side, as it was partially demolished when the company moved and enabled the construction of this building.
The building maintains much of its historic character, and subsequent owners have either retained or tastefully modified the existing features (at least according to the NRHP listing). The exterior is almost completely intact, which I noticed. The interior supposedly retains its original finishes and doors. The owners in 1980 were performing renovations to allow continued use of the Keystone Building, and the building apparently was in such good condition that restoration was not needed. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places that year. Today, the building houses apartments, as well as stores on the first floor.
Photos
The Keystone Building is WIDE. This is the only shot I have of it in its entirety, but it obviously doesn’t show very much:
What most interested me about this shot specifically is how the bays are expressed here. The piers are recessed slightly, rendering them secondary to the wide horizontal spans of masonry above and below, and the spandrels are set even further back. This results in a very interesting three-dimensional effect that adds lots of depth and creates interesting moments in direct sunlight. It is also very reminiscent of Sullivan’s earlier Wainwright Building, which expresses its verticality in a similar manner.
The principal facade:
Compositionally, this is a really simple building. The fenestration is even and symmetrical, and the main entrance is located at the center of the facade. What livens it up are Elmslie’s decorative touches and materials. Beyond the polychrome terra-cotta, the brick includes flecks of iron, which add hints of blue and green.
A typical storefront:
The picture windows are set back from the brick piers, and the store entrance even more so. Each store retains its original glass block bulkheads above the plate glass, the transom with the store’s address above the door, and possibly the large windows and door.
The main entrance is crowned with a filigreed arch and two ornamental panels:
Sullivan’s influence on Elmslie is best seen here. His unique union of geometrical and organic patterns is applied to the various details. A closer look:
The arch is almost Gothic in its detailing, as it’s very light and dematerialized. The quatrefoil motif is also a typical feature in Gothic architecture. However, those serve as a base to stalks that rise up and terminate in a burst of flamboyant Sullivanesque designs. Each panel seems almost like a blooming flower.
The entrance itself retains the original wood doors, as well as the lovely painted sign on the transom:
The entrance’s two adjacent reliefs echo the others across the ground floor storefronts, but they are larger outside the central portion:
These panels are largely geometric, yet bunches of leaves spring from the points of the different shapes. The two leaves that meet in the middle create a pareidolic effect. An interesting feature to point out here is the polychromy that the terra-cotta ornament incorporates--the rich blue and light yellow contrast nicely with the earthy brick.
Further on the ground floor, these panels serve as capitals to the piers:
These are very Sullivanesque in their design and would not look out of place on one of his jewel box banks. The shield is unusually empty in the middle, though. Another move that is similar to his architecture is the manner in which the bottom string courses are terminated, with a large flourish:
This design is almost classical with its curving volutes, but I’m sure they were based on a fern or a similar organic motif.
Each sill and lintel on the office floors of the building is decorated with a similar string course:
Along with adding visual interest and texture, these also emphasize the building’s horizontality further. On the top floor, the design is more elaborate, and where each pier terminates a different panel is used.
Here, you can see that Elmslie even decorated the bottom of these ornamental courses, which adds more texture in a subtle way.
The cornice line of the Keystone Building terminates the facade with a flourish, as seen in these fantastic Sullivanesque clusters:
Each of these lines up with every third pilaster, while the smaller pattern continues in the space between.
Another interesting moment is where the facade rounds the corner:
I was also enjoying the play of light and shadow here. This kind of ornament always looks beautiful in direct sunlight.
In my opinion, this is George Elmslie’s best design in Aurora. Abundant in detail and well-preserved, the Keystone Building should continue to beautify the streetscape for years to come.
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