Solon and Thanks for All the Fish

I've had my eye on this building across from the Champaign Library for weeks. I had to run by the library the other day to return some documentaries, so I walked over and snapped a picture. I took all these pictures late in the day and the house faces east. So that explains the picture quality.

The Harwood/Solon Home sits on the edge of the downtown area, about a mile north of our apartment (as the Turdus flies). Built in 1867, it exemplifies the Italianate architectural style.

We haven't seen an Italianate building before. Here's how you know:

• Emphatic eaves supported by corbels (corbels are the large vertical pieces, they were invented just to support eaves).
  


• Low pitched or flat roof.
• Imposing cornice (the cornice is the decorative element underneath the eaves, think: crown molding).
  
  
  
  
• Round arches.
  
  
  
  
• A tower (designed to look like a campanile, or free-standing bell tower, the leaning tower of Pisa is a campanile).
  
  

That's not the interesting part. Get this. The house has had only three owners since its construction. Abel Harwood, a prominent landowner, bought the house new. At the time, it sat on the far edge of town and historians think Harwood's prominence and the beauty of the house contributed the the city's growth to the south and west.

Harwood sold the home to Francis and Abbie Solon in 1907. Francis also made his money in land speculation and spent that money on extensive renovations in 1920s. I'm talking an indoor bathroom and electricity. Exciting.

After the deaths of his parents, John Solon took possession of the house. A prominent and successful lawyer in Champaign, locals knew him as the guy who walked on the grass so he wouldn't wear out the soles of his shoes. Unfortunately, this fastidiousness didn't extend to the care of his home. Before his death in 1995, the city evicted him from the house due to its dilapidated state.

John Solon's heirs donated the remains of the house to the Preservation and Conservation Association (PACA) in 2005. Imagine their surprise when they opened the front door and saw that peculiar sort of devastation neglect creates. The new wallpaper pasted up in the 1920s still hung in faded tatters from the walls. With the help of a Heritage Fund Grant, PACA did $125 thousand worth of essential structural repairs, including a new metal roof.

PACA got the Harwood/Solon House added to the National Register in 2007 and put it on the market with the caveat that it needed extensive renovation. The two main floors have 11 foot ceilings. It also has an attic and a basement and the small original bathroom from the 1920s. Original listing price was around $300 thousand.

I found that Re/Max removed the listing this summer, but I couldn't find if it actually sold or who bought it. As you can see from my pictures, they are rebuilding the porch.

Here's a picture of the house from the good old days: