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St. Charles Municipal Building
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| Location: | St Charles, Kane County, Illinois, USA |
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| Built: | 1940 |
| Architect: | R. Harold Zook and D. Coder Taylor |
| Architectural style: | Art Moderne |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 91000087 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | February 21, 1991 |
The St. Charles Municipal Building is a Registered Historic Place located on the east bank of the Fox River in St. Charles, Illinois.[2]
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The St. Charles Municipal Building was designed in 1940 by noted local architect R. Harold Zook, best known for designing the art deco Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge. Art deco was an inspiration for the St. Charles building, but the end result conformed more closely to the Art Moderne movement. The building was constructed on the former site of the Fixture Factory, which was destroyed in a 1929 fire. Col. Edward J. Baker and Mr. and Mrs. Lester J. Norris were the primary donors for the building; Baker and Mrs. Norris were the heirs of the John W. Gates barbed wire and oil fortune. Baker and the Norris' also funded the Arcada Theater and Hotel Baker. Baker was very interested in local history, and was adamant that the building have a wing dedicated to industrial history. The St. Charles Municipal Building was the first permanent building to exclusively use Fluorescent tube lighting, thanks to the efforts of R. A. Warren, the head of St. Charles Technical Laboratories. The building was dedicated on September 2, 1940. The original floor plan divided the structure into several city functions. The main entrance led toa general office, with a waiting room for a bus stop and the city clerk's office on the south end. The west end featured cashier's offices, and a lobby leading to the rotunda. North of the main office area was an office for the superintendent of public works and a police office. The rotunda led to the industrial museum. A staircase accessed just east of the tower led to the second floor, which was mainly the city council chamber. A storage room was also built into the south send, and the mayor and city committee had offices on the north end. The St. Charles Municipal Building was recognized by the U. S. Department of the Interior as a Historic Place on February 21, 1991. In 1998, a mural was painted on the side depicting the history of St. Charles.
The St. Charles Municipal Building was built on the east bank of the Fox River on the north side of Illinois Route 64. The exterior is carved from white marble from Georgia. The centerpiece of the building is an 84 foot (26 m) tower. To support the structure, a limestone wall was built along the banks of the Fox River; the terrace on top of this structure features two fountains and a railing along the edge. The museum wing of the building (44 by 58 feet (13 × 18 m)) is on the north with a 16 foot (4.9 m) high ceiling. The rest of the structure (66 by 96 feet (20 × 29 m)) is two stories, with a 10 foot (3.0 m) ceiling on the first floor and a varying height ceiling on the second. The tower is a true octagon with a diameter of 31 feet (9.4 m). Stained glass windows feature on all sides of the rotunda, which is surrounded by an 8 foot (2.4 m) canopy on the west that extends to the south side of the building. The interior has been maintained since its original floor plan.