Historic Homes in St. Charles, Illinois
As the suburbs of Chicago continue to grow and spread, it seems there’s always new homes popping up around our area. Most of this new construction consists of well-planned subdivisions with tract housing, providing new home buyers with the most square footage they can afford. This of course means that architectural amenities like ornate trim, custom windows, multi-floored bay windows, etc. are not included without paying for the upgrade.
Personally, I would sacrifice the square footage in exchange for unique details and charm like you see in older homes. I love looking at old houses and going for walks is a great way to take in the view of these beauties. I took photos from a recent walk with hubby looking at historic homes in St. Charles, Illinois on a beautiful spring day.
A gorgeous late Victorian Italianate, this brick home is known as the Haviland House and was built circa 1850. It’s just a few blocks from the town library on a quiet street.
Just a block away, I love the charming simplicity of this Greek Revival style home built in 1837. Known as the Howard House, this house tells quite a story! It’s rumored the owner held seances here and Mary Todd Lincoln came here for spiritual guidance. I’m guessing there’s a good chance it’s haunted!
Also on this same tree-lined street on the east side of St. Charles is this pretty home with its wrap around porch and fenced-in yard with an impressive tulip bed.
Here’s a close-up view of the side yard with its magnificent tulips hugging the fence.
Isn’t this spectacular? Makes me feel like I’m in Holland.
I have to come back in a couple months to see what replaces the tulips.
We’re still on the same street and I’m happy to say that many of the homes have been renovated. Several years ago these houses were a little forlorn and run-down. I love the stonework on the lower half of this home.
Crossing the river to the west side of St. Charles, we have examples of gorgeous Queen Anne Victorian style historic homes. This one belonged to Alice Davis and was built in 1893. Ms. Davis was an avid educator and one of the local grade schools is named after her. I had to make sure to get the home’s fence in the photo!
Next door is this Gothic style Victorian home.
Both homes face the river.
Here’s the rest of the home from another angle. Wouldn’t you like to climb up to the third floor of that turret? I’m sure the view from the little round windows is impressive.
Another charming older home on a tree-lined street on St. Charles’ west side. Note the pair of foxes flanking the front walk. This area is known as the Fox Valley because the Fox River runs through the heart of town.
Another beautiful blue home, this one has experienced extensive renovation.
You know if there’s a pink house I’m going to take a photo of it! Our home was pink when we first moved into it so I have a soft spot for these beauties. I think it’s important to emphasize trim work with contrasting paint colors, at least on historic homes like these anyway.
A close-up view of the porch shows the artistic detailing of this home.
Hubby wanted to take my picture in front of this painted lady. I have more photos to share but I’ll save those for another day. They’re all bungalows and one has a very unique feature!
We ended our walk in the park where fruit trees were in full bloom. The scent was heavenly!
You can see more historic homes in the Fox Valley from a previous walk.
Beautiful homes…makes walking not a chore at all eh? Have a great day!
Love all these old beautiful homes with such history and character. What a nice area to walk. So much beauty.
Kris
How lovely. It would be fun to have a tour of the interiors.
This post is like walking down Memory Lane for me as I grew up in a similiar neighborhood. Seeing the front porches reminds me of my friends and I playing “house” with our dolls in the summer on our porches. Thanks for the tour.
Thanks for taking us for a walk with you – you know what we like! Gorgeous historic houses it is hard to pick a fav – likely the pink one – I lived in a pink house for a short period as a child and have a soft spot for them too. As long as someone other than me came to paint all that gorgeous trim from time to time to keep it fresh looking! I also enjoyed seeing a few screened porches that did not distract from their historic look. I am trying to workout that detail for my farmhouse porch right now and screen is a must where I live!
These are such beautiful home Jennifer. I enjoyed seeing them and there is more than one that I would love to live in. It would be great to be able to tour some of them too. Thanks for sharing these homes with us.
Thanks for this post.
The homes are lovely, and the gardens beautiful.
A great way to start my morning 🙂
I love this whole series when you give us these neighborhood tours. I’m very fond of historic homes.
My dream has always been to live in a neighborhood such as this one…Just breathtaking homes and gardens…thanks for taking us along with you on this wonderful tour!!…and yes, those tulips are spectacular!
I just happened on your blog today and saw you did a tour of historic homes in St. Charles. What a surprise to see the Alice Davis house. We were the third owners of the house! When we purchased the house in 1979, the reason I was drawn to it was that apart from a FEW updates the home was just the same as it was originally built. Over the 15 years we lived in it, we made the necessary updates, but tried to keep everything as original as possible. It was fun to see how well it has been preserved and enhanced. Would love to see the interior. Thanks for the post!
Hello Jeanne,
Did you possibly purchase the house on Geneva Road when it was owned by the school principal and his Wife?
My Town have so many historic homes
Now over 2,500 miles away from the familiar neighborhoods….Interviewed Alice Davis in her home next to ‘The Mount”. I was in 4th
grade and chosen to give the student speech during the dedication of the new Alice Davis grammar school..Babysat in my mid-teens family of six children, a school principle and his wife-in that now pink house!
Attended Mt. St. Mary Academy for Girls on the Fox. Next to the upper campus of my high school was the pink house.
70 years of memories…..
Thank you so much. I used to live on S 3rd Street in St Charles. I miss walking in my kids to Davis Elementary. I love your pictures and histories. You do a wonderful job sharing.