Historic Homes of Sycamore Illinois

Almost 6 months has passed since my last walking tour of historic homes. I enjoy taking walks through historic districts, but I don’t always remember to grab my camera. Today I’m really happy to share beautiful historic homes from the quaint town of Sycamore, Illinois. I snapped tons of photos and need to split them into two blog posts … so double the pleasure!

Historic Homes of Sycamore, IL. A beautiful green Victorian house with great curb appeal.

An early morning walk down Somonauk Street afforded me plenty of eye candy as  moved from one gorgeous home to the next. I love that this row of historic homes are painted in thoughtful colors. I’m a huge fan of two-toned windows and this green and rose combination doesn’t disappoint. This is the Charles Kellum home, a prominent attorney and circuit court judge. Believe it or not, this green beauty used to be bigger!  A back portion of the house was removed and located to the lot next door.

 

Queen Anne Style Victorian Home

A simple Queen Anne Victorian home is sweet and endearing, with plenty of curb appeal. Spring tulips greet you at the walkway, and a porch swing invites you to enjoy the outdoor breezes. I love this understated Victorian style home.

 

Historic Red Clapboard Home

Do you like red houses? I’ve always been enamored by them. Notice the short brick pillars by the sidewalk; those are historic plaques with information about the home … who first lived there and the year it was built. This is the Chauncey Ellwood house, constructed in Italianate style. Chauncey was the older brother of Isaac Ellwood, a prominent barb wire fencing entrepreneur.

 

Yellow Victorian Historic Home in Sycamore, Illinois

This yellow beauty originally belonged to the town’s postmaster. I found myself wondering how a postmaster was able to afford such a grand beauty like this. The postmaster was James Ellwood, another relative of the barbed wire magnate.

 

Craftsman Style Bungalow in Sycamore, Illinois

Also on Somonauk Street is this craftsman style bungalow. The wide staircase invites you up to the 4-season front porch with its expansive arched window.

 

Classic White Clapboad House and Other Historic Homes in Sycamore, Illinois

A classic white farmhouse is always appealing and I wondered why this one didn’t have shutters to help break up the expanse of white. But if you look closely, you’ll notice that the windows aren’t place symmetrically on the front of the home. I always wonder why architects don’t take this into consideration when designing homes. Still, it’s a pretty home.

 

Small Side Porch

I love the home’s charming side porch with a pretty Victorian screen door.

 

Historic Homes in Sycamore, Illinois

A stunning mustard color home with a small porch caught my eye.  This is the Hosea Willard house and showcases a Jerkin roof, which is a combination of a gable roof and a hipped roof. Willard was a well-known mason in the area and constructed a couple of the town’s churches.

 

Victorian Painted Lady

I love a house that isn’t afraid of color! Especially when it has plenty of gingerbread trim to show off.

 

Gray Clapboard Farmhouse. Historic Homes in Sycamore, llinois

Right around the corner of the row of expansive historic homes are smaller scale homes that are equally pretty, like this classic clapboard farmhouse with a nice porch, welcoming red door, and stairs to match. I think I’m going to apply this two-tone paint application to my front steps this summer. I never did paint the porch floor last summer like I said I’d do. We first need to level the porch floor before painting it. Another project for our list!

 

Historic Homes of Sycamore, Illinois

I’ll end today’s tour with this charming red brick home. Some of the brick is faded, adding character to this last house in our walking tour of historic homes in Sycamore.

 

Historic Homes in Sycamore, Illinois

I hope you enjoyed this architectural-rich tour. You can see more houses in Sycamore in my previous tours of surrounding neighborhoods below. Next week we’ll tour the rest of the house photos.

Historic Streets of Sycamore

More Historic Homes in Sycamore

 

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13 Comments

  1. Thank you for another beautiful walking tour Jennifer. These homes are so lovely and well kept. It is nice to see the green grass and pretty flowers too. Happy May to you!

  2. I love looking at houses when I pass through towns like Sycamore. I live in New York City (Staten Island) so our landscape is a bit different.

  3. LOVE when you do this, I often go driving around just to look at homes !! So my first choice is the sweet mustard home, and second is the red, gotta love a red house !

  4. Wonderful tour! Your town has such an amazing array of home styles – I love seeing all of the various architecture., especially the craftsman bungalow.

  5. I always love your tours . I was wondering about that white house and it’s wonky windows too. It would be interesting to know why. Like, was there a fire that nessitated moving windows around, or was there a larger front porch at one time that offset the upstairs windows? Inquiring minds want to know.

  6. Love your posts on Sycamore! We own the yellow post master’s house. We used to live in a plain jane subdivision but moved to Sycamore because of the beautiful homes and wonderful community. We spend many lovely evenings walking around town to enjoy all the history. You can find a few more pics of our house on my blog – – http://www.goldshoegirl.com.

    1. Your house is lovely and would be my pick! I just love the color yellow on a colonial looking home. We sold our yellow colonial4 years ago when we retired to a lake house. But my heart will always be with the yellow house. It just evokes a sense of quiet prestige. You must enjoy living there.

  7. I live in the green house with the two-tone stairs and the red door. I was pleasantly surprised to see my house along with such other other beautiful homes. I often want one of the large sprawling homes on Somonauk, but I am reminded of the quaint elegance of my own home–thank you! Our house was built in 1860, and I’m told a brick structure in the neighbor’s yard used to be a dairy barn–the original sign is still there. It’s so interesting to think about all the history!

  8. I love driving through historic towns and looking at the well maintained and nicely landscaped homes. Your walking tours are great. I’m in Wisconsin, so maybe some day I will make it to Sycamore, IL!

  9. How can I let the day go by and not post another thank you for reminding us of the lasting beauty of well loved older homes. It must give you lots of satisfaction to have lived in and kept alive the uniqueness and beauty of an older home. It takes a special person to take on that challenge- I know because I am not one of them. Can’t tell you often enough how much I admire you and your passion to share your talents with others. Thanks, Jen. Don’t ever stop!