1403 West Lorado Taft Drive, Urbana
The Mumford House was built in 1870 as a model farmer’s home.  It was the residence for a host of University fathers of agriculture and is the University’s oldest building.  Its Victorian Gothic structure is often associated with John Milton Gregory, the school’s first regent, who had a significant role in shaping the school’s academic programs.  Thomas J. Burrill, who joined the University upon its founding in 1868, was the house’s first occupant.  The home was named for the late Herbert W. Mumford, a former dean of the UI’s College of Agriculture, who became a nationally known farm marketing expert.  Mumford House was designed by Andrew Jackson Downing and built by J.S. Searfoss.  The Mumford House was listed on Landmark Illinois’ list of ten most endangered buildings in 2006.  Listed on the NRHP on October 31, 1989 for significance in Education and Architecture (#89001728).

Champaign

Champaign

1005 South Sixth Street, Champaign

Urbana

612 West Green Street, Urbana

Nathan Clifford Ricker lived in the house he designed at 612 West Green Street, Urbana from 1892-1924. He was the first (March 1873) university graduate of architectural studies in the United States. Among his accomplishments are the designs for five National Register-listed University of Illinois campus buildings (his house is his only known residential design) and the passage of the 1897 Illinois Architectural Act, which licenses the practice of architecture in the State of Illinois. Ricker served thirty-seven years as a professor and head of the Department of Architecture from 1873 until his retirement in 1910. In addition, he served as the Dean of the College of Engineering for twenty-seven years, from 1878 to 1905. He also developed an innovative instructional format that incorporated the use of modern materials and technology into both his lesson plans and building designs. His program, which emphasized technology, building design, construction, and history, is still used in the University of Illinois’ Department of Architecture.

In 1992, a plan was in the works to demolish the house and replace it with an eight-unit apartment building. David Garner, local architect, University of Illinois graduate, and PACA member, carried the torch for the endangered Ricker House and was instrumental in saving the structure. David worked with PACA and the City of Urbana to publicize the importance of both Ricker and his house. After intense negotiations with the owner, PACA bought the house in May 1996 for $115,000 with a loan from an anonymous donor. In 1997, the Nathan C. Ricker Foundation was formed in order to renovate the house and convert it into an educational center. Founding members of the foundation were Richard Cahill, David Garner, Steven Kelley, Walter Lewis, Arthur Kaha, and Susan Presser. The foundation worked to gain support from the University of Illinois’ schools of Architecture and Engineering. Despite generating publicity for the renovation effort, the foundation was unable to gain support from the university, and stopped meeting in 1998. Despite failing to meet their overall goals, the foundation raised $11,839 for the renovation of the property and worked with PACA to begin the renovation process. The chimneys and porches were rebuilt and the house was re-roofed. However, much work remained to be done. PACA board member Dan Leasure volunteered to renovate the house’s interior. This work included plaster repair, mechanical updates, refinishing and replacement of oak floors, bathroom renovations, and a new kitchen. With help from dedicated PACA volunteer Arthur Zangerl and his family, work continued on the outside of the structure, where artificial siding was removed and the original clapboards and decorative shingles were scraped in preparation for repainting in a historically sensitive paint scheme (that was chosen by the new owners). In May 2001, the house was sold to a family for $211,000. The sale included a preservation easement held by PACA that protects the house’s exterior and many distinctive interior features. In addition, the Ricker House became one of the first designated Urbana Landmarks and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

346 North Neil Street, Champaign

The New Orpheum Theatre was constructed in 1914 from designs of architects George and Cornelius Rapp, alumni of the University of Illinois School of Architecture. The Orpheum was designed as a one-third-scale model of the opera house at Versailles, and its interior was decorated in the French Renaissance and Baroque styles. The auditorium originally had 754 seats and seventeen balcony boxes. During a 1960s “modernization,” the Orpheum’s exterior was covered with blue aluminum siding and some exterior detailing on the facade was lost. Damage to the foyer’s ornate moldings was also sustained, but most of the decorative elements of the theater’s lobby and auditorium remained intact.

The theater closed as a movie house in April 1986 and in 1989 PACA began a campaign to save the structure as the City of Champaign made moves to demolish it for a parking lot. Due to the efforts of PACA and numerous volunteers, the building was saved and plans were made to turn the theater into a children’s museum. In 1991, after a PACA-led volunteer effort to remove the aluminum siding, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Under PACA’s guidance, the theater’s new custodians, The Discovery Place, Inc., formally came together as an organization in 1992. They secured a preservation loan form the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Busey Bank, and renovated 6750 sq. ft. of space for offices and a small demonstration museum, which opened in December 1994. PACA holds a preservation easement on the theater’s exterior and its significant interior features. The building is also a designated Champaign landmark. In 1996 the museum was renamed the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum with the granddaughter of Rapp in attendance.

Many people were important in saving and renovating the theater, most notably Carolyn Baxley, who, as a PACA board member and later as the museum’s president and executive director, spearheaded the Orpheum project for more than a decade. Perry Morris and Bruce Creamer, who also served as board members for both PACA and the Orpheum, have donated thousands of hours of volunteer labor to the project since the early 1990s. In recognition of his continuing service to the Orpheum, Creamer was named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Illinois Association of Museums in 1999. PACA continues its involvement with the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum with its co-sponsorship of the annual Kids’ Building Fair. The fair, begun in 1991, is a celebration of the building arts.

PACA provided the museum with initial rehabilitation funds ($50,000) for repairs to the roof, the south brick wall, and the facade. With grants from the Illinois FIRST program and the US Geological Survey, the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum has continued to expand. In October 2000, a major renovation of the theater’s entrance lobby, grand foyer, and mezzanine was completed.  A $250,000 Save America’s Treasures grant has allowed for the restoration of the main theater space in 2009.  Funds are still needed, however, to renovate the stage and facade.

North of Mahomet, 2600 North, east off US 47 North

The Hazen Bridge is an iron Pratt through-truss structure, and its unique western approach elevates it far above the flood zone. Named for area farmer Horace Hazen, the bridge was built in 1893 at a cost of $4,895 by the Seevers Manufacturing Company. The bridge was listed on the National Register on May 6, 1994, but PACA’s involvement began more than six years earlier. In 1988, Champaign County began planning to demolish the Hazen Bridge and replace it with a modern concrete structure. At that time, local resident Duane Foster began trying to save the bridge. He and his wife Teresa put up cardboard signs saying “Preserve the Past: Save this Bridge,” and generated a story in The News-Gazette. Despite the newspaper’s opinion that “it’s doubtful that one of the last three iron truss bridges in the county – and the longest—will be saved,” PACA embraced the idea of saving the structure, and in 1991, under the leadership of board member Hank Kaczmarski, the organization eventually entered into an agreement with Newcomb Township to take possession of the Hazen Bridge once the new bridge was complete. A generous donation from Jack and Marjorie Richmond of five acres of land surrounding the bridge made the transfer possible, but it took until 1993 for PACA to officially own the structure. In order to save the Hazen Bridge, the west approach needed to be redesigned, and this proved to be a sticking point with local officials. In the end, PACA donated $7,000 of the total $35,000 required to change the right of way, thus keeping the bridge accessible to pedestrian traffic. In the summer of 2001, at a ceremony attended by the Richmonds, PACA installed a historic marker at the bridge. PACA ultimate goal is donate the bridge and land to an environmental – orientated non-profit, which will have better resources to develop the area, perhaps as part of canoeing or walking trail along the Sangamon River.