Though now appearing somewhat forlorn, the Chicago and Northwest Railroad Station at Alton presents a sophisticated image—c. 1915—that one often associates with suburban stations on Chicago's North Shore Line. The Alton station joins the image of the English cottage with the Craftsman aesthetic. On the first floor there are long bands of windows right beneath the soffit of the broad overhanging roofs. The second-floor gable ends are half-timbered, with stucco infills. The station is located at the east end of Twelfth Street. A few blocks away, on Sixth Avenue between Tenth and Eleventh streets, is a small, delightful Queen Anne cottage (c. 1880). The street elevation plays off a narrow, spindly porch on one side and a narrow bay on the other. In a rather odd fashion, the projecting bay and the porch are drawn together into a symmetrical composition by two gabled dormers which, with their small lunette windows, project from the steeply pitched hipped roof.
Writing Credits
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.