Historic Downtown District and Imagine Urbana Tour May 2021

To celebrate Historic Preservation Month and the new Comprehensive Plan, Planning at Urbana will highlight a handful of locations that show the past and the future of Downtown Urbana.

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Historic Downtown District and Imagine Urbana Tour May 2021

Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States

Created By: Lily

Tour Information

To celebrate Historic Preservation Month and the new Comprehensive Plan, Planning at Urbana will highlight a handful of locations that show the past and the future of Downtown Urbana.

Marcus Ricci and Lily Wilcock, Planners at the City of Urbana, will be leading this virtual walking tour of downtown Urbana. We will be looking at the past to help inform the future of Urbana.

Credits: Video filming and editing from UPTV, Jason Liggett.

Historic District Designation was not possible without numerous people and groups, including but not limited to, Alice Novak, University of Illinois Urban and Regional Planning Department, and the City of Urbana Historic Preservation Commission.


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What You'll See on the Tour

The Cinema Gallery was originally called Busey’s Hall, and later called the Princess Theater. Busey’s Hall was built in 1870, as an opera house and businesses. The building burned down and was rebuilt in 1878. It was converted to the Pr... Read more
106 North Race Street, or Rose Bowl Tavern, was designed by the Urbana architect Joseph Royer in the Beaux-Arts style, and was likely being his first concrete block structure. The original tenant was the United States Post Office until it m... Read more
The Nathan H. Cohen Building is located at the corner of West Main and North Race Streets, and covers 132 and 136 West Main Street. It is an example of Classic Revival design and attributed to famous Urbana architect Joseph Royer, built of ... Read more
The Urbana Free Library is located near the intersection of Race Street and Green Street. The two-story, limestone building was designed by the Urbana architect Joseph Royer in the Beaux-Arts style in 1918. The original east entrance has la... Read more
114 South Race Street, or Tres Nopales, was originally a one-story, red brick structure built around 1885 and first occupied by a meat market. A second story was added around 1912. Long time tenants included the Embassy Tavern. In the last ... Read more
133 West Main Street was built in 1890 and first occupied by a confectioner. It is known as the Whittaker Building for the jeweler that occupied it until the 1990s.  It is an over-tall two-story building with a curved display storefront. I... Read more
Tiernan’s Block at 115 West Main Street was built in 1870, at the same time as Busey’s Block across Main Street. Originally a three-story Italianate-styled building of Urbana brick with fluted iron columns and stone lintels, it was reno... Read more
The United States Post Office is located at the southeast corner of South Broadway Avenue and East West Elm Street, at 202 South Broadway. It was designed by Oscar Wenderoth in the Classical Revival style. The two-story, tan brick structure... Read more
The Urbana-Lincoln Hotel is located at the southwest corner of South Broadway Avenue and West Elm Street, at 209 South Broadway Avenue. It was designed by the famous Urbana architect Joseph Royer in the Tudor Revival style and had a grand o... Read more

 

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