{"nrhp_refnum":"07000644","name":"Solon, Francis and Abbie, House","other_names":["Harwood--Solon House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"503 South State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Champaign","county":"Champaign County","state":"IL","lat":40.11151849600003,"lon":-88.24686818399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-07-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story brick Italianate house at 503 South State Street in Champaign, Illinois, developed by William Barrett in 1867. It is a single-dwelling building in a mixed residential and educational neighborhood.","why_significant":"The house is a well-preserved example of the Tuscan Villa Italianate style, with an ornate cupola, bracketed cornice and decorated plaster interiors. It is also tied to the Solon family, who lived there from 1907 and were prominent in Champaign County farming, land affairs, politics, church and legal circles. The exact criteria and period are not visible in the provided excerpt.","narrative":"Built in 1867 by William Barrett, this brick house at 503 South State Street in Champaign is a Tuscan Villa Italianate dwelling. It rises two and a half stories under a low hip roof topped with a bracketed cupola, and it features round-arched windows, a bracketed frieze with lozenge-shaped sash, and an L-shaped wood porch with molded columns. A lower service wing extends from the northwest corner. Inside, a central stair hall opens onto a parlor, library, back parlor and dining room, with false-grained woodwork and ornate plaster ceilings. The house sits on a rise near a new public library, the historic Lincoln School and Edison Middle School. Francis and Abbie Solon moved here in 1907. Francis managed farm interests in Illinois and Arkansas, served in a drainage district and in Democratic politics, and the couple raised five children who attended the University of Illinois. Three of those children, including two lawyers, lived in the house for the rest of their lives.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"William Barrett (developer/builder, 1867)","architectural_style":"Italianate (Tuscan Villa)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still a single dwelling; three chimneys were removed or collapsed in 2006 because of structural instability.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.389254-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/8917/28891798/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/07000644.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000644/dcbf47d16a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000644/dcbf47d16a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solon_House_Champ_IL.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solon_House_Champ_IL.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891798","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_and_Abbie_Solon_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20710985"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/champaign-county/solon-francis-and-abbie-house-07000644/"}