{"nrhp_refnum":"74000767","name":"Guertler House","other_names":["Bruch-Guertler House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"101 Blair St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Alton","county":"Madison County","state":"IL","lat":38.900806239000076,"lon":-90.18272473399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small stone house at 101 Blair Street in Alton, Madison County, Illinois, built in 1854 by stone mason Ignaz Bruch, with a two-story wing to the south of unclear date.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as the unaltered work of a master-mason builder. Its pointed-arch stone lintels and carved stonework were an early, restrained use of Gothic Revival ideas on a Federal-style plan. It is also described as a well-known local landmark and a reminder of individual settlers shaping the Midwest.","narrative":"Dressed stone lintels shaped like pointed arches mark the Bruch-Guertler House, a small stone cottage at the foot of Alby Street hill in Alton, Illinois. Stone mason Ignaz Bruch, who arrived from Europe in the late 1840s, built the front block in 1854 from stone quarried on the site. Its plan follows the Federal tradition, but the arched door and window openings, carved stone stoop railings with oak leaf and acorn patterns, and a stone vault cut partly into bedrock reflect his craftsmanship. A two-story wing to the south has an uncertain building history, and it was damaged by a vandal-set fire in 1971. The house was held by Bruch's descendants, the Guertler family, for 118 years before its sale in 1969, and it has no concealed wiring or plumbing. The nomination values it as the unaltered work of a master mason, an early Gothic Revival expression in stone, and a rural-feeling site within the city.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"Ignaz Bruch (stone mason-master builder)","architectural_style":"Federal-style plan with Neo-Gothic (pointed arch) detailing; Swiss \"chalet\" style wing","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as deteriorated; the south wing was set afire by vandals in 1971, which removed its porch and half its roof. The form lists the property as unoccupied.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.946338-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/58/8935/28893558/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/74000767.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000767/05cf1ac564-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000767/05cf1ac564-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guertler_House_front.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guertler_House_front.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893558","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guertler_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16891958"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/madison-county/guertler-house-74000767/"}