{"nrhp_refnum":"76000711","name":"Tanner, William A., House","other_names":["Aurora Historical Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"304 Oak Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Aurora","county":"Kane County","state":"IL","lat":41.76352957200004,"lon":-88.31830034099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-08-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick house at 304 Oak Avenue in Aurora, Kane County, Illinois, built in 1856 in the Italianate style for William Tanner, an early Aurora resident and merchant. It now serves as the Aurora Historical Museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house symbolizes early settlement in Aurora and is a fine, original example of early Italianate architecture, of which few remain in the area. Its interior rooms and furnishings have been kept as originally arranged, showing 1850s lifestyle. It is also presented as a community resource for seeing the workmanship and design of the period.","narrative":"Built in 1856, this two-story brick house at 304 Oak Avenue in Aurora, Illinois, was constructed for William Tanner, an early resident and merchant of the city. It follows a Latin Cross plan in the Italianate mode and is crowned by an octagonal cupola at the junction of the cross. Ornate wooden brackets with pendants decorate the common bond brick exterior, and first floor window lintels have decorated hoods. Some features have been lost: the railings on the porch roof and front windows were removed, as was the rear porch. The first floor holds a parlor, music room, library, dining room, kitchen and pantry, with bedrooms upstairs. The house was listed because it symbolizes early settlement in Aurora and is an original example of early Italianate architecture, which is uncommon in the area. Its rooms and furnishings have been maintained as they were originally, and it now operates as the Aurora Historical Museum.","period_of_significance":"1856-1957","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as the Aurora Historical Museum, owned by a private non-profit historical society.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.637285-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/8931/28893116/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/76000711.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000711/3e868d9681-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000711/3e868d9681-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tanner_House_Aurora.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tanner_House_Aurora.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893116","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tanner_House_Museum","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4822556"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/kane-county/tanner-william-a-house-76000711/"}