{"nrhp_refnum":"79003162","name":"Miller-Davis Law Buildings","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"101--103 N. Main St. and 102--104 E. Front St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bloomington","county":"McLean County","state":"IL","lat":40.47997353400007,"lon":-88.99325574999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Law","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Two adjoining brick commercial buildings at 101-103 N. Main Street and 102-104 E. Front Street in Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, built in 1843 in a vernacular Greek Revival style by James Miller and David Davis.","why_significant":"They are the oldest surviving structures in downtown Bloomington and the only good examples of non-residential 1840s architecture left in McLean County. Their upstairs and office rooms housed early lawyers and politicians, including Asahel Gridley, John M. Scott and David Davis, and were visited by Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.","narrative":"Two small brick buildings at the corner of Main and Front Streets in Bloomington date to 1843, when James Miller and David Davis built the second and third brick business buildings in the young town. The Miller building, two stories with an attic, held a drug store on the ground floor for 128 years, while its upper floor served as law offices. Davis's one-story office next door gained a second story in the late 1850s. Attorneys such as Asahel Gridley and John M. Scott worked here, and Davis practiced from his office until he became a circuit judge in 1848. Lincoln and Douglas were among the notable visitors reported by a local newspaper. The buildings are the oldest surviving structures downtown and the only good non-residential examples of 1840s architecture in the county. Later remodeling, including plate glass, a tin ceiling and mid-twentieth-century facades, hid the original appearance, and restoration is planned.","period_of_significance":"1843","architect_builder":"James Miller, James Goodheart, Zachariah Lawrence, Andy Matthews","architectural_style":"Vernacular interpretation of Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Later facades and interior alterations from 1950 to 1970 obscure the original structure; restoration to the 1840s appearance is planned by the historical society.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.586019-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/89/8936/28893689/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/79003162.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003162/af122bdba4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003162/af122bdba4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"See above.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bloomington_Il_Miller_Davis_Bldg4.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">See above.</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bloomington_Il_Miller_Davis_Bldg4.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85000363","name":"Bloomington Central Business District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/bloomington-central-business-district-85000363/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893689","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller%E2%80%93Davis_Law_Buildings","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6859037"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/mclean-county/miller-davis-law-buildings-79003162/"}