{"nrhp_refnum":"82002581","name":"Van Epps, William H., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"212 S. Ottawa Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dixon","county":"Lee County","state":"IL","lat":41.842107456000065,"lon":-89.48109591399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-02-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick Italianate house at 212 S. Ottawa Avenue in Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, facing the Court House Square. It was built circa 1855 by William H. Van Epps; the architect is unknown.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a unique and outstanding example of Italianate architecture, one of several surviving examples in Dixon and the surrounding area. Its front facade pairs a circular bay with an octagonal bay, and it has imported marble mantels. It is also tied to Van Epps, a prominent early settler in agriculture, politics, railroads and merchandising.","narrative":"Built around 1855 on Ottawa Avenue facing the Court House Square in Dixon, Illinois, this three-story brick house is described as a distinctive example of Italianate architecture. Its sixteen-inch-thick solid brick walls carry keystone-style stone lintels, a bracketed cornice with dentils, and a porch with classical Corinthian columns. The front facade is unusual: a circular bay on the left and an octagonal bay on the right stand symmetrically side by side. Inside, four marble fireplaces, two of them imported and obtained from Potter Palmer of Chicago, plaster cornices, ceiling medallions and bronze chandeliers survive. The house was built by William H. Van Epps, who moved to Dixon in 1854 and died there in 1877. He was active in agriculture, politics, railroads and merchandising, served as president of the State Agricultural Society, and was nominated by the Democratic Party for lieutenant governor. The house was enlarged to the rear about 1900 and divided into apartments in 1926, but the front section remains largely unchanged and is now used for offices, apartments and studio space.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Unknown (built by Wm. H. Van Epps as owner)","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition; altered. Expanded to the rear about 1900 and converted to four apartments in 1926. Now has offices on the first floor, two apartments on the second, and a recreation room and artist studio space on the third.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.609251-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/8934/28893437/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/82002581.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002581/f16870c3cf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002581/f16870c3cf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dixon_Il_Van_Epps_House2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">IvoShandor</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:Dixon_Il_Van_Epps_House2.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893437","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Van_Epps_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8010635"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/lee-county/van-epps-william-h-house-82002581/"}