{"nrhp_refnum":"91001002","name":"Fire Barn 5","other_names":["Fire Station 5"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"533 St. Charles Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Elgin","county":"Kane County","state":"IL","lat":42.025497044000076,"lon":-88.26947103899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-08-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fire Barn 5 is a Classical Revival fire station at 533 St. Charles Road in Elgin, Kane County, Illinois, built in 1903 to a design by local architect Smith Hoag.","why_significant":"It is significant locally under Criterion A for its association with Elgin's municipal government and the growth of fire protection toward the southeast side of the city. It also meets Criterion C as a representative turn-of-the-century fire barn, and the most elaborate and expensive of Elgin's fire barns of that era.","narrative":"Built in 1903 at the corner of Arlington and St. Charles Road in Elgin, Fire Barn 5 was the last city fire station designed for horse-drawn apparatus. Local architect Smith Hoag drew the plans for the two-story Classical Revival building, which is faced in blonde brick with red brick belt courses and quoins. It has a hipped roof with dormers, a domed wooden cupola, a stained glass semi-circular window and a Palladian dormer. Inside are a brass fire pole, oak staircase, second-floor living quarters and a hayloft. The building cost $6,262, well above the two earlier barns of 1896 combined. It was placed to serve neighborhoods growing in the southeast part of the city. The station closed from 1933 to 1939 as a cost-cutting measure. It is recognized for its link to Elgin's municipal fire protection and as the most elaborate fire barn built in the city during this period.","period_of_significance":"1903-1933 and 1939-1941","architect_builder":"Hoag, Smith","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a fire station at the time of nomination; the Fire Department was expected to vacate tentatively in 1991, after which a 1989 ambulance garage addition was to be removed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.238471-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/24/8932/28893224/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/91001002.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001002/1107658cee-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001002/1107658cee-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elgin_Fire_Barn_5.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elgin_Fire_Barn_5.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893224","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Barn_5_(Elgin,_Illinois)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5451324"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/kane-county/fire-barn-5-91001002/"}