{"nrhp_refnum":"92000486","name":"Knuessl Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"215--217 W. Main","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ottawa","county":"LaSalle County","state":"IL","lat":41.34554625200008,"lon":-88.84338165899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story red brick commercial building at 215-217 W. Main Street in Ottawa, La Salle County, Illinois, built around 1868 by druggist Maxmillion Knuessl.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be a locally significant example of mid-19th century commercial design under Criterion C. Its Italianate and Renaissance Revival character, round-arched windows and ornate wood cornice are among the best remaining in Ottawa. It also anchors its block and helps retain the historic character of Main Street.","narrative":"Built around 1868 at 215-217 W. Main Street in Ottawa, Illinois, this three-story red brick commercial building was erected by Maxmillion Knuessl, a German-born pharmacist who ran a drug store on the ground floor. It measures about 38 feet wide and 80 feet deep and sits on a double lot in the middle of a commercial block. Its design draws on Italian Renaissance city palaces, with round-arched limestone windows, cast iron columns at the central stair and a boldly projecting wood cornice. The third floor served as a meeting hall, used by a Presbyterian congregation and later a dance studio. Storefronts and upper floors were altered around 1912, when apartments were created. The building later declined and stood abandoned. It was listed for its local architectural significance as a rare surviving example of 1860s commercial design with an ornate wood cornice, and as the anchor of its block.","period_of_significance":"1868-1912","architect_builder":"Maxmillion Knuessl (builder)","architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century; Italianate; Other: Renaissance Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Described as abandoned for several years, with the ground-floor store space vacant since the early 1980s; a rehabilitation was planned to provide six low-income apartments, two offices and two ground-floor stores.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.077873-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/3/8934/28893403/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/92000486.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000486/a9103e2566-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000486/a9103e2566-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ottawa_Il_Knuessl_Building1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">IvoShandor</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ottawa_Il_Knuessl_Building1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893403","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuessl_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6423828"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/lasalle-county/knuessl-building-92000486/"}