{"nrhp_refnum":"94000025","name":"LeClaire Hotel","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of 19th St. and 5th Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Moline","county":"Rock Island County","state":"IL","lat":41.50857328700005,"lon":-90.51143682899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-02-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A fifteen-story, 168-foot reinforced concrete hotel tower at 19th Street and 5th Avenue in downtown Moline, Illinois, built in 1921-22 by St. Louis developers Fred J. and Ben Cornwell to designs by the St. Louis firm Kirsh and Kolb.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the hotel reflects Moline's early twentieth-century civic and commercial development, the result of a decade-long community effort to secure a downtown hotel. It is described as the tallest building of its time locally and a landmark anchoring the east side of downtown. The form concedes it lacks significant architectural distinction but says it reflects progressive local design and construction innovations.","narrative":"Rising fifteen stories and 168 feet, the LeClaire Hotel occupies the corner of 19th Street and 5th Avenue on the eastern edge of downtown Moline, Illinois. Built in 1921-22, it was designed by the St. Louis firm Kirsh and Kolb for developers Fred J. and Ben Cornwell. The reinforced concrete tower follows the Commercial Style's three-part vertical pattern, with a limestone-clad base and mezzanine, a brick shaft with polychrome earth-tone brick, and a capital section. The hotel resulted from a decade-long effort by Moline business leaders to attract a downtown hotel, supported by the purchase of the site and a $250,000 bond backed by Fifth Avenue merchants. Its location near railroad stations and the highway to the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge suited travelers. Although the exterior windows were replaced in the 1960s and the north restaurant space was altered, the lobby, mezzanine and ornamental plasterwork by St. Louis artisan Fredrico Aquadro remain largely intact. The building is currently vacant.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Kirsh and Kolb (St. Louis architects); developers Fred J. and Ben Cornwell","architectural_style":"Commercial Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant/not in use; the ground floor housed a restaurant and tavern historically and in later years.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.312581-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/8939/28893981/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/94000025.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000025/9c5a12d066-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000025/9c5a12d066-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeClaire_Hotel_Moline_IL.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:LeClaire_Hotel_Moline_IL.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893981","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeClaire_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6506338"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/rock-island-county/leclaire-hotel-94000025/"}