Hotel Kaskaskia
Why it's listed
Rising five stories at the corner of Marquette and Second Streets, this 107-room hotel opened in 1915 as a centerpiece of downtown LaSalle, Illinois. Marshall & Fox, a respected Chicago architectural firm, designed it in the Colonial Revival style, with brick walls over a reinforced concrete frame, a symmetrical facade, a modillioned cornice and a portico with paired Corinthian columns. Inside, the public spaces keep their mosaic tile floors, coffered ceilings, a black marble registration desk, a Louis XVI dining room and a walnut-paneled buffet. Local industrialists and businessmen formed the LaSalle Inn Company, and townspeople subscribed over $250,000 in stock to give the community a fireproof hotel on the model of big-city establishments. The building is regarded as the region's largest and best early twentieth-century commercial hotel, an example of the small-city hotels the firm designed, and a marker of the shift of LaSalle's commercial center from First Street to Second Street. It still operates as a hotel.
Significance in brief: The hotel is argued to be significant architecturally (Criterion C) as a good local example of Colonial Revival commercial design and a representative small-city hotel by Marshall & Fox. It is also significant under Criterion A for its role in LaSalle's commercial growth after 1900, as the region's major hotel funded by local industrialists and citizens.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 88002229, listed November 3, 1988. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 217 Marquette St., LaSalle |
|---|---|
| County | LaSalle County |
| Listed | November 3, 1988 |
| Reference number | 88002229 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1915-1938 |
| Architect / builder | Marshall & Fox |
| Architectural style | Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Hotel operations continue to the present; integrity preserved apart from minor changes to the street-level facade and lobby. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | LaSalle Downtown Commercial District |
| Coordinates | 41.32952, -89.09589 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 88002229.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14687569
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.