A view of the north side of the 200 block of E. State St. in the East Rockford Historic District. Two previous posts in this series have focused on the old YMCA Building seen at the east end of the block.
The East Rockford Historic District includes some of Rockford's earliest buildings and a significant number of architectural styles that were popular in Illinois from 1852 to the present. The district still retains a high level of integrity and is currently experiencing a significant amount of renovation and restoration of its buildings. The boundaries of the district were expanded in 2015.
Of the four buildings in this block, only the former Rockford Printing Co. building (second from left) is a non-contributing property to the historic district.
From left to right, the buildings are:
212 E. State St. - Built in 1895, this two-story Queen Anne style features an oriel bay window flanked by long, narrow, double hung windows that have a transom above each vertical opening. The storefront is turn of the century style that is wood framed. Also note the Milwaukee Cream City brick masonry on the second floor.
214-216 E. State St. - The Rockford Printing Co. building, later the Rockford Furniture Building, was constructed in 1916. A reinforced concrete building originally in the Art Deco-style, the exterior has undergone significant modifications while the interior has changed very little. The front façade consisted of a white glazed brick that fell off the building and was destroyed in 2010. The building originally had steel windows on the second floor and prism glass transoms on the first floor. The building was contributing in the original 1980 district, but was dropped during the 2015 district expansion.
218 E. State St. - This mixed use building was built in 1906. The first floor storefront was reconstructed in 2010 which matched up the original wood detailing of the storefront. The second floor elevation consists of brick masonry with Indiana Limestone surrounding the windows.
220 E. State St. - Now known as the East Side Centre, this building was completed in 1889 for the YMCA. Since then it has been an office building, hotel, and is now once again an office building. The style is RIchardsonian Romanesque. Go back a few posts for a closer look and more detailed description of the East Side Centre.
Located in northern Illinois, Rockford is the seat of Winnebago County and is the largest city in Illinois outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Rockford had an estimated population of 145,609 as of 2019, with the Rockford Metropolitan Area population standing at 344,623.
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