Former Home of Well Known Area Architect in IL
George H. Miller House, Bloomington Illinois
This building is the home built by George Miller soon after his marriage. He lived here from 1890 until his death in 1927. Miller was the first architect to practice for any sustained period in Bloomington. He designed many public buildings, churches, office buildings, and private homes in Bloomington, the surrounding area and throughout the Midwest.
George H. Miller's parents were born in Germany. They came to this country and settled in Bloomington in 1855. George was born the following year.
When he was fifteen Miller entered the architectural offices of Richter and Bunting where he worked as a draftsman. In 1874 he worked briefly in Ohio, returning in 1875 to work in the Chicago offices of F. & E. Baumann, noted builders and architects. After six months in Chicago he went to work for Henry A. Miner, a Bloomington businessman. While working for Miner, Miller's first important public building was the McLean County Jail which was finished in 1880. In 1883 he became treasurer of the city of Bloomington. Two years later he opened his own architectural offices at 101 W. Front. Among his designs of this period were the German Lutheran Church, Turner's Hall, the German Methodist Church, the German Catholic Church, First Baptist Church, Moses Montefiore Synagogue and Withers Library.
In 1894 Miller was appointed Superintendent of U.S. Buildings. Although the full scope of his duties is not clear, he traveled throughout the Midwest designing and supervising the construction of Federal buildings.
It was probably in this period that he designed several as yet unidentified buildings in St. Louis. In 1897 he traveled to Saginaw, Michigan to supervise the construction of the Federal Building which he had designed for that city. Miller's McLean County buildings in the 1890's include Cook Hall on what is now the Illinois State University campus, First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, the Holy Trinity Church Rectory in Bloomington, and the Simeon West home in Le Roy.
In June of 1900 a fire destroyed much of downtown Bloomington. Miller designed many of the buildings which replaced burned structures. His buildings of the early twentieth century include the Corn Belt Bank, McLean County Bank, the B.S. Green building, the George Brand Building, the Evens Building, the Durley Block, Klemm's wholesale building, the Livingston Building, the Metropole Hotel, the Thompson Marble Building, the McClure home on Franklin Square, the Hyneman house in Lexington, Illinois, and the A.E. DeMange home in Bloomington. The pavilion which George Miller designed for Miller Park in Bloomington has been restored.
Although no complete catalog of Miller's works has yet been compiled it seems safe to say that between 1880 and 1910 he had a greater impact on the appearance of Bloomington than any other single individual.
George Miller combined many unusual and fine features in the design of his own home. Miller's house is a unique expression within the Queen Anne style.
Building Description
The building is a detached rectangular house of two stories. The south part of the house, that side facing Market Street, is surfaced below with red brick and on the second floor with wooden shingles. The north, or rear, part of the house is surfaced in wood. The south part of the house has a modified hip roof with a gable on the west side. The north part of the house has a single pitch gable roof running north and south. At the southeast corner of the house a tower rises from a circular base at the first floor level to octagonal Shape above the roofline. The tower is capped by a convex cone rising to a spire. Above the front porch is a brick arch supported by stone columns. There are recessed areas on the south and east sides of the second floor. The house has a great many stained glass windows including a large circular window on the west side and a rectangular window above the south entrance with the word Miller surrounded by blue glass. There is a good deal of decorative woodwork in the interior, particularly in the main entryway. In the southeast room on the lower floor is a fireplace surrounded by blue tile.
Southeast corner (1977)
