Leland Tower
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Leland Tower
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| Location: | Aurora, Illinois, USA |
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| Coordinates: | 41°45′29″N 88°18′55″W / 41.75806°N 88.31528°WCoordinates: 41°45′29″N 88°18′55″W / 41.75806°N 88.31528°W |
| Built: | 1928 |
| Part of: | Stolp Island Historic District (#86001487) |
| Added to NRHP: | September 10, 1986 |
Leland Tower is a twenty-two story tall building located on Stolp Island in Aurora, Illinois.
Stolp Island is recognized as a Historical District by the National Register of Historical Places. Leland Tower was at one time the tallest building in Illinois outside of Chicago and dominates the downtown of Aurora, dwarfing all the other buildings located there. The tower was at first built as a hotel. The Leland Hotel project was conceived in 1926 and was one of the most ambitious projects in the city's history. The project was announced by an organization known as the Aurora Building Corporation through Herbrt P. Heiss of the First Illinois Company. Mr. Heiss had located and purchased the site for the proposed hotel. The building contract was awarded to the H.G. Chtistman Company, general contractors of South Bend, Indiana and Detroit, Michigan. Anker Sveere Graven and Arthur Guy Mayger were chosen to design the hotel which was planned to be one of the grandest buildings outside of Chicago. As a hotel the Aurora-Leland had all the modern amenities of the times - including telephones in every room! As the hotel took shape watching it grow was entertainment for the people of Aurora, who could not believe it just kept going higher and higher! Topping this sky scraper was the Sky Club, a spectacular dinner and dancing club outfitted with elaborate decor and furnishings of the highest quality. The views from the Sky club as well as its elegance made it a place to see and be seen by the local socialites. "Swanks" from Chicago thought the Sky Club a fun place to take their dates. Philip K. Wrigley, fan dancer Sally Rand, and the singing cowboy Gene Autry are some of the famous names seen there. Recordings were made by such famous blues musicians as John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. Unfortunately the times and the economy caused the hotel once known by the names "The Aurora-Leland Hotel", the "Illinois Hotel" and the "Leland Hotel" to stop operations in the 1960s. The tower once housed the studio and transmitter of defunct WLXT-TV Channel 60, an Aurora TV station which signed on in 1969. It was on the air on evenings and weekends. It also served as the transmitter site of 107.9 WAUR-FM.
It currently serves as an apartment building.
[edit] Images
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View from the East side
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View from the West side
[edit] References
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2009) |
- City of Aurora Official Website: Article on Historic District.Includes Reference to Sky Club. Accessed 19 March 2008.
- Illinois Blues: Article on Aurora Blues Festival (includes reference to Sky Club). Accessed 19 March 2008.
- Strange USA.com Accessed 19 March 2008
The Aurora Beacon News, February 7, 1928 The Aurora Beacon News, August 23, 1984
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