The D. B. James House is located in Sycamore, Illinois

Sycamore, Illinois

Sycamore is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. It has a commercial district based and centered on Illinois Route 64. The population was 17,519 at the 2010 census, up from 12,020 at the 2000 census.-Early settlement:...

 and is part of the Sycamore Historic District. The district was entered on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1978. The James House is one of 226 properties located within the district boundaries. It stands on the corner of Exchange and Main Streets behind the DeKalb County Courthouse

DeKalb County Courthouse (Illinois)

The DeKalb County Courthouse is located in the county seat of DeKalb County, Illinois, U.S.A., the city of Sycamore. The Classical Revival structure sits on a square facing Illinois Route 64 as it passes through the city. The current courthouse was constructed in 1905 amid controversy over where...

.

Daniel B. James

Daniel B. James, original owner of the home on Exchange Street, was born in Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 in 1817. While in Vermont he practiced law. The 1860 U.S. Census says he came to Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 via California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in 1852. James helped found the Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 in Sycamore and in 1857 he co-founded the Sycamore True Republican, a newspaper. In 1865 he was elected county judge and stayed in office until 1869. James died in 1877 and is interred at the Elmwood Cemetery

Elmwood Cemetery Gates

The Elmwood Cemetery Gates, at the Elmwood Cemetery in Sycamore, Illinois, have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since November 28, 1978. The gates mark the entrance to Elmwood Cemetery and were erected, according to the date emblazoned on an archway over the gates, in 1865...

 in Sycamore.

History

Old maps of Sycamore, dated 1892 and 1894 show just one other house in the 100 block of Exchange Street, where the James House is located. By the turn of the 20th century the lots on the block had been built on. The date attributed to the house, when the district was listed on the Register of Historic Places, was 1862. However, according to old newspaper articles Daniel B. James commissioned a firm, Hammond & Carlson, to design the home in 1858 or 1859. James used the home as a law office, also its current function as of 2007.

Architecture

The distinctive front gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

 is known as a "Jerkinhead

Jerkin

The word jerkin can mean:* Jerkin * Falconer's term for a male gyrfalcon* In architecture, a half-hip roof* Jerkin' - a hip hop dance movement that originated in Los Angeles....

" roof, a combination of a gable and hipped roof

Hip roof

A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...

. The hallmark of a Jerkinhead is in the gable rising up vertically about halfway up the ridge and then the roof tilts back at a steep incline. Originally, the James House had a three-story tower in the back (northeast) corner of the home, making the structure stand out even more than it does today. The windows, facing Main and Exchange Streets, are floor to ceiling in height. Each of the three second floor windows on the east side of the home are set in raised gables, each topped by small Jerkinhead roofs. The porch decorating the exterior today is not the original, though it dates back about thirty years.