Leland Tower
Encyclopedia
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.
Stolp Island
Stolp Island is a small island in the Fox River in Aurora, Illinois. In 1986 the island and its 41 buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Stolp Island Historic District. It covers of land area.-History:...
in Aurora, Illinois
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...
.
Stolp Island is recognized as a Historical District
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
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
Sonny Boy Williamson I
Sonny Boy Williamson was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.-Biography and career:...
.
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.