Holiday tour showcases six Polo homes
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| The home of Jay and Karen Cech, restored by Al Almquist, is an early Ogle County stone house on 14754 W. Eagle Point Road. (Shaw News Service) |
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POLO – Six Polo area houses will be part of the Holiday Home Tour hosted by the Polo Historical Society on Saturday.
The Polo Public Library will also be opened during the entire Holiday Home Tour. Tour hours are from 1 to 5 p.m.
Tickets will be $10 in advance and $12 the day of the tour. Tickets will be sold at Olsen’s Elevator, Polo History Museum, First State Bank, Shannon-Polo and Polo Library.
Refreshments will be served at Aplington House where tickets will be sold on the day of the Holiday Home Tour.
Participating homes and residents will be:
■ Scott and Melanie Armstrong, a new home with geothermal heating at 13260 W. Eagle Point Road
■ David and Linda Poole, the restored Russell Poole farmhouse, 2618 S. Donaldson Road
■ Jay and Karen Cech/Al Almquist, an early Ogle County stone house on 14754 W. Eagle Point Road
■ Troy Boothe and Ashley Millard, a restored 1864 home, 310 N. Franklin Ave.
■ Perry Rubino, the 1891 Barber House, 410 W. Mason St.; and the Aplington House, 125 N. Franklin Ave.
Henry D. Barber house
Built in 1891 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the house is now owned by Perry Rubino.
The architect who designed the home was Joseph Lyman Silsbee, who had the distinction of giving Frank Lloyd Wright his first architectural training in 1887.
The Barbers were prominent citizens of Polo and one of Polo’s earliest settlers. Henry and his brother Bryant became proprietors of the bank in 1881.
The Queen Anne style in the Henry Barber House persists in the rounded two-story bays on the exterior, and the interior characterized by a plan that includes a living hall with a spiral staircase, and other rooms, varied in size, opening off the hall through wide doors in an irregular manner. The interior trim is mahogany, cherry, and quarter-sawn white oak. Painted canvas ceilings and eight fireplaces are part of this 11-room house.
Captain Stephen Hull’s home
The home is owned by Jay and Karen Cech and was restored by Al Almquist.
Hull settled the land on Eagle Point Road in 1835 and built his cabin before there even was a sawmill in the area.
The floor of the cabin is still there today and part of the kitchen area. A portion of the hand-hewn floor can be seen in the basement.
The log walls were soon replaced with stone from the nearby lime kiln using the same blue limestone found today in the Lutheran Church and Judge Campbell’s Law Office.
The hand marks of chipping away of the stone can be seen. The windows, throughout the house, have wide sills because of the thickness of the stone.
The entire house has been beautifully restored by Al Almquist, a member of Polo Historical Society. At some time, the home was enlarged by either the Hulls or the next owner, William Illingworth.
Construction shows two different time frames of building with the blue limestone.
The four-bedroom, two-story house shows many details of years gone by and graces the countryside west of Polo.
The Pearson
Shoemaker Home
Now owned by Troy Boothe and Ashley Millard, the house dates back to around 1864, when Shoemaker decided to leave Eagle Point and move into the newly incorporated Polo.
Shoemaker had built the Orient House in 1855-56 and had someone run it until he decided it was time to head for the big city himself. He then built his new home on the southeast corner of North and Franklin. It had two turrets in the front and a large wraparound front porch with a basement under the porch.
Rumors had it harboring slaves traveling the underground railroad and heading for Canada. By this time, that type of activity was declining, so that remains rather doubtful.
The house also has a unique fireplace up through the center of the house that can be enjoyed in two different rooms.
After Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker died in 1890 and 1892, many people lived in the house until it fell into disrepair. Activity did resume to bring it back to life for a short time until that too failed.
When Boothe acquired the home, he tackled it with great gusto. The front porch could not be saved and, hopefully, may someday be duplicated. The rest of the house has been made great again with one lovely turret a part of the master bedroom.
The Linda and David Poole home
The house has been in the Poole family for 141 years and has had four generations of Poole’s living in it. The farmhouse was bought by David’s great-grandfather, George Poole, in 1868. His son, Frank, lived in the house until the 1940s. Frank’s son, Russell, married Avis Gatz Poole in 1943. They remodeled the original house in 1950 and lived there until 2003. Russell’s son, David, and wife, Linda, remodeled the house, adding a new kitchen and attached garage in 2008.
Several hand-hewn beams and stone basement wall, from the original home, date from the 1840s.
The original home was built by the Sanford family. The north portion of the current house dates back to the 1850s.
