Frederick Francis Woodland Palace, Historic house in Kewanee Township, Illinois, US.
Frederick Francis Woodland Palace is a house 2.5 miles northeast of Kewanee, Illinois, with a hand-chipped brick exterior, a concrete tower above the main entrance, two porches on the south side, a solarium on the west side, and a gambrel roof. Its design mixes Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival elements with engineering features such as a cistern-fed water filtration and heating system.
Frederick Francis began building the house in 1889, and he and his wife moved in a year later. He kept altering and adding to it until his death in 1926, so the structure records nearly four decades of one man's work as architect, engineer and artist. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1975.
Frederick Francis named the house Woodland Palace, and it stands in Francis Park, the wooded grounds 2.5 miles northeast of Kewanee where he built it. The house is a vernacular take on Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles rather than a copy of either, and Francis kept reworking it from 1889 until his death in 1926.
The house stands in Francis Park, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of Kewanee, Illinois. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1975. The grounds are those of a rural park, so plan for uneven walking surfaces and open, unshaded stretches between the trees.
A lever system lets both front doors open at once, and a hearth flue also heats the house. A cistern supplies a water filtration and heating system, and several secret compartments are built into the interior.
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