David Davis Mansion
Bloomington Illinois
David Davis (March 9, 1815 – June 26, 1886) was a United States Senator from Illinois and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He also served as Abraham Lincoln‘s campaign manager at the 1860 Republican National Convention. He is a distant cousin of United States President George W. Bush and former president George H. W. Bush.
Clover Lawn was built between 1870 and 1872 and is where Justice Davis lived until his death in 1886. Davis commissioned French-born architect Alfred Piquenard to design the mansion, which combines Italianate and Second Empire architectural features and is a model of mid-Victorian style and taste. Piquenard was a prominent Midwest architect who designed the State Capitol in Springfield. The home was meant as a residence for Davis’ wife, Sarah. David Davis himself spent most of his time there after his retirement from the U.S. Senate in 1883.
The house remained in the Davis family until 1960, when it was donated to the state of Illinois, which operates it as a state historic site.
Entrance David Davis Mansion, Bloomington Illinois
David Davis
Outlying Building David Davis Mansion (wood shed)
David Davis Masion, Bloomington Illinois
David Davis, Bloomington Illinois
David Davis Mansion, Bloomington Illinois
David Davis Mansion, Bloomington Illinois
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I collect web photos of historic buildings and of hundreds I have, this house is in my opinion the most beautiful.
There once was a mansion in my hometown of Ventura California that looked a lot like the David Davis mansion. That was the Schiappapietra mansion. The mansion was torn down in the mid 1950s because of a mall built miles away at the edge of town. The city managers thought that it was their responsibility to make the downtown businesses competitive with the mall by creating more parking space.
A photo of the mansion can be bought at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art.
Floor Plans, David Davis Mansion
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhsheet&fileName=il/il0000/il0078/sheet/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=David%20Davis%20Mansion,%20Monroe%20%26%20Davis%20Streets,%20Bloomington,%20McLean%20County,%20IL&displayType=1&maxCols=2&itemLink=D?hh:1:./temp/~ammem_yueg::@@@mdb=hh,gottscho,cmns,alad,ncpsbib,gmd,pan,detr,horyd
http://www.hauntedhouses.com/
http://www.theoldhauntedhouse.com/home_10.html
Two links on Old Victorian Home from the Haunted angle
http://www.flickr.com/groups/secondempire/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/532297@N23/
More Links to Period Houses
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Here is a link to a picture of the Schiappapietra mansion, which as I previously posted, looks much like the David Davis mansion.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150240844893269&set=a.133368768268.107977.131794563268&type=1&theater