Past, future meet on Aurora building tour
Local history buffs can satisfy their taste of the old while getting a glimpse of the new today during Aurora's first Living Downtown Tour.
The tour, which runs from 1 to 4 p.m., begins at 74 S. LaSalle St. and features 11 rehabbed historic structures available for contemporary business and residential use.
The apartments, condos and business spaces offer modern updates while still retaining their historic character.
"These spaces are really unexpected and I am quite certain most people know nothing about these residential spaces in downtown," said Preservation and Downtown Specialist Jennifer Grobe. "A couple of these projects have been undertaken by large companies, but most have been done by small business owners who are really invested in the neighborhood."
One building boasts the original and still functioning Otis freight elevator. Some spaces are lofts and loftlike, offering floor-to-ceiling windows, Chicago-style windows and exposed brick walls.
Grobe said the tour also will feature one of the oldest structures in Kane County and allow guests to peer into the "chic" new riverfront condos facing the Fox River and learn about Aurora's colorful history via the stories of its buildings.
For example, she said, the early 20th-century three-story addition (60 S. River) to the Frazier Block was built circa 1900. W.S. Frazier & Co. once manufactured buggies and racing sulkies here. This building is in the final phases of its rehabilitation.
Trolleys are available during the event and will run in a continuous loop. Online tickets can be purchased at historichometours.com for $12; tickets purchased at the door are $15.
Venues on the tour
• Downer Place Lofts, circa 1800s
• Aurora Woolen Mill Factory, circa 1800s
• Stolp Woolen Mill Dye House, circa 1858
• Woodworth Cart Factory, circa 1857
• Holbrook Mill, circa 1843
• River Street Plaza, newly built high-end condos
• The Theiss Building, circa 1912
• Three-story on the Frazier Block, circa 1900
• Aurora Hotel, circa 1917
• Italianate-style commercial building, circa 1865
• Leland Tower, circa 1928