Tour This Historic Mansion In Illinois From The 1800s For A Trip Back In Time
By Elizabeth Crozier|Published December 03, 2018
×
Elizabeth Crozier
Author
An Illinois transplant who grew up and went to school in Indiana for 22 years, Elizabeth holds a BFA in creative writing and has enjoyed traveling across the country and parts of Europe. She has visited half of the states, as well as parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and regularly travels home to the Hoosier State to see friends and family. With more than five years of writing experience, Elizabeth’s articles have been featured on several websites, and her poetry and short stories have been published in multiple literary journals.
There’s a huge old house in Ottawa, Illinois that has been around since before the Civil War. Take the historic mansion tour to learn all about luxury in the 1800s.
This historic attraction is a fun way to spend an hour. Check it out:
The Reddick Mansion was built in 1855 in the northern portion of Illinois, and it sits near the historical Washington Square. This location is significant because it is the site of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate.
The home has a unique exterior made of red brick and cream limestone and is modeled after the villas of Italy.
Guests can tour this 22-room mansion four days of the week. The home is very ornate with luxury furnishings from the 19th century. Built in the Italianate style, this was likely the most expensive house built in the state prior to the Civil War.
The cost of this house in the 1850s was about $25,000.
Advertisement
There are four floors to explore as well as an attic on this historic mansion tour. Most notable are the grand staircase, servants' stairs, and ground-level basement. Each level has five large rooms as well as two smaller rooms.
Outside of the main mansion, guests will also find a carriage house, a horse barn, a frame house, as well as another brick structure for which no one quite knows its purpose. While the mysterious brick structure is as original as the mansion, the other buildings are replicas.
In total, the gardens and buildings take up 45,000 square-feet.
Tours are available Friday through Monday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. They begin each hour starting on the hour with the last group departing at 2 p.m. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for grade-school-aged children.
Reddick Mansion is located at 100 W Lafayette St., Ottawa, IL 61350. Keep up with the various events that take place here throughout the year through its official website or Facebook page.
