NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional certification comments, entries, and narrative items on continuation sheets if needed (NPS Form 10-900a). 1. Name of Property historic name Best Building other names/site number Cleaveland Building, VanDerGinst Building Name of Multiple Property Listing n/a (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) 2. Location street & number 1701-03 Second Avenue not for publication city or town Rock Island vicinity state Illinois county Rock Island zip code 61201 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: national statewide local Applicable National Register Criteria: A B C D Signature of certifying official/Title: Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Date Illinois Historic Preservation Agency State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official Date Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 ,Illinois Name of Property County and State 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) (Check only one box.) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing x private x building(s) 1 buildings public - Local district site public - State site structure public - Federal structure object object 1 Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register n/a 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) Commerce: Department Store Vacant/Not In Use Commerce: Business 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) Commercial Style foundation: Concrete Classical Revival walls: Brick roof: Synthetic other: Terra Cotta 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 ,Illinois Name of Property County and State Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity). Summary Paragraph The Best Building is a five-and six-story commercial building located at 1701-1707 Second Avenue in Rock Island, Illinois. The building’s design is in the Classical Revival style, with noticeable Commercial Style (“Chicago School”) influences in its large windows, three-part vertical division and expression of its structural grid. The building was designed in 1908 by Clausen & Clausen of Davenport, Iowa, the best- known architectural firm in the region. It was constructed by Peoria contractors Valentine Jobst & Sons. The building has an early example of a fireproof concrete frame, with reinforced concrete columns and girders. The floor slabs consist of clay tile laid between girders, and the structural walls are of hollow clay tile and common brick. The foundation is also concrete. The exterior is clad with manganese-spotted dark brown brick at the first story and buff brick at the upper stories. There is a deep modillioned copper cornice. The building has a rectangular footprint at the ground level. Above the second story, the floor plan is U-shaped, with a light well facing 17th Street to the west. The floor levels are differentiated in each wing above the second story, with three upper stories to the north of the light well and four upper stories to the south. This division articulates the separate uses of the two sides of the building, with tall- ceilinged department store levels on the north and lower-ceilinged office space to the south. The building possesses integrity, with its definitive architectural features intact and legible. There have been some exterior alterations, and the interior layout reflects a highly modified floorplan. Some interior elements are intact, including the location of hallways on the office side of the building, the tin ceiling on the second story, many wood and terrazzo floors, and the lobby, which was remodeled in the 1930s or 1940s. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description Setting The Best Building is sited at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and 17th Street in downtown Rock Island approximately one and a half blocks south of the Mississippi River. An alley runs along the north side of the building, and the east side of the building is connected at the first two and a half stories to a smaller historic building on Second Avenue. A row of historic buildings is across the street to the south, and a long glass and metal paneled mid-20th-century building is across the street to the west. The immediate vicinity is one of the densest sections of downtown Rock Island. Exterior The Best Building has two primary elevations (see photograph 1 and figure 3). Both the south and west elevations originally had a main entrance into the department store space, and the elevation lobby was accessed from an additional entrance at the south elevation. The south elevation faces Second Avenue. This elevation is divided into four bays and is six stories high. The two center bays are slightly wider than the two outer bays. At the first story, the four bays are framed by variegated dark brown manganese-spotted brick piers. The piers’ bases are limestone, and limestone runs across the top of the openings. The first and third bays are occupied by aluminum storefront systems over black granite bulkheads. The second bay is similarly detailed, but there is a pair of recessed glass double doors leading into the department store space. Historically, this was a main 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Best Building Rock Island, Illinois Name of Property County and State entrance with a double-leaf entrance flanked by sidelights beneath the transom, with a glass canopy suspended by wire rope from the building wall (see figures 3 and 15). The canopy and original entrance configuration are both gone. Cloth canopies are over the right three bays; the left bay retains the metal structure for the canopy but the cloth is missing. At the fourth bay, brown brick recesses back to a pair of non-historic glass doors with sidelights and transom. Above a limestone course, the second story begins the upper stories’ use of buff brick. Every sixth and seventh course of brick is recessed to create a rusticated feel. Tall openings, one per bay, are wide enough to accommodate multiple windows. Originally the wood sash windows were configured in wide pairs with transoms at the outer bays and Chicago-style windows with transom lights at the center two bays. Today’s aluminum replacements are pairs or paired 1/1s (four per opening) with colored panels instead of transom lights above. Over the windows, the rusticated pattern of the brick flares upward to suggest the voussoirs of a flat arch; at the center of each is a limestone keystone. Another limestone course caps the second story. Floors three through six are designed as a single unit. Brick piers define the bays; the outer piers are rusticated, following the pattern established at the second story. The window planes are recessed, and the piers between them rise to a shallow arch over the window bays. The window openings themselves are separated so there are two per bay. There is more space between the windows at the two, wider center bays. Each of the window openings is filled with an aluminum window with a tall upper sash and a short, horizontal lower sash. A historic photo indicates that in the original wood windows, the bottom sashes were taller than the upper sashes. The sixth floor is crowned with a copper cornice which features roundels on the frieze and heavy modillions at the eaves. At either end of the façade, large (story-high) stylized terra cotta compositions appear to drop down from the cornice. These vertical expressions are inspired by the parts of a column or of a cornice. The top section is square and is the height of roughly 12 ½ courses of brick. In the center is a stylized quatrefoil flower in a square recessed panel.