By Robert D. Brunkow, August 2023

Of what use is an old building? In a practical sense it can host an occupant. But that is only the beginning. An old building is a guidepost pointing to a community’s development. The style of the building, the stories about its occupants disclose much about the values, experiences, and objectives of those who not only constructed the building but developed the city. The building fronts of 112, 116, and 120 East Main Street (above the cheap stucco first story) provide a case study demonstrating how buildings act as markers to reveal a community’s story. They document the long period when Belleville was a regional commercial center.

“Even though these building fronts have been severely altered, they still add value to the cityscape through their diverse architecture and witness to the continuing efforts to make Belleville a great small town. To lose them would be to commit community amnesia.”

The buildings are for sale. Their future is uncertain, but what is clear is that the city would be the poorer without them.

120 East Main dates to 1852 in the midst of the German migration to the United States and to Belleville. Shoemaker William Huff of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, had the building constructed for his shoe shop. In Italianate style, it is a conjoined building with 124 East Main, which was built at the same time by another German, George Glanig from Bavaria. The two buildings share a wall, roof, and cornice. The style of window openings above the first story is the same for both buildings. Huff rented his upper stories to Glanig for Glanig’s Illinois House Hotel. He later sold the building to Joseph and Edward Leopold, who were liquor wholesalers. Their business successor in the building, Dollus Brothers Shoe Store, became the leading shoe dealer in Belleville and occupied the building for 64 years, until 1988.

In 1926 local architects Frank Riester and Otto Rubach (architects for the original Belleville Township High School buildings) designed 116 East Main Street for I. Peskind and Sons, a high-end clothing store. The building was designed to “be a credit to the city” and “an asset to the beauty of the up-town business district.” Even though the ground floor was savaged 10 years ago, the upper stories with their terra cotta details still project a time of prosperity and an anticipated well-to-do clientele. Isaac Peskind represents another wave of immigration to the United States in the decades around 1900, when Eastern Europe became a major source of immigrants. This wave included Jewish immigrants, like Peskind. In fact, during the 20th century many of the retail shops on Main Street were owned by Jews of Eastern-European background. Peskind’s closed in 1975.

112 East Main exemplifies the presence of chain stores in Belleville—an early 20th-century phenomenon. In 1936 Sears and Roebuck hired local architects Otto Rubach and Lyman Weisenstein to design a new building that opened in 1937. The façade was more austere than that of the Peskind Building. It was built during the Depression for a less affluent clientele. The style is Art Deco. Sears closed the store in 1975 and moved to St. Clair Mall.

Even though these building fronts have already been severely altered, they still add value to the cityscape through their diverse architecture and witness to the continuing efforts to make Belleville a great small town. To lose them would be to commit community amnesia.