Herbert Spieler

Herbert Spieler was born in Elgin in 1898. He attended Armour Technical Institute (now Illinois Institute of Technology) and received a two-year certificate in 1918. After that, he worked as an architect in Elgin with George Morse. In 1928, he moved to Aurora, and had an office in the Graham building. His home was at 211 Calumet. While in Aurora, he did all the architectural work for the Rockford diocese in association with Wybe Jelles Vandermeer, including the St. Charles Hospital and Mercyville in Aurora. He also worked with area contractors, such as Peterson, Skoglund, Carson, and Bumpus. For their developments, he wrote the specs for houses, handled all the bidding to various builders, then reviewed them with the homeowner and supervised construction. Spieler also worked in Naperville, Plainfield, LaFox, Sugar Grove, Lockport, and Joliet. In 1949 he joined a firm in Chicago.

Spieler was influenced by the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, and attended his lectures in Chicago. The horizontal emphasis of his ranch style homes reflects this influence.

Spieler’s son, George, has identified the following homes as designed by his father, and has completed renderings showing them as they were originally designed. They include: 1341, 1355 W. Downer Place; 434 S. Edgelawn Avenue; 169 S. Elmwood Drive; 222 S. Glenwood; 824 & 850 Hardin Avenue; 145 Ingleside Avenue; 850, 1405, 1488, 1500, 1515 Garfield Avenue, 123 , 144, 145, 167, 172 and 246 S. Evanslawn Avenue; 933 Kensington Place ; 255 Lawndale Avenue; 165 LeGrande Boulevard.