Lovering House
With its gambrel roof, multiple dormers, shingle siding, and semicircular arches in the gable ends, this prominent Shingle style residence stands out among Joliet’s more modest homes. When Guy and Cora Lovering purchased the house in 1907, it was one story without a front porch. They lived here with Cora’s parents and brother in 1910, and before their only child Gladys was born in 1911, they decided to expand. They hired an efficient contractor, whose crew “tore the old roof completely away, put down an upstairs floor, raised the roof joist, sheeted and covered the new roof all the same day.” The remodel included the addition of a wraparound front porch now enclosed with an oblique corner entrance. Guy Lovering and his uncle built Joliet’s first brick business block in 1902, from which they operated a general store. During the agricultural depression of the 1920s, Lovering became known for his generosity in extending credit. Guy died in 1937 and Cora in 1953, but daughter Gladys and her husband Virgil Dowell resided here into the 1980s. Behind the home stands a barn, a reminder of earlier days.
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