Glos House

This house, built about 1845, was the residence of John Glos.

Glos, a German cabinetmaker, came to St. Charles in 1836 by way of Boston. Glos served as the first Justice of the Peace in Wayne, as Clerk of the Circuit Court, and as Recorder of DuPage County. The Glos family also operated a dry goods store on Main Street in St. Charles. An advertisement from the 1885 St. Charles Biographical Directory and Census Report claims that the Glos Brothers offered a "full and large, varied, and complete stock of everything a townsman or farmer wants" and that they offered these items at "prices so low that you can't afford to go elsewhere."

In 1937, Mrs. Mildred Roch purchased the house from the Glos family. Since then, this Folk Victorian house has served as apartments and as a haven for several small businesses. Susan Neri bought the building from Howard and Candace Broecker in 1986. Without altering the structure of the historic residence, Neri transformed the house into office space for four businesses and left the upper level as a residence.

In 1996, Emanuel Kuntzelman purchased the property to house the national headquarters of the Center for Cultural Interchange (CCI). Kuntzelman created CCI in 1985 to facilitate international cultural and educational exchange for high school students and adults.

Mr. Kunzelman redecorated the house, and CCI moved into offices on the lower level of the building. The main floor housed the business Studio Posh. Later, Ilsa's at Century Corners took over the main floor. An apartment remained on the top floor. CCI was awarded a Community Image Award by the Chamber of Commerce in 1996 for improvements made to the building. CCI offices occupied the entire building from 2001 until the organization moved its headquarters to Chicago in 2007. Today, CCI maintains an office in the Glos House and two small specialty boutiques, Tapestries of Nature and La Maison Marche, occupy the main floor.

Sources

■ Architectural Survey, St. Charles central district, St. Charles, IL. 1995.

■ Badger, David Alan. St. Charles of Illinois. Havana: David Alan Badger, 1985.

■ Clauter, Hazel. Our Community--St. Charles . 1967.

■ Pierotti , Ann. "Shops find Home in Glos House." St. Charles Chronicle 31 July 1987.

■ St. Charles Biographical Directory and Census Report 1885.