PEORIA MAGAZINE May 2022

The Julian, at 724 SW Adams Street, Peoria Photo by Ron Johnson

O N E M O R E T H I N G

CAN THE OLD JULIAN HOTEL BE SAVED? It’s not like Lincoln slept there, but it’s a good location and historic testament to gritty staying power

BY PHIL LUCIANO

A rchitecture aficionados can fall in love in with a structure as bold, bedazzling, even breath taking. But the object of my architectural ardor isn’t anything like that. Rather, it seems more bedeviled, bedraggled and broken down. The Julian Hotel might be on its last legs, though there’s still a chance the ol’ gal could undergo one of the most remarkable makeovers this town has ever seen. The Downtown Development Corp., which owns the property and two others in the 700 block of Southwest Adams Street, has the hotel on the market.

– still has a chance to be resuscitated for condos or a boutique hotel. “I think it could,” says Michael Freilinger, who heads the DDC. “But is it financially feasible?” My wistful interest in the Julian, 724 SW Adams St., comes through no rose-colored glasses. Though Peoria’s yesteryear boasted hotels steeped in glitz and glamor, the brick-hewn Julian was a plain Jane, sturdy and stout. The workaday design and appearance allowed the hotel to long countenance what became a rough-and-tumble customer base. As far back as the 1950s, police routinely would investigate the

Though 127 years old, the shuttered structure – the last of Peoria’s flophouses Photo credit: Janet LeMaster Collection, Special Collection Center, Bradley University Library

90 MAY 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE