Initially a boarding/rooming house, the Cliff House/Cliff Hotel operated between ca. 1910 and 1960 and by 1965 was abandoned. Florence and George Atkinson were the longest-serving proprietors, operating the hotel between 1915 and 1949. (George died in 1923.) Architect Bruce Ferry acquired the building in 2006. He restored the façade and cleaned the interior, preserving many details that are rare in the city. Mazrim says the structurally sound building is unusually well-preserved, thanks to Bruce Ferry’s light touch. Kidzeum acquired the building in 2013 when it purchased the adjacent Schnepp and Barnes building to house the Kidzeum.
The 18 rooms on two floors include 16 living/sleeping rooms, a kitchen, and two baths. The floorplan has not changed, and the rooms are like a time capsule. Mazrim notes that the 1960s and 1970s were hard on historic structures. By being mothballed, the Cliff Hotel didn’t suffer a similar fate.
Some of the existing features include 1890s trim work, hand-painted faux graining on doors, and a variety of early to mid-20th century wallpapers and paint finishes. There are messages written in pencil by former residents on some of the walls. Mazrim speculates that one message on a wall beneath the main staircase was probably written by a young Jeanette Atkinson, daughter of Florence, which reads: “To the rest of people that live here/Jeanette Atkinson and Mrs. Geo. Atkinson lived here before you did. See see see?”
Mazrim reviewed many old newspaper articles which provide snippets into the lives of people who lived at the hotel – a resident dying in his sleep, another attempting suicide by cutting his wrists with a razor and another killed by a train on a railroad bridge and found in the Sangamon River. In 1916 charges were brought against George and Florence Atkinson for keeping a house of ill fame. They were found not guilty. In 1918 Florence Atkinson was charged with violating the anti-saloon law and being the proprietor of a disorderly house (later dismissed). In the 1920s, when she was in her 30s, Florence hosted the Democratic Women’s Caucus. And she was one of the hostesses for the Republican Women’s Club of Sangamon County when she was 60.
Mazrim’s impression of Florence, based on published newspaper articles and immersing himself in the building, is that she tried to help women of modest means and was unconcerned with certain conventional proprieties. She was also strong-willed, stood up to people and won. At the age of 28, she was involved in an altercation at her home on South College Street. According to the Sept. 12, 1908, Illinois State Journal, Florence Atkinson “routed and defeated two men who attempted to invade her home” to repossess some recent purchases. She faced charges of assault and battery, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer.
Florence died in 1949, and the hotel had more transient occupancy in its later years. Lack of investment in the property served to preserve not only its original features, but also many traces left behind by former occupants. Those will be highlighted in the exhibit and enhanced by art installations throughout the spaces.
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This article appears in Winter Guide 2024.
