building; both features were important in solidifying the hotel's image as a first class hotel. Other architectural details were added and removed through the years, including the addition of a thin coat of stucco in the 1880s. In 1914 the building's south annex was added, though it was essentially gutted during the 1950s and very little of the original 1914 structure remains. When the hotel was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1983 it was one of the oldest continuously operated hotels in the state of Illinois. In 1988 the hotel closed and the building was left vacant and in a rapidly deteriorating state for ten years. In 1996 the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois listed the Nachusa House on its top-ten most endangered landmarks list. The hotel seemed destined to be demolished in 1997 when the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and a Chicago developer stepped in to save the building, not as a hotel, but as affordable housing for senior citizens. The $3.2 million restoration project was paid for, in part, through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, commonly known as Housing Credits. The program, which dates to 1986, is the primary federal affordable housing resource. The restoration of the building began in 1997, by September there were already names on a waiting list for the 35 apartment units and by 1998 residents were occupying the spaces. Architecture The Nachusa House's main, nearly square, building forms the centerpiece of the present-day structure. The main building is the most historically and architecturally significant portion of Nachusa House. Nachusa House's main construction occurred in 1853 and 1868. The 1853 portion of the building stands upon the limestone foundation, laid in 1838. It was built as a four-story limestone building with 2 foot (.6 m) thick walls and wood framed floor and roof construction; originally the limestone walls were undressed. In 1868 the second period of construction on Nachusa House added the fifth floor, mansard roof, and now removed cupola. These alterations established the image that became iconic of the hotel. After 1868 the building continued to evolve, stucco was added to the stone walls in the 1880s and seventy years later wrought iron grill work was added to the balconies and porches. Galena Avenue was widened in 1965 forcing the removal of the original front stairs which led to the lobby porch. Significance As