Bachmann Building

The commercial building at the northeast corner of W. Louis and Pearl Streets with the distinctive mansard style roof was built around 1878. Henry Bachmann's furniture business occupied part of the building in 1881. To the rear was a wooden stable for the family's undertaking business; this was replaced with a carriage house by 1914 which is now a two-car garage. The Bachmann Building is part of the Lebanon National Register Historic District, listed in 1978. The commercial building contains Sips Art Bar (an art party business) on the corner at 125, Stephen Johnson Antiques at 123, and two apartments on the upper floors at 123A and 125B.

The Bachmann Building stands one block west of the public square, within the original town limits of Lebanon. The town's first buildings were erected in the 1820s, although the oldest still standing (The Mermaid Inn, also a Clio entry) was built in 1830. This building is thought to date to 1878, and like most of the commercial core of the town, is part of the Lebanon Historic District. The Italianate style front and the Mansard style roof appear to have been added onto the existing two-story brick structure.

Henry Bachmann's furniture store was located in this building by 1881. Bachmann was one of two furniture stores in Lebanon by 1881, with the other owned by Louis Reichenbecher Jr. The Bachmann family also ran an undertakers' business. A wooden, rectangular two-story stable for the horses needed for the business was located on the next corner, to the rear of this building, at the southeast corner of Cherry and Pearl Streets, by 1894. Both commercial spaces at the west end of the Bachmann Building held the furniture store by 1894. The furniture store was only in the far west commercial space (315 St. Louis, now 125 W. Louis) by 1906, with a room in the rear half of the building used for storage. Next door at 316 St. Louis (now 123 W. Louis) was a carpet and wallpaper shop. A rear wing on the carpet store was one story, wood frame construction.

In 1914, there was still a furniture store in the corner commercial space (315) and the carpet and wallpaper shop next door (316). The brick rear wing of the furniture store was a smaller room and had an address of 407 Pearl St. The rear wing of the carpet shop was still one story tall but the walls adjacent to the building (west and south) had been rebuilt of brick; the other walls were still constructed of wood. The wooden stable to the rear of the building was replaced between 1906 and 1914 with a two-story square carriage house for the undertakers' business, of wooden construction faced in stone.

The commercial spaces contained Heer's General Store by the late 1970s. In 2016, when the two commercial spaces were offered for lease, the corner ground floor space was The Tapestry Room, a restaurant with seating for 68 guests and a commercial kitchen; the other ground floor space was a gift shop. More recently, the corner commercial space held Mangiamo Cafe, but they have moved to 220 W. St. Louis; Sips Art Bar is the current tenant, in a space with hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, and 11-foot-tall tin ceilings. The other commercial space holds Stephen Johnson Antiques. The second and third floors hold a studio apartment and a two-bedroom apartment. A detached, two-story 40-by-40-foot garage to the rear of the building is the former carriage house.

Anonymous. Illinois Historic Sites Inventory Form for Mansarded Business Block, 123-127 W. St. Louis, Lebanon, Illinois. St-H-131. Springfield, IL. Illinois Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, 1971.

Brink, McDonough & Co. History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With Illustrations Descriptive of its Scenery.... Edwardsville, IL. Brink, McDonough & Co, 1881.

LoopNet. 125 W. St. Louis St., Lebanon, IL 62254 - 7,284 SF - Retail for Lease, LoopNet. October 7th, 2016. Accessed January 6th, 2023. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/19800406/125-West-St-Louis-Street-Lebanon-IL/.

LoopNet. 123 W. Saint Louis St., Lebanon, IL 62254, Tapestry Room - Retail Property for Sale, LoopNet. April 3rd, 2019. Accessed January 6th, 2023. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/123-W-Saint-Louis-St-Lebanon-IL/14401488/.

Sanborn Map Company. Map of Lebanon, St. Clair County, Illinois. New York, NY. Sanborn Map Company, 1894.

Sanborn Map Company. Map of Lebanon, St. Clair County, Illinois. New York, NY. Sanborn Map Company, 1906.

Sanborn Map Company. Map of Lebanon, St. Clair County, Illinois. New York, NY. Sanborn Map Company, 1914.

Sips Art Bar. Welcome to Sips Art Bar!, Sips Art Bar. January 1st, 2022. Accessed January 6th, 2023. https://sipsartbar.com/.

Wagner, Robert. NRHP Nomination of Lebanon Historic District, St. Clair County, Illinois. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1977.