Flatten the Stratton?

Marie at Disarranging Mine has an interesting post up about the State of Illinois' Stratton Building here in Springfield. I had no idea until today that the office building was actually built from plans for a hospital. But now that I know this, I can see it.

I have a soft spot for the otherwise ugly Stratton because my father worked there in the mid and late 1960s when I was still quite young. It was the first "office" of either parent I remember being in as a child. Being a one car family at the time, my mother would pack all of use in the car to go pick up dad from work when he didn't otherwise have a ride or chose not to take the bus.

I have another odd memory from way back. This might have been more like the early 1970s after my dad was working elsewhere but I remember being in the car along with a younger neighbor kid whose family was origanally from Chicago before moving to Springfield in the late 1960s. As we drove up Spring street toward the Stratton Building, this kid says, "We stayed at that hotel when we first moved here." So see, it could have been a hospital or a hote or an office, whatever.

And speaking of Marie, she has a new post up over at Look Back Springfield. Does the name Conn's ring any bells Springfieldians?