1928 Aurora Skyscraper with a History of Tragedy
7 S Stolp Ave, Aurora, IL 60506
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing free; building is a private residential apartment building
Access
Limited Access
Urban sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1928 · Tallest Building in Illinois Outside Chicago · Art Deco Architecture · National Register of Historic Places
The project to build Aurora's most ambitious commercial structure was conceived in 1926 and awarded to the H.G. Christman Company of South Bend and Detroit. Architects Anker Sveere Graven and Arthur Guy Mayger — who also worked on the Congress Hotel in Chicago — designed a 22-story tower that would stand as the tallest building in Illinois outside of Chicago upon completion in 1928. The cost came to $3.1 million.
The Aurora-Leland Hotel opened with all the amenities expected of a first-class property: telephones in every room, an elegant ground-floor lobby, and event space that made it the city's premier location for socializing and civic gatherings. The venue's ascent accelerated in 1947 with the creation of the Sky Club on the top floor, a dinner-and-dancing destination offering views of the Fox River valley and performances by a community orchestra. The building drew entertainers, business travelers, and socialites from across the region through the 1940s and into the 1950s.
The automobile's dominance over railroad travel through the 1950s gradually eroded the hotel's core client base, which had depended heavily on arrivals via the railroad station nearby. The hotel transitioned through several name changes — among them the Illinois Hotel and the Leland Hotel — before ceasing hotel operations in the 1960s. The building was subsequently converted to residential apartments and remains in that use today, operated by Karademas at 7 S Stolp Avenue. A first-floor restaurant occupies the Galena Boulevard side of the building. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and the Aurora historical marker at the site documents its founding.
Sources
The Leland Tower's reputation in Aurora's ghost lore derives primarily from the suicides that occurred during its hotel years. According to regional accounts, multiple guests ended their lives by jumping from upper floors into the Fox River, which runs below the Stolp Island neighborhood. No precise count of such incidents has been confirmed through newspaper archives in the course of this research, but the accounts are sufficiently consistent across unrelated sources to constitute a persistent local tradition.
Current and former residents of the apartments have described two distinct anomalies concentrated near the elevator banks: a rancid, unpleasant smell that appears at night with no identifiable source, and a low moaning sound from the elevators themselves. Both phenomena were documented in the Shadowlands report and corroborated by at least one paranormal enthusiast site drawing on resident accounts. The elevators themselves — which date in part to the original 1928 construction — are noted for their age-appropriate mechanical idiosyncrasies, though residents attribute the moaning to something other than mechanical wear.
The building's association with organized crime figures of the 1930s has also filtered into local ghost accounts, with some accounts describing shadowy presences in the corridors connected to guests of that era. No specific named individuals have been documented to the standard required for inclusion here. US Ghost Adventures includes the Leland Tower in its Aurora walking tour.
View the 22-story Leland Tower from Stolp Avenue. The tallest building in Aurora, it anchors the Fox River island district. The upper floors from which guests reportedly jumped into the river are visible from street level.
US Ghost Adventures operates walking ghost tours of downtown Aurora that include the Leland Tower among documented stops. Tours depart from the downtown area.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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