Christmas Light Installation in Belleville, Illinois

A city with real architecture to work with

Belleville is the seat of St. Clair County and the largest city in the Metro East, and it has the housing stock of a place that was substantial long before the suburbs arrived. West Main Street runs past some of the finest nineteenth-century houses on either side of the river — brick and stone, tall and narrow, with steep pitches, turrets, bracketed cornices and porches full of turned detail. Around the Public Square and through the older historic blocks the pattern repeats at smaller scale. Then the west and southwest edges of town turn over to post-war ranches and split-levels on flat, easy lots.

Those two halves of Belleville need different crews on different days. An ornate Victorian front is slow work: the detail is the reason the house looks good, so the light has to follow the architecture rather than cut across it. A west-end ranch is quick work, and the price should show that. We quote from what is actually there.

How we handle an older Belleville front

• Light follows the trim — cornice line, porch roof, gable rake, in that order
• No fasteners into masonry; clips go to gutter, shingle edge or wood trim only
• Turrets and dormers outlined only where it reads clean from the street, not for the sake of it
• Porch and ironwork wrapped or garlanded, which does more on these houses than more roofline
• One warm white across the whole property, because mixed whites make old brick look grey

Belleville also happens to be the town where a lot of the region goes to look at Christmas lights, which sets a bar. We hang, maintain all season, take down in January and store everything labeled until next year. Free quote at (636) 244-6125.